I Love Beating the Braves

Although the Mets may be the Phillies official rivals, it always feels good beating the Braves.  Whether it’s the regular season and the Phils just took a 4-1 season lead or the 1993 NLCS, it always helps to know you can beat a good team.  Granted the Braves have not been on top form recently, the Phils did propel themselves into second place and solidified an encouraging five game winning streak.  There were some sloppy plays by the Phils last night (Burrell’s base running gaffe, Liebs dropped popup) but the Braves – like the Marlins before them – seemed unable to take advantages of such opportunities.

The best part of this mini-series sweep was that it took place in Philly.  The Braves, led by Wednesday’s starter John Smoltz, are always complaining about Citizen’s Bank Park.  Even Bobby Cox subtly jabbed the place when commenting on starter John Thomson’s performance last night.  "For this ballpark, it was a fair outing," he said.  It just irks me when losers look for excuses to justify the loss.  I guess though when you’ve had the success of the Braves, it can’t all be your fault…

…just something that was on my mind this morning.  Check back later today for the latest edition of The City Line.