Braves rally late to capture series

It took the Atlanta Braves seven innings to get their offense started, but in the eighth inning they were able to explode with seven runs giving them the 8-2 lead. The inning started out with Matt Diaz, who coincidentally seems to always start off late-inning rallies, grounding out and then back-to-back walks to Kelly Johnson and Willie Harris. Edgar Renteria came up and singled loading the bases for Brian McCann, who had let a ball get passed him that gave the Brewers the lead the inning before. McCann promptly doubled to deep center that scored everyone and put the Braves on top for the first time, 3-2. McCann later scored off of a Andruw Jones RBI-double, who scored a few moments later thanks to Jeff Francoeur and his RBI-single. We scored our other two runs a little later off a Matt Diaz and Kelly Johnson RBI-single. Atlanta went on to win the game, 9-3.

Tim Hudson had another strong outing going seven innings allowing just two runs and striking out three batters. All six of hits were singles and the second of his two runs allowed came from the for mentioned wild pitch that scored Damian Miller. And not to mention he only had to throw 76 pitches to get through seven innings...I know, pretty impressive. He was replaced in the eighth inning by Rafael Soriano, who stretched his hitless streak to 10 innings before allowing a solo homerun to Prince Fielder-I have seen more than I would've liked to from that guy- but no worries, the game was well in hand and it wasn't a bad pitch. Bob Wickman then came onto pitch in the ninth, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, but hey, what do I know? Wickman had a three up-three down inning that included a rare strikeout.

WP: Tim Hudson(6-3)
LP: Derrick Turnbow(1-3)

HR: ATL- Kelly Johnson(7) MIL- Prince Fielder(18)

Side Note: Chipper Jones missed his sixth game today, and the team has said that they will give him till Friday and then decide whether or not to put him disabled list.

Chuck James leaves me confused once again

I just don't know what to say about Chuck James, sometimes he comes out to pitch like a mad man, throwing strikes, getting outs and just all-around pitching lights out and other times, like his last start for instance, he pitches like, well this guy. It's very infuriating not knowing which guy will show up, come to think of it that's how a lot of our pitchers are, Kyle Davies, Chad Paronto and Tyler Yates to name a few. But today we were honored by the presence of the GOOD Chuck James as he went 6 very strong innings, striking out 8 batters and walking only 2. He did however allow 5 hits but only one of which was an extra base hit and it was a solo homerun by Prince Fielder, it also the only run James would give up on route to a 2-1 win. If he could just do this consistently then we would we have three solid starters heading into the postseason(if all goes well that is).

The game was pretty much a pitcher's dual until the fourth inning when the slumping(serious understatement) Andruw Jones broke through with a ridiculous homerun. I'm not shitting you, the ball was way outside and parallel to Andruw's head but yet he was able to put a great swing on it and muscle it out for his eighth on the year. The Braves' second run came in the 5th inning when Kelly Johnson hit an RBI single that scored Chris Woodward and to be honest if it wasn't for a dumb decision by Fielder Woodward wouldn't have scored. Corey Hart unloaded a cannon right at home plate that would've gotten Woodward out by at least 15 feet, but Fielder decided to cut off the throw and throw it to third in time get James out but the runner at home had already crossed the plate before the out was recorded therefore we scored, HA!

Rafael Soriano pitched today and he came equipped with his sweet chin hair and filthy heat. He pitched 1.1 innings while striking out two and allowing no runs or hits. Bob Wickman made his triumphant return as the closer and he earned his eighth save on the season as he set the Brew Crew down in order with relative ease. He looked to be 100% healthy and that's a great news seeing as how we lost Mike Gonzalez for....oh a year and a half or so.

WP: Chuck James(5-4)
LP: Chris Capuano(5-4)
SV: Bob Wickman(8)

HR: ATL- Andruw Jones(8) MIL- Prince Fielder(16)

Side Note:

ATL- Chipper Jones missed his fifth consecutive game with a sore hand and Braves' manager, Bobby Cox, said the team is contemplating placing the All-Star third baseman on the DL.

MIL- Chris Capuano lost his fourth straight game today, tying a career high. Although he has been struggling with his command of late, the Brewers have been held to a single run in each of those four losses.

James loses no-hitter in the 7th, Braves win in blowout

After failing to get out of the fourth inning his last start, Chuck James was certainly looking to have a good outing, but i'm sure no one expected that he would flirt with a historical outing. Chuck James had a perfect game going into the sixth inning before he walked Jose Bautista and Jack Wilson to start the inning, but he was able to regroup by getting a double play and a strike out to keep his no-hitter and shutout intact.

The no-hitter was broken up later in the seventh, when Jason Bay singled to left field. James was able to finish out the seventh and even ended the inning with a strikeout. And of course as soon as he was taken out, Chad Paronto came in and fell apart. He led off the inning giving up a single, then a double to Wilson that scored Bautista later on Wilson scored on a sacrifice from Chris Duffy. Paronto was finally relieved by Peter Moylan after failing to get out of the inning, in fact he was only able to get one out, he gave up four hits, 2 runs in a 1/3 of an inning. Moylan came in and locked it down, getting LaRoche to ground into a double play and then he finished up the ninth inning, 1-2-3 including getting two strikeouts.

"I've been struggling a little bit and trying to get back to where I feel comfortable, and I've been putting a little extra stress on myself," James said. "I've kind of built me up a wall in the sixth inning and couldn't quite get through it. Today was a good confidence booster."

It was also a big offensive day for the Braves, I mentioned yesterday that it had been 8 games since we had homered, but we broke that yesterday as Andruw Jones and Jeff Francoeur both homered, and then again last night we had another two homers. Both homers came courtesy of Scott Thorman, it was his first career multi-homerun game. His first was a three-run shot in the second inning that gave us the lead and then again in the ninth this time it was a two-run shot. I am continuing to be impressed by recent call-up, Wilie Harris. He continued to play like a mad man, going 4-5 with two doubles and an RBI. He also is doing a great job on the bases, both with running the bases and stealing bases. It's been awhile since we've had a true base stealer, not since Rafael Furcal left us.

I, along with many on the Braves Journal, am in favor of Thorman starting everyday at first base, instead of Bobby Cox doing that stupid platooning all the time. But then again, Bobby Cox did just move into fourth place in All-Time major league wins with 2,195 wins. Cox surpassed Sparky Anderson on the career wins list and trails only Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa. So I can't really talk, seeing as how the last thing I won was a stupid plastic telescope
that I got for sending in 200 box tops.

"He downplays everything, but for him that's awesome," Jeff Francoeur said. "We couldn't be more excited, you couldn't get it for a better guy. Look at the guys he's passed, Sparky Anderson -- it's hard sometimes to realize because he's your manager, but they're going to talk about him for a long time. There's no doubt he's a Hall of Fame manager."

WP: Chuck James(4-3)
LP: Tony Armas(0-3)

HR: ATL- Scott Thorman, 2(4,5)

The Braves will be going for the sweep today against the Pirates. We have rookie Anthony Lerew making his second start and they have a very good young pitcher starting, Ian Snell. It should be fun.

Homerless no more, Braves win again.

Coming into the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, after leading the National league in homeruns for majority of the first month of baseball, but we hadn't homered in the last eight games. But finally in the sixth inning we broke out of that slump, when Andruw Jones hit a deep two-run homerun to center and of course, seeing as how we haven't homered in over a week, we promptly went back-to-back when Jeff Francoeur hit a laser to left field.

Kyle Davies had another good start and he got his first win of the season. He went seven strong innings, giving up seven hits and only allowing one run. He did walk two batters while only striking out one, but no matter.

"My confidence is starting to get a little bit better and my pitching is a little bit better, and I think the two go hand in hand," said Davies, who hadn't won since beating Washington 6-1 on Sept. 18.

Tyler Yates came in on the 8th inning and pitched a scoreless inning striking out two Pirates. And then former Pirate, Mike Gonzalez came in for the ninth and was filthy, yet again. He struck out one batter in the inning and earned his second save in as many opportunities. Gonzo hasn't allowed a run in his last 14 appearances. I'll say it again, I love this Bullpen!

"I had to tone it down emotion-wise," Gonzalez said. "It's very different, facing these guys."

The fourth inning was very scary for Braves fans everywhere, when Chipper, just having hit a double, was advancing to third on a Francoeur groundball when he collided with Pirate's third baseman, Jose Bautista and was launched into the air at least a good two or three feet and landed hard on his both wrists, his left shoulder and his quad. Jones laid on third base for several minutes, in obvious discomfort, but stayed in the game to Cox's relief. And contributed a great deal both offensively and defensively.

"I thought I was going to have to take him out when I went out there," Cox said.

WP: Kyle Davies(1-1)
LP: Zach Duke(1-4)
SV: Mike Gonzalez(2)

HR: ATL- Andruw Jones(6) and Jeff Francoeur(6)

The Braves play the Pirates again tonight at 7:05 pm ET. We have Chuck James pitching and they have Tony Armas pitching. I like our chances.

Side Note: Bobby Cox moved into to a tie with with Sparky Anderson for fourth all-time in career victories with 2,194 wins.

Andruw Jones breaks out of slump and leads Braves

Atlanta kept with the theme of lose one-win one last night as they defeated the San Diego Padres, 3-2. Braves rookie, Anthony Lerew, got the start, it was his first of his big league career. He made the most of it too, he went 6 innings, giving up two runs(both off of solo homeruns) while striking out seven and only walking two batters. Also those two solo shots, were the only hits he gave up. I think it's safe to say that Mr. Lerew has earned himself a couple more starts. Lerew had his fastball up around 95 mph or so, a pretty nasty change up and he showed off a new pitch, a two-seam sinker that Atlanta's pitching coach, Roger McDowell, showed him.

"It's been my bread and butter since I started throwing it," Lerew said.

Said Cox: "That's the best I've ever seen Anthony. All he's got to do is throw that sinker like he's throwing it, throw the changeup and he's in business."

Lerew did make a mistake in the third inning, a mistake that Mike Cameron was more than willing to take advantage of. Lerew left a pitch up and over the middle of the plate and Cameron absolutely crushed it to left field for the first of two homeruns by the Padres. The second came in the fifth, this one to Padres' left fielder, Terrmel Sledge, also was hit very well and to left. I also should mention that the Padres spot starter, Justin Germano, pitched very well too, he was also called up before the game from AAA, much like Lerew.

As the title says, Andruw Jones finally broke out his slump, which reached to 0-21 before his RBI double in the 6th inning which scored Edgar Renteria. Before this game, he had been hitting .048(1-21) with no homers, only one RBI, just four walks and seven strikeouts in the month of May. But besides Andruw, the offense hadn't really been able to get going for us, that is until Heath Bell stumbled in the 8th inning. He gave up a lead-off single to the pinch-hitter, Matt Diaz, and then a triple to Edgar Renteria and then what proved to be the game-winning RBI single to non other than Andruw Jones. Oh and before I forget, I mentioned yesterday that Andruw had been trying to pull everything in sight, well both of his hits were to the opposite field. Goes to show you, if you settle down and stop trying to over exert yourself, good things will follow.

Our bullpen was once again, just plain filthy. Tyler Yates relieved Lerew in the seventh and need just nine pitches to retire the Padres. Followed behind him was Mike Gonzalez, who picked up the win, he also had a scoreless inning in which he did give up a single, but no harm done. And finally, Rafael Soriano, who is by far the nastiest guy in our bullpen right now, he picked up another save with his scoreless ninth in which he struck out two of the three batters he faced.

WP: Mike Gonzalez(2-0)
LP: Heath Bell(0-1)
SV: Rafael Soriano(3)

HR: SD- Mike Cameron(1) and Terrmel Sledge(4)

Our next game is tonight and it is a must see, best friends and teammates for 11 years will be going at each other for the first time. We have John Smoltz going and the Padres have Greg Maddux pitching. It starts 7:35 pm ET on FSN South. Be there!

Side Note: The Braves have designated Steve Colyer for assignment. He has exactly 10 days to either accept the assignment and return to Richmond or he can choose to become a free-agent.

Chipper and the bullpen come through again

If this was last year, we would have lost this game as soon as Chuck James came out, with that horrible bullpen, if they would've had to work four innings, we'd be lucky to get out of their with them giving up less than, oh, three or four runs. But it's not last year, it's this year and we have a totally rebuilt bullpen, a great bullpen. After Chuck James, who was dealing before the sixth inning, was chased out of the game thanks to a game tying three-run homer by Ryan Howard, we had to turn to our bullpen a little earlier than expected.

and Mike Gonzalez is currently 1-0 1.59 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP while But our bullpen pitched four scoreless innings in which they allowed a combined one hit. Our biggest transaction from the offseason, Mike Gonzalez, was just plain filthy once again, striking out Chase Utley and Ryan Howard back-to-back in a scoreless eighth inning. If you remember, we traded our left-handed slugging 1st baseman, Adam LaRoche, to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for their lights out closer, Gonzo. It was a move that was frowned upon by some because of the loss of offense, more notably the homeruns. But seeing as how we lead the NL and I believe the Majors in homeruns LaRoche is currently hitting .132/.245/.253 3 HR 11 RBI and Mike Gonzalez is currently 1-0 1.59 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP while. I may be a little biased but I would say we got the best of that deal and oh yeah we got a little prospect named Brent Lillibridge too, who is hitting quite well in AA.

Widely regarded as our top overall prospect and the number one catching prospect in the majors, Jarrod Saltalamacchia made his major league debut. Although he didn't get a hit in the game, he showed me at least a lot of promise. He went 0-2 with a walk and got hit by a pitch, he also threw out Jayson Werth at second in the second inning. Each at-bat he worked the count by taking pitches and fouling off pitch after pitch and nearly missed a double down the right field line that could've scored two runs in the 6th. Later in that at-bat in the sixth he was hit on the upper right arm by a pitch by Freddy Garcia, who was relieved by Geoff Geary right after that. Later in the sixth Salty was thrown out at home by the "Flyin' Hawaiian" Shane Victorino. It is almost a certain thing that Saltalamacchia will be traded sometime this season for pitching help and honestly until last night I had no real problems with that, because he could bring a load of good players and or highly touted prospects but I am now rethinking that. He showed great plate discipline last night, great power as he was about 3 feet from a homerun in his first at-bat and he showed that his defense isn't as big as a question as it was believed to be. I would love to see either him or Brian McCann making the switch to first base that way we can have both of those talented young men in our lineup. But we'll see, something tells me we'll still trade him.

"You're always going to have nerves your first game in the big leagues," he said. "After that first at-bat, I settled down a little bit."

Braves third baseman, Chipper Jones, continued his hot hitting by going 1-3 with a two-run double in the third inning. He also walked for the 19th time this season. Chipper is hitting .318/.421/.692 with 10 HR 22 RBI after tonight, just amazing, simply amazing. And better yet, he's played in all 27 games for the Braves, with no sign of injury or slowing down. Willie Harris is quickly making us forget about Ryan Langerhans as he's already done more in his three games as a Brave than Langerhans did in the 20+ games he was in Atlanta. Harris went 2-3 last night with an RBI single in the 6th scoring Scott Thorman. Harris also made a great diving catch in left field last night to rob former Brave, Wes Helms of a hit in the ninth inning.

"I just want to go out there and earn the respect from my teammates, let them know I play the game hard," said Harris.

WP: Chad Paronto(1-0)
LP: Freddy Garcia(1-2)
SV: Rafael Soriano(2)

HR: PHI- Ryan Howard(4)

The next Braves game is on Friday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. We have John Smoltz going and they have Brett Tomko going. The game starts at 7:35 pm ET and it's on TBS.

We're going STREAKING walking!

What's the best way to counter getting beat by a walkoff homerun? Winning by a walkoff homerun, of course. In the 9th inning of the Braves game against the Phillies, Andruw Jones connected on a three-run shot with one out against "Six Finger's McGee" aka Antonio Alfonseca. I didn't post what happened Sunday, but we were beaten by the Colorado Rockies on a Matt Holliday walkoff homerun in the 11th inning.

Tim Hudson was playing with a heavy heart as he had just lost his former college teammate, Josh Hancock and his grandmother, but he wanted to play and he pitched yet another gem. He went eight and allowed just four hits, all singles, and one walk. Unfortunately, three of the four hits he gave up came in one inning, the 6th, in which he gave up two runs, one came courtesy of a Chase Utley sacrifice fly that scored Jimmy Rollins and then an RBI single by Ryan Howard that scored Shane Victorino.

In the bottom of the sixth-inning Chipper Jones came back and tied the game at two with a solo shot to center, it was his 8th of the season.

In the eighth inning, we blew a great chance to take the lead for Hudson when Brayan Pena, who came in and hit for Hudson, grounded out to the pitcher with runners at third and second. Mike Gonzalez came in for the ninth to replace Hudson and to say he was excellent was an understatement. He was absolutely lights out, he faced the Phillies best hitters, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell(I use "best" lightly here) all went down almost as fast as they came up. Gonzalez mixed his 94 MPH fastball, 85 MPH slider and his 83 MPH change up so well, he got Utley to pop up, Howard to ground out and struck out Burrell.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kelly Johnson led off the inning with a single. Next up was Edgar Renteria who laid down a bad bunt and the Phillies got KJ at second. Chipper was then walked in favor of Andruw who as you know, ended the game in one swing.

WP: Mike Gonzalez(1-0)
LP: Antonio Alfonseca(1-1)

HR: ATL- Chipper Jones(8) and Andruw Jones(5)

The Braves next game is tonight against the Phillies, they have Cole Hamels going and we have Mark "fuckin" Redman. Spare me!

Note: Braves starter, Tim Hudson, was granted special permission to wear "J.H." on his left shoulder in memory of his fallen teammate, Josh Hancock. And Willie Harris, who was called up when we traded Langerhans, went 1-3 with a walk.

Smoltz regroups and is too tough for Rockies

Making his first start after signing that new contract, John Smoltz wasn't fooling anyone in the first inning. He started the game by walking Rockies speedster, Willy Tavares and then followed that by giving up a 2-run homerun to Troy Tulowitzki. He also gave up a double to Todd Helton before getting out of a hellish 1st inning. But what makes John Smoltz so great is his composure, he regrouped and struck out two in the next inning. The Braves got their offense started in the 2nd inning when Chipper Jones connected with a 2-run single that scored both Ryan Langerhans and Kelly Johnson. In the third inning, Smoltz got a little help from his All-Star centerfielder, Andruw Jones. Jones robbed Garrett Atkins of a homerun to preserve the Braves lead.

"Nothing to it. It's all about positioning, finding the wall and locating the ball" said Andruw Jones after the game.

Atlanta had a big inning in the fourth when Jeff Francoeur hit an absolute, no doubter to deep left field. The Braves added to the score later in the inning when Kelly Johnson tripled and scored Langerhans. And the Braves final run came in the 9th inning when Edgar Renteria took Rockies closer, Brian Fuentes deep.

John Smoltz had a rough start but was able recollect himself and pitch 7 strong innings, 2 earned runs(both in the 1st inning), struck out 8 and walked only 1 batter. He was replaced in the 8th inning by Mike Gonzalez who pitched a scoreless inning of work, striking out one and was then replaced by Rafael Soriano in the 9th inning and Soriano was fantastic, striking out 2 men and gave up no runs.

WP: John Smoltz(3-1)
LP: John Hirsh(2-2)

HR: ATL- Jeff Francoeur(5) and Edgar Renteria(4) COL- Troy Tulowitzki(2)

The Braves will go for the sweep later today at 3:05 PM ET. We have Kyle Davies going and they have Aaron Cook going.

The Braves regain top spot in the East.

Despite more ninth inning drama, the Atlanta Braves were able to outlast the Colorado Rockies with a 9-7 victory Friday night. In the ninth inning, Matt Holliday hit a deep fly that could've tied up the game to Jeff Francoeur, who had dropped a double by Holliday earlier, but this time he made a very nice running catch on the warning track to end the game. After the game, while eating some barbecued ribs, he was given an extra rib by pitcher, Tim Hudson, who had his gem of a game blown in the ninth just two nights ago, and said "Here's an extra rib for you".

Francoeur, playing deeper than normal, raced after it and reached out his glove at the last second. The fans in the corner went quiet and Holliday threw down his helmet in disgust.

"Considering the situation, yeah it was [one of my better catches]," Francoeur said.

"I didn't hit it great, but I thought I had a chance to tie the game," Holliday said. "He made a good play. I wish he hadn't made the play."

Brave's closer, Bob Wickman, came into the ninth, even though it wasn't a save situation, most likely to regain his confidence after blowing only his second save opportunity as a Brave, but that was quickly over as he was unable to get the final out in the ninth, and forced Bobby Cox to go to two more pitchers to finally get the job done. I'm not too worried about Wickman, given the next time he comes in it will be a save situation, I think he'll get the job done.

Both starters pitched quite well last night, Chuck James going 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs(all earned), striking out four and walking just one batter and Rockies starter, Jeff Francis also went 5 1/3 innings, 4 runs given up(all earned), striking out four and walking three. The big difference in the two pitchers was James gave up just 6 hits while Francis gave up 11, but Francis did get lucky, like when he got James to ground into a double play with the bases loaded while their were no outs. Both our big offseason additions, Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano, both had one scoreless innings of work and to go along, one strikeout each.

Our offense was very good tonight, we continued our regiment of hitting homeruns and getting 2-out hits with Craig Wilson(must be the socks) going deep for the first time as a Brave and Andruw Jones continuing his hot hitting at Coors, went deep for the 4th time on the year and his 13th career HR at Coors. The Braves had eight runs with two outs gave them a major-league-leading 63 two-out RBIs. Chipper Jones had a big 2-out, 2-run double(his second of the game) in the 7th inning and gave the Braves a four run lead, which turned out to be the difference in the game. The word clutch to describe the Braves is a bit of an understatement, but i'll take it.

"I don't know how to explain it," Cox said. "One thing is we have good hitters. We're always capable."

WP: Chuck James(3-2)
LP: Jeff Francis(1-3)
SV: Peter Moylan(1)

HR: ATL- Andruw Jones(4) and Craig Wilson(1) COL- Troy Tulowitzki(1)

The Braves next game is later tonight at 8:05 PM ET. We have John Smoltz, fresh off his new contract, going and the Rockies have Jason Hirsh going.

NOTE: Were back in first place in the East, we now lead the Mets by half a game.

Yep, Redman still sucks but the Braves pull out the win.

It was a known fact that the out come to Tuesday night's game between the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins partly, well no, all because of the pitching match-up. The Marlins had Rick Vanden Hurk, a 21-year old rookie who has never pitched above single A before having to come up due to injuries and the Braves had Mark Redman, a shitty pitcher that makes Tim Wakefield look like Joel "103" Zumaya. We would be better off using a tee as our 5th starter, we'd probably give up less runs. Vanden Hurk failed to get out of the 2nd inning and Redman was finally pulled in the 4th, and at the time the score was 6-6.

The offense started early for both teams, the Braves jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to an Andruw Jones RBI single that scored Kelly Johnson, a Jeff Francoeur RBI double and a Scott Thorman 2-run single. Later in the second inning, Brian McCann walked in a run and then Francoeur chipped in with an RBI single. Our other runs came in the 6th inning when Brian McCann hit a sacrifice fly that scored Johnson and in the ninth when Pete Orr of all people knocked in two runs on a single, Kelly Johnson and Edgar Renteria also chipped in with back-to-back RBI singles. For the Marlins almost all of their offense came from their resident "Brave Killer", the commander, Cody Ross. Ross hit a three-run homerun in the first inning and later in the third inning he hit a 2-run double off the top of the wall. Ross accounted for 5 of the Marlins 6 runs.

"I turned to [umpire] Tim McClelland and said, `This could be 36-36 after nine innings,"' Francoeur said.

The big story of this game was the Braves' bullpen. The Bullpen went a total of 6 innings, giving up just 2 hits and no runs. They also walked just one batter while striking out seven. In fact, Tyler "Kali" Yates needed just 9 pitches to finish off a scoreless 7th inning. The "Thunder from Down Under", Peter Moylan, was great. His submarine pitching style was good enough to hold the Marlins to three scoreless innings, three strike outs, just one walk and only one hit. Moylan also lowered his ERA to a respectable 3.86 while getting his first career Major League win.

"The 'pen has been excellent all year long," manager Bobby Cox said. "We're going through too many pitchers right now, so I've got to piece the game together and still try to win."

The next Braves' game is tonight at 7:05 PM ET against the Florida Marlins. We have our Ace going, Tim Hudson and the Marlins have one of their many talented youngsters, Scott Olsen, going. I like our odds.

WP: Peter Moylan(1-0)
LP: Matt Lindstrom(0-1)

HR: FLA- Cody Ross(3)

The Braves regain what was rightfully theirs.

On the first pitch of the rubber game between hated rivals, Braves' second baseman, Kelly Johnson showed that his 4 strikeout performance the day before hadn't effected him. He took the Met's future Hall of Famer, Tom Glavine, deep and gave the Braves a lead that they would eventually swindle. When you have two future Hall of Famers on the mound you'd expect a low scoring pitchers dual and after Glavine's first pitch it was just that, at least until the 5th inning when the Met's tied the game on a Shawn Green bomb to right field.

both scored off a Jeff In the sixth inning, the Braves took the lead once again when Andruw Jones and Brian McCann Francoeur 2-run single. A lead that was short lived when John Smoltz fell apart in the bottom half of the inning. First Smoltz gave up an RBI single to Jose Valentine that scored Carlos Delgado and then Jose Reyes, the "most exciting player in baseball" according to Chip Caray, who is the Braves' announcer, came up with the bases loaded and just as fast as they were loaded they were unloaded when Reyes tripled down the right field line scoring Moises Alou, Shawn Green and Jose Valentine and put the Mets up 5-3. Then Paul LoDuca singled in Reyes and the Braves had to turn to the bullpen and it took Steve Coyler to end what was a miserable 6th inning that now had the Mets leading 6-3.

But just how our lead was quickly erased the inning before, in the 7th inning thanks to an Edgar Renteria 3-run homerun we had tied up the game for the 2nd time. And just like he'd done it in the first inning, Kelly Johnson put the icing on the cake in the 8th inning with a game winning 3-run homer. And Bob Wickman came in on the 9th, striking out one and earning his 6th save on the season.

After the game, Kelly Johnson, who had just had one of the best games of his short career, was obviously very excited and said the following.
"That was one of the most exciting ones I've seen between the Braves and the Mets," he said. "It's only April. And if that's something to look forward to for the rest of the year, it could be pretty exciting. I have a feeling that we're going to change hands at the top of the division many more times."

Braves' ace, John Smoltz, felt the same as Johnson about the importance of this win and possibility of it being a "signature" win.
"I don't think it's too early for any kind of signature win," Smoltz said. "We were going to lose this game. For all the ways they scored in the sixth inning, it just looked like it was too much for us to come back. And for us to come back and win this game was just a tribute to everybody's effort to not give in and not give up."

Fellow future Hall of Famer and Braves' third baseman, Chipper Jones, was a little more rational.

"Smoltzie plays once every fifth day," he said. "It's a nice win, don't get me wrong. A signature win? Possibly. Maybe later on, down the road, you look back and say it was."

and was tossed for There was also a scary scene in the game, when Braves' catcher, Brian McCann squared around for a bunt in the ninth while facing Met's Pedro Feliciano and was hit on his left ring and pinkie finger. He did stay in the game and after the game X-rays were taken and were negative. Also Braves' manager, Bobby Cox was ejected in the sixth-inning after coming to the aide of Smoltzauguring balls and strikes. This ejection was his 127th of his illustrious career and moved him just four behind John McGraw for 1st all-time.

WP: Tyler Yates(1-0)
LP: Aaron Heilman(1-2)
SV: Bob Wickman(6)

HR: ATL- Kelly Johnson, 2(4) and Edgar Renteria(3) NYM- Shawn Green(3)

NL EAST

Braves: 12-6
Mets: 11-6
Marlins: 8-10
Phillies: 6-11
Nationals: 6-13

Note: The Braves next game is tonight versus the third place, Marlins and their ace, Dontrelle Willis. We have Kyle Davies going and the game starts at 7:05 PM ET.

Thor caps off another extra innings thriller.

This game was an old fashioned pitchers dual. The Phillies' Cole Hamels was lights out in his 7 innings of work, striking out 8 Braves and walking only 1. He did give up 4 hits but all were singles and did no harm. He had his change working on a very cold night in Philadelphia and it was seemingly his go-to pitch when he needed a strike out. Tim Hudson was equally as good last night, he also went 7 innings. But unlike Hamels, Hudson did throw one mistake, a mistake that catcher, Carlos Ruiz jumped all over a Hudson slider in the 5th inning with his first home run of the year. That was the only run Hudson surrendered and 1 of only 2 hits against him. When Mike Gonzalez came into to replace Hudson he gave up a walk to Rollins. Rollins then scored on a double down the line by the Flyin Hawaiian, Shane Victorino, but Victorino decided it was a good idea to try and steal third on Brian McCann, and well Shane quickly learned that you don't run on BMAC, McCann gunned him down at third and it proved to cause the Philles another run because two batters later Chase Utley doubled to deep right, but Jeff Francoeur kept up his reputation by gunning down Ryan Howard at the plate.(Frenchy actually hit Kelly Johnson who then threw out Howard.)

The top of the 9th was when it got very interesting especially when Mr. McCann came up to bat. Jeff Francoeur led off the inning with a double into the right-center gap and the came Brian McCann, and before I tell you what he did, I should mention that I actually called it about 10 minutes before he came up to bat. From the Braves Journal:

Jay10
#218. April 4th, 2007, at 8:18 PM.

Way to redeem your self BMac, but you know what would be even better...another two run homer…

And at 8:26 PM, Brian McCann hit a two-run homerun(2) off of Phillies' closer, Tom "Flash" Gordon to tie the game. I know, I know, I just made Miss Cleo my bitch on that one. In the bottom of the 9th, Rafael Soriano came in and sat the Phillies down in order, including striking out Aaron Rowand to end the inning. In the top of the 11th Scott Thorman came up huge with a clutch, game-winning solo homerun off of Ryan Madsen. Thorman has the greatest nickname for a power hitter, "Thor"the God of Thunder. And Bob Wickman came in the 11th to finish off the game striking out Aaron Rowand once again, to end the game this time. I know it's early but this Braves team is pretty fun to watch, look out Philly and New York, we're coming.

WP: Chad Paronto (1-0)
LP: Ryan Madsen (0-2)
SV: Bob Wickman (1)

HR: Brian McCann 1(2), Scott Thorman 1(1)
RBI: Brian McCann 2(4), Scoott Thorman 1 (1)

UCONN wins!!! Go crazy folks...go crazy!

If you couldn't tell by the title, apparently the Connecticut Huskies won today. And yes, I am a bit excited to say the least.

UConn's five game losing streak finally came to an end Saturday. The Huskies knocked off the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 61-50. Now the game did go to overtime but Jeff Adrien went off, scoring 19 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Also contributing with big games were Jerome Dyson and Craig Austrie both with 13 points. Hasheem Thabeet had a nice game aswell with 8 points and 11 rebounds, he also blocked 5 shots.

All I am concerned with right now is making the Big East tournament. We are cutting it close but with this win tonight we have moved into 11th place in the conference(top 12 teams make it). But if we can make it to the tournament then we have a good chance at hopefully going on a winning streak that will hopefully get us in the NCAA Tournament. Which is just 5 weeks a way. Can you feel the excitement?