Home MLBBST Game Guides MLB on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Phillies @ Braves

MLB on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Phillies @ Braves

by Matt Smith

Mlb5XtraHlToday’s MLB game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra is scheduled to be a battle from the NL East between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves.

It’s a big game in more ways than one. 

For several years now, games between these two teams have been fiercely contested.  The Braves owned the NL East division for most of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s.  They reeled off eleven straight first placed-finishes between 1995 and 2005 before the New York Mets finally broke the Braves’ stranglehold in 2006. 

However it’s the Phillies who have taken ownership of the division since then with four straight wins over 2007 and 2010.  The Phillies are lording it over what used to be the Braves’ domain and that brings an extra edge to games between the two.

Today’s game carries additional significance as it has been designated as the fifth annual Civil Rights Movement game.  As the MLB preview states:

“It’ll be about honoring the social contributions made on and off the field by key figures in America’s history, and about showing respect for those who paved the way for current African-American stars like Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Jason Heyward — players like Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and so many others”.

No sport honours its past with quite as much respect and reverence as baseball does.  Today’s game is another great example of this.

The series is tied at one apiece: the Phillies won the opener on Friday night 5-4 before Jair Jurrjens led the Braves to a 5-3 victory yesterday.  And we couldn’t ask for a better pitching match-up today.  The reigning Cy Young winner Roy Halladay and the Braves’ ace Tim Hudson will be taking to the mound in what should be a classic. 

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd should be bringing us all the action, although there have been rumours that the presence of the Braves could bring Jonny Gould back to the baseball airwaves as well.  Coverage begins on 5 Live Sports Extra at 18.00, with first pitch scheduled for 18.35.

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