Braves Keep Win Streak Alive, Phillies Trade Rumors Swirling

The Atlanta Braves (62-45) kept their win streak alive with an 11-3 win over the Colorado Rockies (51-57) on Tuesday.

Lefty reliever Alex Wood (1-2) got the starting nod and proved himself with a solid seven-inning game and earned his first win. Wood gave up six hits, three runs, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Alex Wood

Wood said of his third MLB career start via MLB.com, “I felt a lot more comfortable. I told [McCann] before we started warming up in the bullpen that it was the first time I had that feeling where we could go out there and have some success and I felt normal.”

The Braves got runs on the board with Freddie Freeman’s two home runs and four RBIs. Brian McCann contributed a three-run homer. They scored 10 unanswered runs for the night with six runs coming in the fourth inning. This came with Rockies righty Juan Nicasio (6-5) on the mound.

Nicasio allowed 10 hits with eight runs (a season high), four walks and four strikeouts over four innings. He just got the call up from Triple-A Colorado Springs on July 12 and over three starts, he was 2-0 (0.47 ERA). Against the Braves in his four career starts, he owns a 9.82 ERA.

The Rockies’ bright spot was a 3-1 lead by the second inning including a home run by Nolan Arenado but Nicasio couldn’t maintain the advantage.

The Braves now sit 10 games at the top of the division with the Washington Nationals (52-55) in the second spot. Atlanta also lead the majors with their 36-15 home record.

Rumors had been swirling that the Braves would make a trade by the deadline for a pitcher as starter Tim Hudson went down last week for the season and Brandon Beachy was rusty in Monday’s start after his Tommy John surgery.

With Wood show up, the Braves will most likely not take any trade action. Assisting with this potential decision is the fact that they only has seven games remaining against teams greater than .500.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Braves placed reserve outfielder Reed Johnson on the DL (15-day) from heel tendinitis. He joins two other outfielders.

The Braves sit at +750 to win this year’s World Series and in Wednesday’s Game 3 of the Rockies series, look for the win streak to continue (-167, 7.5 o/u).

Phillies Trade Rumors 

With the Braves in a dominant lead, good luck to the other teams to try and catch up. But it doesn’t mean they won’t make trades to do so.

The Philadelphia Phillies (50-56), who sit in third place, behind by 11.5 games, have infielder Michael Young, 36, potentially on the trade block but he would only consider a return to his former team of 13 seasons, the Texas Rangers (58-49) reported Fox Sports. Later, media reports disputed this as Young supposedly said he’d considered “other destinations.”

His second choice? The Boston Red Sox (64-44). The New Yankees (55-51) also are supposedly interested.

Should Young go to a new team, over his 99 games in 2013, he’ll bring batting of  277/.342/.402 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs.

Cliff Lee

Meanwhile, Young’s teammate lefty pitcher Cliff Lee has been another trade topic after receiving interest from numerous teams, including the Red Sox. On Tuesday night, Phillies general manager said to MLB Network that there was a “very little chance” Lee would be traded prior to Wednesday’s deadline.

Why? He’s expensive.

Thanks to his contract, in December 2010, he inked a five-year, $120 million deal that has $25 million paydays for the 2013 through 2015 seasons. This also included a 2016 $27.5 million club option and a $12.5 million buyout, reported ESPN.

For the Phillies, they snapped an eight-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 7-3 win over the equally lame San Francisco Giants (46-59).

The Phillies are +7500 to win this year’s World Series.