Philadelphia @ Atlanta preview
Turner Field
Last Meeting ( May 9, 2010 ) Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 5
For the past two weeks, the Atlanta Braves have been chasing the Philadelphia Phillies from afar, watching the scoreboard to see if they would gain any ground in the NL East standings.
Now, with the margin between them narrowed to a half game, the Braves get a closer look at their target.
The Phillies head to Atlanta to start a three-game series on Monday at Turner Field, and they'll need to turn things around quickly to hang onto their division lead.
The Braves have won five in a row and 10 of 12 since May 17, when they ended the day in last place in the NL East and 6 1/2 games behind Philadelphia.
The Phillies have lost eight of 12 during the same span, watching their lead dwindle to the narrowest of margins. Philadelphia hasn't been out of first place since May 1, but that could change this afternoon.
The Braves hope they have the right man on the mound to make it happen in 23-year-old right-hander Tommy Hanson.
After two straight rocky starts, Hanson (4-3, 4.06 ERA) was solid his last time out, allowing two runs on four hits over six innings to beat the Florida Marlins.
The Braves are 7-3 in Hanson's starts, including a 4-3 win against the Phillies on April 20. In that one, Hanson lasted only 4 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on six hits, but Troy Glaus and rookie Jason Heyward belted back-to-back homers in the ninth and Nate McLouth hit a game-winning shot to lead off the 10th.
That marked Atlanta's only win against the Phillies in Hanson's three starts against them. He is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA against Philadelphia.
Hanson could be catching Philadelphia at the right time. The Phillies have been shut out five times in their last eight games and has scored a total of seven runs in the other three contests. The team is hitting .186 in that span, hasn't hit a homer in 54 innings and has only six extra-base hits in its last six games.
Phillies sluggers Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are mired in awful slumps. Utley has four hits in his last 30 at-bats, and Howard is in the midst of a 4-for-27 stretch and doesn't have an extra-base hit in the last eight games.
Philadelphia starter Joe Blanton (1-3, 5.63 ERA) won't have the same luxury. The 29-year-old right-hander will face a Braves lineup loaded with hot hitters.
Second baseman Martin Prado had two more hits in Sunday's 5-2 win against Pittsburgh, adding to his NL-leading hit total and giving him 23 multi-hit games this season.
But Prado hasn't even been Atlanta's hottest hitter this month - or their second-hottest, for that matter. Those distinctions belong to Heyward and Glaus. Heyward has hit .358 with four homers and 19 RBIs in May, and Glaus is hitting .323 with five homers and 25 RBIs this month.
The Braves have had good luck against Blanton, who is 1-2 with a 5.31 ERA in seven career starts against them. Prado is 5-for-12 with two homers and three RBIs against him, and catcher Brian McCann, who has not been in the starting lineup since May 26 because of a strained quadriceps, is 7-for-17 with two homers and six RBIs against Blanton.