Sunday Night Game
Philadelphia, PA – Facing the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park is usually a difficult task. That has not been the case for Jair Jurrjens and the Atlanta Braves.
Jurrjens and the Braves will try to continue their success at Philadelphia when the division rivals conclude a three-game series Sunday night.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Phillies -125 moneyline favorites for Sunday’s game against the Braves. Current MLB Public Betting Information shows that 58% of more than 192 bets for this game have been placed on the Phillies -125.
Atlanta leads the season series 9-5, and has taken seven of the last 10 meetings at Philadelphia dating to last year. The Braves won there again Saturday, handing Phillies ace Cliff Lee his first NL loss by connecting for four homers in a 9-1 victory.
The Braves fell 4-2 a night earlier.
Atlanta (68-61) is second in the East, seven games behind the first-place Phillies (74-53), who are 20-8 at home since July 2. Atlanta, though, is 3 1/2 back of wild card-leading Colorado.
"There are plenty of games left in the season," Jurrjens told the team’s official Web site. "We just have to stay focused and take it one game at a time."
Jurrjens (10-8, 2.91) will take the mound looking for another strong performance at Citizens Bank Park, where he has gone 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA in three starts.
The right-hander won there April 7, limiting the Phillies to four hits in 5 2-3 innings of a 4-0 victory.
"You need to pitch backwards when you’re here," Jurrjens said. "When you’re behind, you need to throw more offspeed pitches and keep those hitters off-balance. That’s the main thing you have to do in a ballpark like this. You just have to keep the ball down and keep changing speeds a lot."
He has dominated Philadelphia this season, going 2-0 with a 0.92 ERA in three games.
Jurrjens, emerging as one of Atlanta’s most reliable starters, went 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA over his last six starts, getting two runs of support or less in five of them.
He didn’t get much help again Tuesday, yielding one run and striking out seven in 7 2-3 innings of a 2-1, 12-inning loss to San Diego.
Joe Blanton (8-6, 3.88) will try to improve against the Braves when he takes the ball Sunday.
The right-hander is 0-1 with a 6.58 ERA in five games versus Atlanta, four of them coming this season.
Blanton pitched better in his last start against them, allowing two runs – one earned – in seven innings of a 3-2 win Aug. 14.
That performance is part of a nine-game stretch of quality starts for Blanton. He has gone 4-2 with a 2.24 ERA in that span, reaching the seventh inning in eight of those outings.
He lasted six innings Tuesday, allowing three runs and two homers while not getting a decision in a 6-4 loss at Pittsburgh.
Posted: 8/30/09 6:00AM ET
