Here goes nothing. One of the biggest series of the season for the Braves kicks off tonight, as they welcome the Oakland Athletics into town. The A's will be heading into this series with the best record in baseball, which means that this is now a pretty good time to see just how the Braves stack against the current best team in 2014. Oh boy.
Oakland will be starting Jason Hammel, while the Braves will be countering with Alex Wood. This won't be the first time the Braves have seen Hammel this season, as they managed to score 2 runs on Hammel while he was a Cub. Eventually they added one more for a victory, but if 3 runs is enough for the Braves to win tonight, it'll be a blessing.
The lineups are below, and weirdly enough, Phil Gosselin is slated to start tonight. Apparently, Andrelton Simmons has a dentist's appointment today, and might not be ready to make the start tonight, so as of right now, Phil's the guy. Meanwhile, Justin Upton's hamstring is good to go, which means he's starting tonight.
Here's the rest of the lineups, and further data on Hammel:
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
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<th align="left">OAKLAND A'S</th>
<th align="left">ATLANTA BRAVES</th>
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<tr><td class="td-last td-name">Coco Crisp - CF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Jason Heyward - RF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Jonny Gomes - LF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Phil Gosselin - SS</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Josh Donaldson - 3B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Freddie Freeman - 1B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Derek Norris - C</td><td class="td-first td-name">Justin Upton - LF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Nate Freiman - 1B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Chris Johnson - 3B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Alberto Callaspo - 2B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Evan Gattis - C</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Josh Reddick - RF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Tommy La Stella - 2B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Andy Parrino - SS</td><td class="td-first td-name">B.J. Upton - CF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Jason Hammel - RHP</td><td class="td-first td-name">Alex Wood - LHP</td></tr></tbody>
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Trajectory and Movement - from 01/01/2014 to 01/01/2015
Pitch Type | Count | Freq | Velo (mph) | pfx HMov (in.) | pfx VMov (in.) | H. Rel (ft.) | V. Rel (ft.) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fourseam | 751 | 32.19% | 93.34 | -4.93 | 9.77 | -1.85 | 6.59 |
Sinker | 599 | 25.68% | 93.37 | -7.82 | 7.91 | -1.89 | 6.57 |
Change | 96 | 4.11% | 86.11 | -8.12 | 5.05 | -1.91 | 6.42 |
Slider | 728 | 31.20% | 84.02 | 3.01 | -2.34 | -1.93 | 6.57 |
Curve | 150 | 6.43% | 77.22 | 6.38 | -7.78 | -1.89 | 6.49 |