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Padres-Braves Preview

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:05 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

San Diego (52-74) at Atlanta (66-58), 7:10 p.m. EDT

If the Atlanta Braves are going to mount a serious run at the NL wild card, they'll probably need to show some improvement at home and capitalize on a series against the last-place San Diego Padres.

After dropping the opener of this three-game set, the Braves will try to get their offense going Wednesday night.

Atlanta (66-59) is tied with NL East rival Florida at 5 1/2 games back of Colorado in the wild-card race.

The Braves had hoped to take advantage of three games against the Padres (53-74), the last-place club in the West. However, they got this series off to a rocky start, falling 2-1 in 12 innings Tuesday to lose for only the third time in 12 meetings with San Diego at Turner Field.

"We couldn't have played a better game, couldn't have pitched any better," manager Bobby Cox said. "We just didn't get the hit when it meant something."

After concluding this series Thursday, the Braves will open a three-game set with East-leading Philadelphia before playing four at Florida.

Atlanta has struggled at home, splitting 14 games while hitting .223 and averaging 3.6 runs. That stretch has come after the club won 10 of 11 at Turner Field while outscoring opponents 70-23 behind a .311 average.

Chipper Jones has been a major contributor to the Braves' recent offensive woes, hitting .234 with one homer and five RBIs over the last 14 games at home. He has been even worse in the last nine overall, going 1 for 28.

Despite going 0 for 4 on Tuesday, Jones owns a .324 average in his last 10 games against the Padres.

Kenshin Kawakami (6-9, 3.97 ERA) will take the mound looking for a fourth straight solid start for the Braves.

The 34-year-old rookie right-hander is 1-0 with a 1.77 ERA over his last three outings with Atlanta winning all of them despite providing him with five runs of support.

Kawakami was terrific again Thursday, yielding one run and scattering seven hits in seven innings to win 3-2 at New York.

"No matter what, we have a chance to win when he toes the rubber," Cox said.

Kawakami lost 4-2 at San Diego on Aug. 3, allowing three runs in six innings.

The Padres have lost four of six, getting held to four runs or less in each game. They'll give the ball to Tim Stauffer (1-6, 3.95), who is looking to halt a personal four-game slide.

Stauffer, though, could use some help if he's going to win for the first time since beating Cincinnati 7-4 on July 30. He's followed that victory by going 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA over four starts, getting five runs of support.

That stretch, which has seen Stauffer exit each game after five innings, started with a 9-2 loss to Atlanta on Aug. 4 as he allowed three runs.

He wasn't much better Thursday, laboring through 101 pitches and giving up four runs while hitting two batters and striking out six in a 5-1 loss to St. Louis.

"You hear us talk about stringing pitches together. We are seeing that at times," manager Bud Black told the Padres' official Web site. "You see some at-bats where it gets away from him. ... There are going to be times in a ballgame when the pitcher is stressed."