Record 84–78 (.519) Local radios WGST, WUBL | Divisional place 3rd Start date 2007 | |
Local televisions Fox Sports South, SportSouth People also search for 1891 Boston Beaneaters season | ||
The Atlanta Braves' 2007 season began with the Braves attempting to recapture the NL East title, which they relinquished for the first time since the 1990 season to the New York Mets in the 2006 season. They opened their season with a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Contents
December
January
March
April
The team had a great April to open the season, finishing the month with a 16–9 record. They also won both series against the rival Mets that month. Three of the four victories in those series were comeback wins. They were 2 games ahead of the Mets for first-place at the end of the month.
May
The Braves started off the month red-hot by winning 8 of their first 11 games, which included five straight wins from May 8–12. It was their first five-game winning streak since July 2006. The team finished out the month by winning just 6 of their final 17 games, however, which included a sweep at home at the hands of the Phillies (whom they had swept at the beginning of the season). The Braves ended with a .500 record for the month, at 14–14.
June
Interleague play during mid-June saw the Braves struggle, finishing with an NL-worst 4–11 record. The team lost 7 out of 8 games, including a stretch in which they scored just a single run in a five-game span. On June 24, the Braves fell to .500 for the first time during the season. The month ended on a positive note, however, as the Braves took five straight games from the Washington Nationals and the Florida Marlins. During those five games, the Braves scored 41 runs. The Braves finished the month four games behind the Mets in the divisional standings.
July
On July 5, Chipper Jones surpassed Dale Murphy for the Atlanta club record of 372 home runs by belting 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves went into the All-Star break with a record of 47–42, 2 games behind the New York Mets. After the break, the Braves swept the Pirates in three games, then were immediately swept by the last-place Cincinnati Reds.
On July 18, Julio Franco was signed as a free agent. On July 21, Willie Harris went 6-for-6 with 6 RBIs to become the seventh player in franchise history to go 6-for-6 in a 14–6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
On July 31, the Braves acquired 1B Mark Teixeira and LHP Ron Mahay from the Texas Rangers for C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus, LHP Matt Harrison, RHP Neftalí Feliz, and LHP Beau Jones. Saltalamacchia, Andrus, and Harrison were rated as the top three prospects in the organization at the start of the season by Baseball America. Later in the day, they acquired RHP Octavio Dotel from the Kansas City Royals for RHP Kyle Davies. In the final deal before the deadline, Atlanta traded LHPs Wilfredo Ledezma and Will Startup to the San Diego Padres for LHP Royce Ring.
August
The Braves went through a disappointing August going 13–15. They suffered a terrible loss on August 2 losing to the Houston Astros 12–11 in 14 innings in which Edgar Rentería left with an ankle sprain which kept him out for a month. Yunel Escobar took his spot and fared similarly to Rentería and on August 5, he hit a walk-off single against the Colorado Rockies in 10 innings. On August 16, Jeff Francoeur, wore a jersey with his name misspelled on it. The "e" and "u" in his name switched, went 0-for-4 with the Braves in a game against the Giants. At the end of the month, they were 5½ games back of the Mets for first place.
September
After dropping the first two games of September to the rival New York Mets, the Braves won 14 of their next 20 games to pull within only three games of the wild card. The Braves could not keep up this blistering pace however, dropping four of their last five games, eliminating themselves from playoff contention. The Braves did use the late season roster expansion to bring up young OF prospect Brandon Jones, a possible replacement for outfielder Andruw Jones, whose contract expired in 2007, and won't be renewed because his batting statistics tumbled in 2007. The Braves final game of the season took place on September 30, and the Braves lost to the Houston Astros, 3–0. This was also the final Braves game broadcast nationally by TBS, ending more than 30 years of nationally televised Atlanta Braves baseball.
October
On October 11, John Schuerholz gave up the GM job after 17 years to become team president, signing a four-year contract. The new GM Frank Wren, signed a four-year contract after eight years as Assistant GM.
Batting
Note: PA=Plate Appearances; HR=Home Runs; RBI=Runs Batted In; SB=Stolen Bases; AVG=Batting Average; OBP=On-Base Percentage; SLG=Slugging Percentage.
*With Atlanta.
Pitching
Note: G=Games; GS=Games Started; W=Wins; L=Losses; IP=Innings Pitched; H/9=Hits per 9 IP; BB/9=Walks per 9 IP; SO/9=Strikeouts per 9 IP; ERA=Earned Run Average
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Richmond