this is the main reason i'm glad we DON't have our top 3 lined up to go against Philly.

yep. and we have the best pitching staff by far out of all three. its going to be an exciting finish.

San Francisco also has a series left @ Colorado and vs SD on the schedule, so I think they're the pretty logical team to root for in the west. Although every game they lose not against these guys does help us.

I hadn't realized that Colorado lost today--it's pretty devastating for them to lose a game this late. They also finish out with four games @STL. I know they have seemed unstoppable lately but they've got a tough road to the finish line.

But I'm also very worried about this next week. The only redeeming factor is that we've got Florida at home--the last thing I want to think about is a road trip to Miami.

Best pitching staff "by far". What? Pads have best era, giants are 2, we are 3. Giants have best BAA, pads are 2, we are 4. What other metrics should we use? Whatever we do, I think Pads and/or Giants get a slight nod or even in the pitching department compared to Braves. Cmon maaann

Stopping by here to say hai. Lifelong Giants fan (still heartbroken about 1993, wtf McGriff AND Martinez in August?) but my wife's best friend is Bobby Cox's daughter and we are really rooting for him to go out on top. Plus we'll get killer seats if there's a Giants-Braves matchup in the playoffs, so go Braves

our staff has experience. half of the padres and rockies starts havent even pitched a full season, plus we have big time timmy jim.

damn, the phillies luckboxed again?

and another 1-run game - they are playing .650 baseball in 1-run games now - the highest in baseball.

bad matchup tonight, 2 pitchers going opposite directions

Anyone seen Tuq around? Remember when he got upset that I said he wasn't a Braves fan? Sure jumped off the bandwagon quick, lol.

so is this tuq guy commonly known as the worst mod?

i think both teams are secretly thinking "let's just not get swept" about this series.

in terms of the division, yeah it sucks if we lose 2/3 and we are probably done, but we'd still be in decent shape in the WC

if we sweep philly we are definitely the favorite to win the division

1/3 is not a terrible result for this series...it's our hardest series left in the year and our ace will be playing against the nationals the next game. if we go 1/3 and the padres and rockies win 2/3 or 3/3 and are within a game there are going to be lots of doomsayers, but it will be less dire than it looks. we get @Nats while they get vs Cincy and vs Giants. San Diego is starting the top of their rotation against this series, and Colorado has tough matchups against San Francisco, who is fighting for its life. So don't despair if our lead is down to half a game or less come Thursday.

we just really need to go 4/6 or better against the nats/fish. that's absolutely vital.

Jurrjens is scratched for tonight. Brandon Beachy is starting in his place. Actually am kind of happy tbh. Jurrjens clearly wasn't right, and probably would have gotten knocked around Citizens Park. Happy he admitted it/the medical staff sniffed it out. Feel like we actually have a chance with a wild card like Beachy. 48/6 K:BB ratio in 45.2 AAA innings this season, and 100/22 ratio in 73.2 innings in AA. Game of this kid's life, that is for sure.

wow...that's huge news

~120 IP in AA and AAA with a ~1 WHIP and sub-2 ERA, combined

yeah, talk about a high pressure MLB debut

wtf never heard of this dude but he has sick numbers

BB for JJ. Don't be nervous kid, no pressure

Yeah sick numbers.

the line moved from phils -160 to -200 with beachy now in

Here we gggggoooooooo!!!!!!!!

11 pitches. we're gonna have to work Hamels a bit harder than that to have a solid shot at the game

bullpen is the only place we've really got a solid edge in this one, i'm afraid

let's go beachy!

...i was thinking the same thing about that damned DP

way to take the lead bravos!!!!

Big Mac Attack!!!

Agonz has the worst plate discipline on the team.

Agonz and Melky ruin a potential big inning. Shocking.