Philadelphia Phillies-Atlanta Braves: Derek Lowe Downs Phils 4-1

In what was billed as a fantastic opening game for the MLB season, the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies (Brett Myers) fell to the division-rival Atlanta Braves (Derek Lowe) at Citizens Bank Park, 4-1.

The night started off fine for Myers, who retired the first two batters he faced. Unfortunately, Chipper Jones would have none of that. Jones hit a two-out single right in front of Raul Ibanez setting up the beginning of the end for Myers and the Phils.

Brian McCann slammed a change-up at the numbers deep into the second deck in right field to quiet the rowdy Philadelphia crowd and put the Braves out ahead by two early in the game.

Bad went to worse for Myers in the second inning.

Jeff Francoeur would lead off the inning and start it off with a bang. He nailed a solo shot into left field to extend the Braves' lead to 3-0.

Could it get any worse for Myers? Evidently it could.

A rookie from AA came up for his first Major League at-bat and boy did he make the best of it. Jordan Schafer had to go low for it, but he cracked a Myers pitch into deep center field for his first Major League hit and home run extending the lead to 4-0.

All of this took place in a span of just five batters.

While Myers was having his first meltdown of the season, so were the Phils' batters. The Phils could only manage two hits in the first eight innings, with only four hits total.

The only run of the night for the Phils came in the bottom of the ninth when Jayson Werth brought Eric Bruntlett in on a base hit with one out.

After a walk to Chase Utley, Ryan Howard was up with a chance to potentially tie the game and only one out. Unfortunately, in the pattern of the game, Howard struck out looking for the slider. He got a fastball right down the middle from Mike Gonzalez and Howard couldn't adjust.

He should have been looking fastball knowing he would have to adjust to anything else, but he did the opposite and got himself locked up. This was the worst possible scenario for the Phils at that time.

A high inside pitch missed by Raul Ibanez would eventually end the game.

All in all, this was a totally different game for these two teams.

The Braves have to feel good about where they're going for the rest of the season. Their big free-agent acquisition, Derek Lowe, gave them eight shut-out innings and allowed only two hits during that time. A rookie from AA hit a home-run for his first at-bat, and the vets chipped in by going deep as well in McCann and Francoeur.

The Phils, on the other hand, played with zero intensity and were just plain beat down by the Braves tonight. Hopefully they can identify and fix the problems so this doesn't spell the story for the 2009 season.

The Phils (0-1, Moyer) will face off against the Braves (1-0, Jurrjens) again on 4/7 at 7:05 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA.

Hopefully the Phils can avoid a second-straight embarrassing home loss.

Box Score courtesy of mlb.com.

Braves 4, Phillies 1

Atlanta AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Johnson, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 Escobar, SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250 Jones, C, 3B 4 1 2 0 0 2 1 .500 McCann, C 4 1 1 2 0 2 2 .250 Anderson, G, LF 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .250 Francoeur, RF 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 .250 Kotchman, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 Schafer, CF 3 1 2 1 1 1 0 .667 Lowe, P 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .000 a-Norton, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Gonzalez, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 35 4 8 4 1 10 9 a-Flied out for Lowe in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Escobar (1, Myers), Jones, C (1, Myers). HR: McCann (1, 1st inning off Myers, 1 on, 2 out), Francoeur (1, 2nd inning off Myers, 0 on, 0 out), Schafer (1, 2nd inning off Myers, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Escobar 2; Jones, C 3; McCann 4; Anderson, G; Francoeur 4; Schafer 5. RBI: McCann 2 (2), Francoeur (1), Schafer (1). 2-out RBI: McCann 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Anderson, G; McCann; Lowe. Team LOB: 5.		Philadelphia AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Rollins, SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .250 Werth, RF 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .250 Utley, 2B 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 Howard, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000 Ibanez, LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 Victorino, CF 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 Feliz, 3B 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 Ruiz, C 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 Myers, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 a-Dobbs, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Taschner, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Eyre, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Durbin, C, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Lidge, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b-Bruntlett, PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 Totals 31 1 4 1 1 6 8 a-Flied out for Myers in the 6th. b-Doubled for Lidge in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Ruiz (1, Lowe), Bruntlett (1, Gonzalez). TB: Rollins; Werth; Ruiz 2; Bruntlett 2. RBI: Werth (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rollins; Ibanez. Team LOB: 4.
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Lowe (W, 1-0) 8.0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0.00 Gonzalez 1.0 2 1 1 1 2 0 9.00		Philadelphia IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Myers (L, 0-1) 6.0 8 4 4 1 6 3 6.00 Taschner 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Eyre 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Durbin, C 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Lidge 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
IBB: Schafer (by Myers). Pitches-strikes: Lowe 97-66, Gonzalez 28-15, Myers 97-58, Taschner 17-9, Eyre 10-5, Durbin, C 4-3, Lidge 9-6. Groundouts-flyouts: Lowe 13-7, Gonzalez 0-1, Myers 7-5, Taschner 2-0, Eyre 0-1, Durbin, C 0-0, Lidge 1-1. Batters faced: Lowe 26, Gonzalez 6, Myers 27, Taschner 3, Eyre 2, Durbin, C 1, Lidge 3. Umpires: HP: Jeff Kellogg. 1B: Mark Wegner. 2B: Tim Timmons. 3B: Rob Drake. Weather: 60 degrees, clear. Wind: 10 mph, Out to CF. T: 2:22. Att: 44,532. April 5, 2009 Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner   Also Check Out 2 Minutes to Midnight Green!