Uggla had one of Atlanta's only two hits off Chris Capuano, and the Braves packed up after a 6-0 loss to the New York Mets on Friday night and headed home before Hurricane Irene arrived.
"You could say it just wasn't our day. That's what I said when I walked into the clubhouse: 'You can chalk this up as a wash,'" Uggla said.
"Everything was kind of weird today. But that's no excuse. He came out and pitched a great game," he said. "There's been days where people play 17, 18 innings, get into the next city around 6:30 in the morning and come out raking. That's no excuse."
New flood gates were put in place outside Citi Field as a precaution, but Major League Baseball took no chances. The Braves-Mets games on Saturday and Sunday were postponed, to be made up as a doubleheader on Sept. 8.
The Braves, who won at Chicago on Thursday and a day in New York, are now idle until hosting Washington on Tuesday night. Uggla said the NL wild-card leaders would welcome the time off.
"It's going to be well needed, because we've had just one day off since the break, and I'm sure everybody's going to enjoy these next three days," he said.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said the club would hold a workout, probably Sunday at Turner Field. He said he expected his team to come back strong.
"We played a game, I remember, the last game against the Phillies on a Sunday and we got beat something like 12-1. It was one of the worst performances we've had all year," Gonzalez said. "And we came back after the All-Star break and we rattled off a pretty good bunch of series. So hopefully it happens again."
Capuano pitched his best game ever, striking out a career-high 13.
With the fans standing, Capuano fanned Michael Bourn for the fourth time to end it. He then gave a quick fist pump, satisfaction for a former All-Star slowed by two Tommy John surgeries.
"It was exhilarating to get that last out," Capuano said.
Justin Turner and Lucas Duda each hit two-run doubles and Nick Evans and Josh Thole had RBI singles. Thole's wife is from upstate New York, near Binghamton, and the Mets catcher and pitcher Dillon Gee planned to drive there to ride out the storm, expected to hit this weekend.
Capuano (10-11) retired the first 12 hitters - many of them on terrible swings - didn't walk anyone all night and faced just one batter over the minimum.
An All-Star in 2006 with Milwaukee, the 33-year-old Capuano pitched the third shutout and fourth complete game of his career - the others came long ago, in his All-Star season. This was his 150th start as a big leaguer.
Capuano did not allow a runner until Uggla grounded a shattered-bat single through the left side leading off the fifth. Freddie Freeman followed by bouncing into a double play. Atlanta's only other runner came in the eighth when David Ross doubled with two outs.
"He's battled and battled these last couple of years and worked his butt off to get back to this point," Uggla said. "I heard that he had some rough outings the last four or five starts, but sometimes you've got to go through that to find it again."
"They say it's going to get worse before it gets better. But he looked great, like the Capuano I saw when I first came into the league," he said.
Tim Hudson (13-8) lost to the Mets for the third time this year. He's beaten them 14 times, his highest win total against any opponent.
Hudson had gone at least seven innings in nine straight starts, but the Mets tagged him for 11 hits - the most he had allowed since 2008 - in 6 1-3 innings.
Duda had three hits, including his two-run double off Jonny Venters in the eighth.
NOTES: Venters had gone 24 straight appearances without allowing a run, spanning 22 2-3 innings. This was his majors-leading 71st appearance.
Chris Capuano
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/8/241416