Know Your Foe #33: Oh Good. The Rockies Are Playing The Braves Again.

Atlanta Braves (56-39, 2nd NL East, 1st NL Wild Card)

Last Series vs. Rockies: July 4-7, 2011 (W 4-0 at Turner Field)

I might just have to make this a short Know Your Foe. We just saw the Braves, and the Rockies were just throttled by the Braves. The upside of that 4-game series was the fact that the Rockies were only blown out in one game. The downside was everything else - even when the games weren't blowouts, they weren't 1-run games, either.

The first game of the series wasn't miserable. Ubaldo Jimenez gave up a 2-run shot to Freddie Freeman in the 1st, and another run in the 6th, but also struck out 9 Braves to only 1 walk. The Rockies were also 4-hit, the only run coming on a Todd Helton single to drive in Mark Ellis. Final 4-1.

Game 2 was a stinker from Jhoulys Chacin, featuring 4 hits, 4 runs, 5 strikeouts, and 6 walks. The Rockies' offense at least kind of showed up, with only Ty Wigginton, Ian Stewart, and Jhoulys Chacin failing to notch a hit from among the starters. Mark Ellis had a 3-hit game, and Johnny Herrera had the Mondogarage special, 2 hits and a walk after his start was eschewed by most everyone on the site. Final 5-3.

Game 3 was awful. Aaron Cook was destroyed, and the Rockies only plated 1 batter despite 7 hits and 3 walks. Rafael Betancourt had an awful game as well. Not much more to say here. Final 9-1.

Game 4 was also not good. Juan Nicasio was lit up for 5 runs in less than 3 innings, and despite some competent relief work by Eric Stults (3.1IP, 1R, HR), the Rockies managed to convert only 3 of their 11 baserunners.

It was just a bad series. There's nothing really good to say about any of it.

Latest Series Results: L 1-2 vs. Philadelphia; W 2-1 vs. Washington

Don't look now, but Dan Uggla is slowly heating up. Excluding his 1-for-3 day on Sunday against the Nats, Uggla has hit .313/.436/.719 with 3 homers, 4 doubles, and 7 walks. I don't want to jinx it, but I'd love it if he fell apart again vs the Rockies during this upcoming series.

Dan Uggla

#26 / Second Base / Atlanta Braves

Height: 5-11

Weight: 205

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Mar 11, 1980

He looks about as disgusted as one would expect with a season batting line as unpretty as his has been.

It's tough to try and nail down just one cause for Uggla's poort season. He's walking less in 2011 (8.6 BB%, 10.5% career) and hitting for less power (.179 ISO vs career .219), but his strikeout rate has remained relatively consistent with the past several years (22.2%, 22.5% career). You could also point to a drastically reduced BABIP (.202, career .291), but that's kind of what happens when your LD% is 2-3 percentage points lower than the past 2 years.

If we could just point to a few batted-ball rates and try to summarize there, Uggla is hitting fewer line drives than ever, more ground balls than ever, and popping up WAY more than he has in his entire career (13.4%, 8.8% career). Maybe Uggla is just trying too hard. It's a stretch, I know, but it's something to think about.

Matchups, etc post-jump.

Monday through Thursday: 4-game series at Coors Field

Expected Pitching Matchups

Monday, July 18, 2011 @ 6:40 PM MT

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 @ 6:40 PM MT

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 @ 6:40 PM MT

Thursday, July 21, 2011 @ 1:10 PM MT

Expected Lineup

Bench

Closer

Injuries