Hanson, Braves look to get away from San Diego with matinee win

It's getaway day at Petco Park in San Diego, with rookie Tommy Hanson taking to the mound for the Atlanta Braves against Chad Gaudin and the punchless Padres.

There's been some bad mojo wafting around me for a few days now. That happens from time to time, the stars and planets just not aligning right and Lady Luck being replaced by Bad Karma. I hate that gal.

It's not just losing a couple of games this week that I felt really good about – John Lackey and the Angels last night and the Under in Tampa on Monday – that has been affected by these bad vibes as some ordinary bits of my life have also come under the spell. What I've done in the past to shake them is to just get out of my usual routine. It doesn't always work, but it's always worth a try, so I took a different route into the office today, stopped at a different store than usual to grab an extra cup of coffee and decided to take a look at a ball game that I have no interest in at all instead of capping a game that does appeal to me.

And that brought me to the Braves and Padres in San Diego as they wrap up a three-game set at Petco Park. It's a series dominated by pitching so far, not that you wouldn't expect that given the stadium and the two offenses.

San Diego rookie Mat Latos got the ball rolling on Monday with seven strong innings, the only real mistake he made being a hanger to Atlanta returnee Adam LaRoche. The Padres took that one 4-2 before Javier Vazquez and the Braves routed the Friars last night 9-2. Vazquez hurled seven strong, striking out six and Matt Diaz' homer ignited a four-run sixth to break open a 3-2 game. The nine runs on Tuesday are two more than Atlanta scored in their three previous games combined.

The rubber game this afternoon will feature one future staff ace, Tommy Hanson (6-4, 3.25), against one present staff ace, Chad Gaudin (7-11, 4.76), even if that title is by default and very temporary.

Hanson is coming off the first two personal losses of his 10-start career, but still only allowed six earned in the 13-inning span along with but a single homer. This will be his first start against the Padres and obviously his first at Petco. The Braves are 2-3 in his road starts, but some of that is to blame on their offense.

Gaudin takes the mound off his shortest outing of the season, failing to get out of the second last Friday against the Brewers while giving up seven runs total, only three charged to his ledger. San Diego still managed to win the game as they scored 11 times, the only double-digit final the Pads have put up since the All-Star Game. Gaudin's 18th start of the season was shorter than his one relief appearance on June 7 when he was part of that wild Padres, D-Backs game and pitched two of the 18 innings.

It's his first appearance in either the starting or relief role vs. the Braves in about a year when he faced them for one frame out of the pen while parts of the Cubs staff. The N'awlins native has done very well against the hitters in this lineup however, limiting the group to a combined .194 average in fairly limited action.
Umpire Jim Reynolds will have control of this one behind the plate, with Reynolds checking in 12-7 on home teams and 12-7 on the O/U. He's 4-3 for home dogs as the Padres are today.

Should be great weather for a game, as you'd expect in San Diego. There's no chance of rain, temps reaching the mid-to-upper 70s as the game progresses and NW winds 5-10 MPH, with most of that breeze blowing in from left blocked by the Western Metals building.

I definitely would prefer betting on Hanson and the Braves at -135 than trusting my money with Gaudin and this current Padres squad. But I also can't trust ATL field boss Bobby Cox to put his regulars all out there on the field in thie getaway game with a series in LA against the Dodgers coming up this weekend. If I knew for a fact he was going to play both Chipper Jones and Brian McCann in this one, it would be a much easier decision to back the chalk.

As it is, I'm going to see if I can cash the under. The number is presently 7, so I'm going to wait a little while to see if if it might step up a half-run.