Mercifully, this calamitous road trip is finally coming to a close. Just a week or so ago, the Braves were extremely close to the top of the NL East, and seemed to be moving into position to challenge the Nationals and at least be in prime position for a Wild Card spot.
Amazingly, that's still a possibility (especially if the weekend series goes well, which seems like a million miles away and the least likely thing, ever), but it's a lot harder now. Atlanta is now 3 games behind in both the Wild Card and the Division, with a series against Washington looming. The Braves don't want to head into that series on the heels of a 8-game losing streak. Nope, a 1-7 road trip is way better than that.
As far as today's game is concerned, the Braves will be sending out the top guy of the rotation: Julio Teheran. Teheran's last outing went well against the Dodgers, holding them to 2 runs over 8 innings, but that was one of those games where the pitching was there but the offense wasn't. Meanwhile, the Mariners are sending out longtime vet Chris Young. The Mariners are used to those "Pitching is there but offense isn't" games, so don't be shocked if this is just one big example of that type of game.
Lineup-wise, Emilio Bonifacio is still the leadoff hitter. That doesn't mean that B.J. Upton is gone from the lineup, though, as he's returned to the lineup as today's CF. The DH today is Justin Upton, and Andrelton Simmons will be taking the day off after suffering a minor injury last night, so Ramiro Pena will be the SS. For the M's, Endy Chavez and Jesus Sucre are the new additions to Seattle's lineup.
<!-- BEGIN WIDGET -->
<div class="pane sports_data_widget lineup clearfix">
<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
<div class="lineup">
<table cellspacing="0" class="zebra">
<thead>
<tr>
<th align="left">ATLANTA BRAVES</th>
<th align="left">SEATTLE MARINERS</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td class="td-last td-name">Emilio Bonifacio - LF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Austin Jackson - CF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Tommy La Stella - 2B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Dustin Ackley - LF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Freddie Freeman - 1B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Robinson Cano - 2B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Justin Upton - DH</td><td class="td-first td-name">Kendrys Morales - DH</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Jason Heyward - RF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Kyle Seager - 3B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Chris Johnson - 3B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Chris Taylor - SS</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Evan Gattis - C</td><td class="td-first td-name">Logan Morrison - 1B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">B.J. Upton - CF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Endy Chavez - RF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Ramiro Pena - SS</td><td class="td-first td-name">Jesus Sucre - C</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name"></td><td class="td-first td-name"></td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Julio Teheran - RHP</td><td class="td-first td-name">Chris Young - RHP</td></tr></tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<!-- END WIDGET -->
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 | 1347 | 65.96% | 86.25 | -1.87 | 12.27 | -0.99 | 6.54 |
Change | 137 | 6.71% | 79.24 | -4.40 | 10.36 | -0.95 | 6.66 |
Slider | 531 | 26.00% | 78.93 | 3.29 | 3.46 | -0.96 | 6.49 |
Curve | 21 | 1.03% | 70.20 | 1.94 | -6.27 | -0.93 | 6.55 |