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By Mike Rose
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Sunday, August 21, 2005
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ESPN Sunday Night Game Of The Week
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A battle of division leaders takes place tonight on
ESPN as the NL West leading San Diego Padres take on the
NL East leading Atlanta Braves in what could possibly be
a preview of a showdown in the post-season.
The Padres have been running on life support since the
All Star break going a whopping 11-20, but still find
themselves with a 3-game lead in the putrid NL West.
In fact, they’re the first team ever to lead a
division with a sub .500 mark this late into the
season. As of now, they got a leg up in a division
where it seems nobody wants to win.
The Atlanta Braves looked to be on their way to a
miserable season early on as they were ravaged with
injuries, but the kids that were brought up from the
farm have simply rejuvenated this ball club. They currently
hold a 4.5 game lead over Philadelphia in the East, and
look to be almost certain of winning the division for
the "umpteenth" time in a row. Manager
Bobby Cox and pitching coach Leo Mazzone know
exactly what they’re doing, and are a testament
of what it takes to field a winning team in this league.
Game 3 of their series pits (7-12) Brian Lawrence vs.
(12-6) John Smoltz who’s been nothing short of fantastic
in his return as a starter. The Braves were swept right
out of Petco Park way back in May, so you can be sure
the Braves will be very determined to return the favor
in this 3-game set. In fact, Smoltzy pitched in one of
those games and went a solid 8 innings giving up 4 hits,
1 ER, struck out 5, and walked 2. He would have been
the winning pitcher, but Danny Kolb gave up 2 runs in
the bottom of the 9th to blow yet another game for
the Braves.
San Diego enters this series of a series loss in Florida,
and has been shut out their last two games. They couldn’t
even grab a win for stud pitcher Jake Peavy who gave up
2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 9 in 6 innings of
work. They’ve only managed to plate 2.5 runs per game
in their last 10 ball games, so you can bet every penny
in your savings account on a Braves sweep if they keep
their offensive ineptitude up.
These teams now meet on entirely different circumstances.
The Padres were rolling the first time these teams met,
but the shoe is now entirely on the different foot as
it’s the Braves who clearly hold the upper hand. Smoltz
is yet to win a game in August as he’s labored a bit,
but there’s no better scenario for him to grab his
first than tonight in the comfy confines of Turner
Field in this nationally televised game.
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