Atlanta Braves (8-13-3) at New York Mets (9-10-2) March 20, 2014 U Tradition Field U Port St
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Atlanta Braves (8-13-3) at New York Mets (9-10-2) March 20, 2014 u Tradition Field u Port St. Lucie, FL u WFOM 1230/WIFN 1340 RHP Ervin Santana (9-10, 3.24 in 2013) vs. RHP Zack Wheeler (1-1, 0.84) u RECENT MEMORY: The Braves got blanked for the second time this spring (tied with DET 0-0 on March 2) while falling to the New York Yankees 7-0 yesterday at Lake Buena Vista...RHP David Hale suffered his second loss of 2014 after allowing three runs in 4.1 innings, giving up five hits and three walks while striking out a pair... Atlanta mustered just five hits on the afternoon, including a double in the pinch byRyan Doumit in his first action since taking a foul ball off of his right hand on Sunday. u BRAVES VS. METS: Today marks the third of four Grapefruit League match ups between these two NL East foes this spring before they meet 19 times over the course of the 2014 regular season...New York claimed the win in the first two meetings on the spring, taking home a 6-2 victory on March 3 after 2.0 scoreless frames from top prospect RHP Noah Syndergaard before winning by an 8-2 on March 9...The two Clubs alternated wins last year in the spring, with each squad taking home a pair of victories in four total games...The Braves and Mets will wrap up their spring slate on March 23...The Braves went 10-9 against New York in the regular season last year, their worst record against any team in their division. u FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: RHP Ervin Santana makes his first start with the Braves and his first outing overall since September 25, 2013...Santana and the Braves agreed to terms a one-year contract for the 2014 season on March 12...ATLANTA LANDS SANTANA: Santana joins the Club after going 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA for the Kansas City Royals last season, tying for fourth in the American League with 23 “quality starts” and ranking eighth in the AL with a 1.14 WHIP... The Dominican-born Santana has a 105-90 record over nine Major League seasons, pitching to a 4.19 ERA in 268 appearances and logging at least 200 innings pitched in five of the last eight seasons...Originally signed by the Anaheim Angels in 2000, Santana has turned in one All-Star campaign (2008) and tossed one no-hitter, on July 27, 2011 at Cleveland while with the Angels. u THE OTHER ARMS INVOLVED: A trio of righties are on the dockett to follow Santana, as David Carpenter, Cory Gearrin and Jordan Walden are all penciled in to appear in relief...Carpenter has turned in five consecutive scoreless outings, while Gearrin turned in a clean inning his last time out (3/15) as well...Walden allowed a run on two hits in his last game on March 15 vs. STL...The Mets send RHP Zack Wheeler to the mound for his fourth start of the spring, and his second against the Braves...Wheeler held Atlanta scoreless through 3.0 innings of work on March 9, surrendering three hits and a walk while striking out three. u DAN THE MAN: INF Dan Uggla sits on three National League spring-training leaderboards through his first 16 games of the spring, ranking in the Top 10 of the NL in RBI (T-5th, 10), home runs (T-7th, 3) and bases on balls (T-1st, 9)...Uggla has three home runs and four walks over his last eight games...UP TO SOMETHING: OF B.J. Upton tallied another two-hit game on Sunday, his third multi-hit contest in his last nine games...He finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI and is hitting .306 (11-for-36) on the month...Upton also swiped his fourth bag of the spring in the first inning yesterday, tying him with three others for the fourth-most steals in the National League. u BUMPS AND BRUISES: RHP Kris Medlen underwent surgery Tuesday to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow...The operation was per- formed in Gulf Breeze, Fla., by Dr. James Andrews, who performed the same “Tommy John” surgical procedure on Medlen in August of 2010...Medlen last pitched March 9, when he left his start against the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie after experiencing pain in the forearm. u ON THE MOVE: Atlanta trimmed its spring roster by five move players this morning, optioningRHP Juan Jaime, RHP Luis Vasquez, C Christian Bethancourt, and OF Todd Cunningham to Triple-A Gwinnett and optioning INF Elmer Reyes to Double-A Mississippi...Atlanta has trimmed its roster by 22 players in the past week, optioning six total players (five today, one on March 14) and re-assigning 16 others to minor league camp (March 14)...WHO’S STILL HERE?: The Braves have 40 players remaining in camp, including eight non-roster invitees...20 of the 40 players are pitchers (seven LHP, 13 RHP), 10 are infielders, six are outfielders and four are catchers. u A FEW MINOR ADDITIONS: Six players from minor league camp will join the Braves for today’s game, as RHP David Bromberg (#77), RHP John Cornely (#78), RHP James Hoyt (#81) and LHP Eric Pfisterer (#97) will be available out of the bullpen, and INF Sean Kazmar and C Braeden Schlehuber will be available off the bench...23 total minor league players have loaned their services to the Major League squad this year. u THE END IS NEAR: Atlanta breaks camp a week from today and opens the regular season in just 11 days on March 31, traveling to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers at Miller Park (2:10 p.m., SPSO)...The Braves open the home portion of their 2014 campaign on Tuesday, April 8, when they host the New York Mets (7:10 p.m., SPSO)...Atlanta is entering its 139th season of play in the National League and its 49th season in Atlanta...The franchise resided in Boston for 77 years (1876-1952), in Milwaukee for 13 years (1953-65) and has been in Atlanta since 1966. u TAKE A WALK: Bench coach Carlos Tosca spent his off day Tuesday participating in Arnie’s March Against Children’s Cancer, a one-mile walk to raise money at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club...He was joined by Manager Fredi Gonzalez in support of the movement, which has generated over $123,000 for pediatric cancer research and clinical trials for children in Central Florida...TAKE LOTS OF WALKS: For the second straight season, The Cindy Donald Dreams of Recovery Foun- dation and the Atlanta Braves will team up for Cindy’s Walks for Recovery, the unique fundraising program which debuted last spring...Through Cindy’s Walks for Recovery, Braves Country can help Marietta resident Cindy Donald accomplish her deam of making a lasting difference in the lives of those suffering from spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries by donating a dollar amount of their choosing for each base on balls drawn by a Braves batter during the 2014 season...Fans can visit www. walksforrecovery.com for more information. u GUESTS ARE COMING OVER: Manager Fredi Gonzalez and the Atlanta coaching staff will be assisted by six guest instructors throughout the course of spring training, including a pair of National Baseball Hall of Famers, as new inductee Tom Glavine will be around from March 21-25, and fellow Hall of Famer Phil Niekro is scheduled to make an appearance...Javy Lopez began camp with the Club and concluded his time in late February, while Gene Garber and Steve Avery departed Wednesday after arriving in camp on February 25 and February 27, respectively...Former OF Ryan Klesko kicked off seven-day stop in camp March 10 and remained with the club through yesterday’s game. SPRING TRAINING SCHEDULE/RESULTS Time/ Probable Pitchers/ Date/Opp. Result Winner-Loser-Save Record Attendance Braves HRs Highlights Wed., 2/26 vs. DET+ L, 6-5 Hardy-Simmons, S.-Marte 0-1 5,509 None Uggla (2-for-2, RBI), Mejia (2-for-3, 2 2B), Garcia (2.0 IP, 2 K) Thur., 2/27 at DET+ L, 5-2 Krol-Obispo-Rondon 0-2 5,991 Heyward (1) Heyward (1-for-3, HR), Doumit (2-for-3, 3B, RBI, SB) Fri., 2/28 vs. HOU+ L, 7-5 Albers-Walden-Lo 0-3 4,592 Cunningham (1) Cunningham (2-for-2, HR, 1B, 2 R, BB, SB), Uggla (2 BB, 2 RBI) Sat., 3/1 at WSH+ L, 16-15 Rivero-Simmons, S-Ayala 0-4 5,584 None Teheran (2.0 IP, K), Schafer (3-for-3, R, RBI, BB) Sun., 3/2 vs. DET (SS)+ T, 0-0 None 0-4-1 6,622 None Wood (2.0 IP, 2K), Avilan (1.0 IP, K), Freeman (2-for-3) at HOU (SS) L, 7-4 Cosart-Hale-Bass 0-5-1 2,449 None Upton, B (1-for-3, 2B, RBI), La Stella (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) Mon., 3/3 vs. NYM+ L, 6-2 Reid-Severino-None 0-6-1 5,448 None Garcia (3.0 IP, 3 K), Doumit (1-for-1, BB) Tue., 3/4 vs. WSH+ W, 8-4 Hursh-Ayala-None 1-6-1 5,188 None Medlen (3.0 IP, H, BB, 3 K), Upton, J, (2-for-2) Wed., 3/5 at PHI+& T, 2-2 None 1-6-2 6,808 None Beachy (3.0 IP, BB, K), Upton, B.