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  • August 02, 2007 08:10 AM ET

The Braves Will Finish Better Than The Phillies

CodyShep233 (9-9-2) vs powersj13 BS (62-31-6)
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The Atlanta Braves, the new team to beat in the National League (in my opinion), will finish better than the Philadelphia Phillies.

In losing Chase Utley, the Phillies went out and acquired Iguchi from the White Sox. Although he is a good fill-in, he will not be nearly as much the force Utley is. In losing Victorino and Bourne, they have to put an un-experienced Chris Roberson out in right field. Although so far he's batting .500, you can't count on him just yet. Ryan Howard? Despite having good stats, he's already struck-out 124 times. Surprisingly.. that's only two less than Mr. Strike-out himself, Adam Dunn. Pat Burrell.. although a good OBP, isn't have a typical year. After his great year in 2005, he seems to be declining some with every season. It is projected that he will hit only 22 home-runs and drive in only 84 runs and hit only .261 for average. They really need him to step up.

As for hitting, the Braves CLEARLY have the edge with their AL line-up in an NL league, so you have to look at a weak point in both teams. The rotation.

[Continued below..]


Adding Teixeira and Dotel hardly make the Braves the new team to beat in the NL.
First, The Phillies lead the NL East in every major offensive category. They have scored more 50 more runs, have a higher BA and OBP, and have 100 more total bases than the Braves. Utley is not out for a significant amount of time and they now have Iguchi who was a starter on a WS team a couple of years ago. Even with Howards strikeouts, he leads the NL East in home runs and RBI's.


Dotel may not help them tons, as he is most likely past his prime, but he will help them arguably better than Wickman has.

Texieria gives them so much to work with. They put him behind Chipper and you have back-to-back switch-hitting power hitters. Any way you look at it, their good hitters are protected. Although Jones isn't have a great year, you put Texieria in front of him, and he has protection. You don't want to walk Jones to face Texieria, so he has protection. You don't want to put Jones on because McCann can be right behind him. Depth is key.

To me, it definitely comes down to pitching.

Current Rotations:
Braves: John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, Chuck James, Buddy Carlyle, Jo-Jo Reyes
Phillies: Cole Hamels, Adam Eaton, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Loshe, Kyle Kendrick

The Braves' Smoltz and Hudson have pitched well. Reyes, not so much. Chuck James has been a decent surprise, and Carlyle hasn't pitched terrible. Bob Wickman at the end of the bullpen? Not so hot. Adding Dotel, although he is a bit overrated, will help their bullpen some at least. Ron Mahay? Another decent addition to their bullpen.

[Continued in a comment below...]


The starting rotations are even, in my opinion. The Braves are percentage points ahead of the Phils in ERA. Even with the addition of Dotel to the bullpen for the Braves, the Phils have Gordon and Myers returning from the DL. They also added Mesa and Romero to go along with Alfonseca. That gives their bullpen a clear advantage and the advantage in pitching. Back to offense, the Chipper has only played in 80 games. Andruw is hitting .218 and McCann is struggling.


I still think that with their new line-up, they will be able to get out of their slumps because they will get more to hit. Chipper wasn't healthy early in the season.. he is doing a lot better now. Andruw has something to prove, in my opinion. I feel he is going to pick up his hitting more now. He is in his last year on his contract and if the Braves keep him for next year, they have a chance to be on top of the NL East again.. if they acquire some pitching, too. Andruw still leads the team with 20 homers and 70 RBI's. McCann has 12 homers and 63 RBI's, not bad numbers although struggling, yes. And I am tired of hearing people say Francoeur isn't producing. He is. 12 homers and 70 RBI's, which is tied him with Andruw Jones.

The bullpen of the Phillies is better, but again, Mahay and Dotel are going to be able to help. The Braves discussed trading their closer Wickman to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth before the trade deadline, but the Yankees were going to have to pick-up a big chunk of Kyle's salary. That tells me they plan on closing with Dotel on, at least, some occasions.


The problem is the Braves don't have the timely hitting and they don't manufacture runs (stealing, etc.). They are not close to being an AL lineup. The Phils have both those things, thus having better offensive numbers against the same opponents. With Utley and the bullpen help coming back, it only makes them stronger for the last 2 months. Also, they finish with the Nats 2 out of the last 3 series. 1 is a four gamer...
The Braves lineup is better with Tex, but the numbers back up the Phils. This is not the Braves team that won 14 straight division titles... Even if they swap Wickman with Dotel, Dotel has a career ERA almost 4 as a relief pitcher. He is no upgrade. Tex is an upgrade but does not improve the Braves significantly enough to matter

Comments (16) Add A Comment

August 2, 2007  10:12 AM ET
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So you are saying they will come in first in the N.L. East or still be behind the Mets?

August 2, 2007  10:17 AM ET
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That's confusing. The topic says better than the Phillies, yet the argument points to better than the Mets. Personally, I already thought they were better than the Phils.

August 2, 2007  10:21 AM ET
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The argument is who will finish better in the NL East... They both will finish behind NY.

August 2, 2007  10:37 AM ET
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Behind the Mets, but in front of the Phillies.

August 2, 2007  10:41 AM ET
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[Continued from above...

The Phillies? Moyer and Eaton are definitely playing mediocre ball. They don't have good records, and their ERA's prove that they haven't been pitching extremely well. Hamels, although expected, has pitched great for the Phills. He always does. Loshe, although he could be a good surprise-tradee, has a bad record 6-12 and again, a bad ERA to back that up (4.58). Kyle Kendrick? He's been a GREAT surprise for Philly.

Overall, I feel the rotation goes to the Braves. They have experience and better pitchers overall.]

August 2, 2007  10:52 AM ET
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Lohse and Kendrick only help my argument on pitching.... The Braves traded a young starter for bullpen help. The starters are a wash... When Utley comes back, the Braves have no advantage at all.... and think how far back the Phils came from. They still have Rollins, Rowand, Howard, Vic to manufacture runs... The Braves are old on both sides....

August 2, 2007  10:55 AM ET
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I keep running out of room to make my arguments.... argh...

August 2, 2007  11:13 AM ET
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Braves are clearly better than the Phils. The Mets have the inside track but the Braves will make it close.

August 2, 2007  11:15 AM ET
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clearly better? how do you figure that? They have no advantage in offense or pitching. They are one half game up over the Phils when the Phils were 10 games under .500 a month ago. The braves are clearly better than the Nationals..... not the Phils....

August 2, 2007  12:43 PM ET
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wow when you make a throw down know what you are talking about.

1) Iguchi already filoing in great

2) Robertson also fillking in great

3) Only 15 day dl

4) A long season ahead of them still

5) Wow Pat Burrell doing amazing now probably the best mopnth of July I have ever seen. He raised his average about 60 points. Has one of the top obp's and walks, and what do you mean is not a typical year? look at his stats they ar every good.

6) Howard may strike out a lot but he still get's a lot of homeruns, hits, rbi's ( in which he leads the nl in) Strike outs are meaningless the good power hitters usually strike out just look at his stats though.

7) STOP TALKING ABOUT THE PHILLIES WEAKNESESS WHICH ARE JUST A FEW THEY ARE THE BEST OFFENCE IN THE NL SO FAR AS SHOWN BY STATS AND HAVE A VERY GOOID DEFENCE THERE IS A LIONG WAY TILL THE SEASON IS OVER IN WHICH ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN YOU HAVE FALSE INFO AND THE BRAVES HAVE MANY WEAKNESESS, TOO THEY HAVE SMOLTZ WE HAVE A BETTER HAMELS THEY HAVE CHIPPER WE HAVE A BETTER UTLEY THEY HAVE ANDRUW WE HAVE A BETTER HOWARD

August 2, 2007  01:53 PM ET
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Wow. Aggravated Phillies fan. Guess who could care less? Me.

Your 'DEFENCE' is so good you forgot how to spell it.

August 2, 2007  02:09 PM ET
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lol

August 2, 2007  06:21 PM ET
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The Phillies starting pitching cant hang with the Braves, and down the stretch in August and September you dont want to be trying to outscore everybody when Hammels isnt on the mound. We all know Hammels is not Hudson or Smoltz, so this staff comparision of aces on down isnt even close. Phillies finish third, no playoffs.
-Cassidy

August 3, 2007  08:13 AM ET
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What has Hudson done since he'e been in the NL? He is no ace... he hasn't been anything near what he was in Oakland.

August 3, 2007  10:08 AM ET
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powers - copy and paste arguments from Word. It lets you make them up to the 1200 characters like it says.

 
August 3, 2007  10:58 AM ET
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the phillies have the best ofence in baseball even without chase. Pat's doing amazing as well as Rowand and we have an experienced Werth there. Plus they are ahead of the Braves.

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