The Braves and Phillies always seem to play their best whenever facing their National League East rivals, and that was the case one again this week at Turner Field. Atlanta lost two of the three games due to a lack of offense, although their bats exploded in a big way in their lone victory. Here is a recap of what transpired between the Braves and Phillies this past week.
The first game featured a stellar pitching matchup with Brandon Beachy and Cole Hamels on the mound. Despite strong performances from both, some poor luck did the Braves' bullpen in as the Phillies went on to claim a 4-2 victory. This game could have gone either way, but it was Philly who caught all the breaks on Tuesday evening.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened in the second game of the series, a game that went 11 innings before finally being decided 15-13 on a Chipper Jones walk-off homer. Philadelphia claimed an early 6-0 lead -- one that was sure to hold up with Roy Halladay on the mound -- but Atlanta responded with eight unanswered runs to make the score 8-6 heading into the seventh inning. The Phillies proceeded to take a 12-8 lead, just to give it right back up to the Braves. Craig Kimbrel blew a save, Chad Durbin had a 1-2-3 inning (I still don't believe this, either) and Chipper sent the crowd home happy.
If you sneezed on Thursday afternoon, there was a pretty good chance you missed at least one inning of the series finale. Despite a very strong showing from rookie Randall Delgado, the Braves completely fell asleep at the plate against Joe Blanton. The Phillies added on a few insurance runs late on their way to a 4-0 victory.
Now losers of four of their last seven games, the Braves will head west to take on the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
For more on Chipper, Heyward and the boys, check out Talking Chop.