Braves Pitchers Get Lost in Philly

I was watching Javy Vasquez pitch “good enough” for the Braves in their third game of the season. He pitched 6 good innings and the Braves offense gave him 10 runs to work with. So he left the game up 10-3 expecting to cruise to his first win in a Braves uniform.

Then the Braves bullpen took the ball in the 7th inning. After an out to Victorino, and a solid base hit to Chase Utley, the bullpen just need to buckle down and get two more outs. The could have let Utley score without caring. It wouldn’t matter, focus on the outs.

Instead, the Braves bullpen - four pitchers in the inning (whoever started the inning, Moylan, Boyer, Campillo) - did the following: hit Howard with a pitch, walked Werth, gave up a single to Ibanez scoring a run, a single to Feliz scoring a run, walked PH Matt Stairs to force in a run, walked PH Chris Coste to force in a run, walked Jimmy Rollins to force in a run, gave up a hit to Victorino to score a run, walked Utley to force in a run, Howard grounded out to force in a run, and then Werth flew out to end the inning.

The finished the inning down 11-10 after giving up 4 hits (Utley, Ibanez, Feliz & Victorino) and walking 6 and forcing in 4 runs.

That could be the worst single inning for any ball club I’ve ever seen. Horrible. Just horrible.

The Atlanta pitching had been dominating this Philly offense up to that point, only allowing 4 runs through 24 innings.

Just bad.