On a night when home plate umpire Doug Eddings had one of the most inconsistent strike zones of the season, Jair Jurrjens and the Braves gutted through a 2-0 win over Josh Johnson. Jurrjens, who recorded his first road victory of the season, was brilliant for 7 innings and only gave up three hits. He struck out 7 Marlins on the night, and only walked 3. To be honest, the Fish looked off-balance all night and couldn't get much on their swings. A great night from JJ, and we'll need him to be just as great in the rest of his starts.
The Braves offense had ten hits on the night, but continued to fail with runners in scoring position. Alex Gonzalez was easily the MVP of the night, and drove in both of our runs. Jason Heyward continued to raise his 4th-best on-base percentage in the NL with a hit and two walks, and both Omar Infante and Martin Prado recorded two hits. With Omar consistently getting 4-5 at-bats every night, it's starting to look like he'll have enough to qualify for the batting title. That's great for him.
Jonny Venters, who's actually been given some rest in the last few weeks, worked a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th and was filthy. Billy Wagner came into the 9th inning and gave up a hit to Hanley Ramirez with one out, but worked around it and retired Dan Uggla and Gabby Sanchez to close out the game.
Braves win 2-0.
Chipper Jones was ejected in the 2nd inning for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. That's right; Doug Eddings actually ejected Chipper from the game, torn ACL and all. Not only does this make Eddings look like even more of a complete and total tool, but it reminds all Braves fans of just how great Chipper Jones is. I'd love for him to manage our team one day.
The Brewers continued their 2010 trend of being completely worthless and blew the lead in Philadelphia tonight. The Phillies won 5-4, and remain a game behind us in the East.
The finale of the 3-game series will thankfully take place tomorrow afternoon (or morning, depending on where you're located in our fine country world.) First pitch is at 12:10EST, so take note of that. Mike Minor vs. Alex Sanabia, and I'm guessing there's a good chance Freddie Freeman makes his 2nd start.