The season is slowly dying

The Braves were shutout by the Padres last night, 4-0. Jake Peavy scattered 4 hits over 7 innings for the Padres. Jo Jo Reyes gave up 2 runs and 5 hits in 4 innings for the Braves. Buddy Carlyle threw three good innings in relief, only giving up 1 earned run. Will Ohman threw a scoreless eighth. Brian McCann had three hits and Mark Kotsay had two hits for most of the Braves offense. The two teams play at 1005p tonight. Charlie Morton will pitch for the Braves, Greg Maddux for the Padres. The Braves are now 7.5 GB the Phillies in the NL East.

Friday's best/worst:

Best pitcher - Roy Halladay, Blue Jays - 9 IP, 2H, 8 K, 0 R

Worst pitcher - Jon Garland, White Sox - 2 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 10 H

Best hitter - Ron Belliard, Nationals - 3 for 4, 2 HR, 2B, 2 R, 5 RBI

Worst hitter - Gregor Blanco, Braves - 0 for 4, 2 K, CS, ERR

Last gasp before the break

The Braves play in San Diego tonight against the Padres. Game time is 1005pm. Jo Jo Reyes will pitch for the Braves and Jake Peavy will pitch for the Padres. The Braves are 6.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 8 games behind the Brewers for the wild card.

Thursday's Best and Worst:

Best pitching: David Bush, Rockies - 8 IP, 3 H, 13 K, 0 ER

Worst pitching: Scott Feldman, Rangers - 3 2/3 IP, 6H, 8 ER, 5 BB

Best hitting: Howie Kendrick, Angels - 3 for 5, 2 HR, 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI

Worst hitting: Jose Castillo, Giants - 0 for 3, K, 2 ERR

At least we got two hits this time....

The Braves were shut down again by great Dodger pitching as they lost to LA 2-1. LA's Derek Lowe had a perfect game through six innings before Gregor Blanco singled to lead off the seventh. Tim Hudson was solid as usual, pitching 7 innings giving up 2 runs and scattering 4 hits. The only other hit for the Braves was a solo home run by Jeff Francoeur, who looks like he may be getting back to normal after his three-day stint in Double-A. The team is off today. On Friday, the Braves travel to San Diego for the last series before the all-star break.

Best pitching performance of the day: Carlos Zambrano, Cubs - 8 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 5 K

Worst pitching of the day: Garret Olson, Orioles - 3 2/3 IP, 7 R, 7 H, 4 BB

Best hitting of the day: Garrett Atkins, Rockies - 3 for 4, 2 HR, 3 RBI

Worst hitting of the day: Brandon Phillips, Reds - 0 for 4, 1 K, 1 Error

Elton Brand has signed with the 76ers. The teaming of Brand and newly signed Baron Davis only lasted about a week.

Boston scored 18 runs in a thrashing of the Twins.

Good offense + Great pitching = Win

The Braves got ahead 6-0 and held on for a 9-3 victory over the Dodgers last night. Brian McCann had 2 solo home runs, Yunel Escobar had 3 RBI, and Mark Kotsay had 3 hits. Jair Jurrjens gave up 1 run in 6 innings. Will Ohman, Blaine Boyer, and Mike Gonzalez held the Dodgers scoreless from the bullpen. Newly acquired Julian Tavarez gave up one earned run in 1/3 of an inning. The rubber game of the series is tonight at 1010p. It should be a good pitching match up as Tim Hudson will be taking on Derek Lowe.

The Cubs traded for Rich Harden to keep pace with the Brewers signing of CC Sabathia.

Tony Stewart is going to be released from his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Prep star Brandon Jennings is going to play in Europe instead of going to Arizona for a year before making the jump to the NBA. It just goes to show how stupid the NBA rule is. How does this help the kid?

One hit?!?!? That's all we got? One God Damn Hit?

A little comedy from the movie Major League is about the only thing funny about last night's Braves/Dodgers game. LA's Hiroki Kuroda had a perfect game going into the 8th inning until Mark Teixeira doubled for the Braves only hit of the game. Atlanta lost the game 3-0. Jorge Campillo had a decent outing, only giving up 3 runs in 7 innings. Vladimir Nunez threw a perfect eighth inning for the Braves. Game two of the series is at 1010pm tonight. Jair Jurrjens pitches for the Braves and Chad Billingsley will pitch for the Dodgers.

Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez saved a man's life by giving him the Heimlich maneuver at a restaurant where he and his family were having dinner. Not only is Tony a great football player and one of the best tight ends of all time, but he gives his time and money to many different charities and seems like a very good person. The NFL could use more people like him.

Let's Play Two......almost

The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros 7-6 in 17 innings yesterday in a game that took 5 and 1/2 hours to play and was delayed by almost two hours because of rain. It did not look good early as Charlie Morton gave up 6 runs in 6 innings of work, but the bullpen saved the day. I usually don't have many nice things to say about the bullpen, but they are the reason that the Braves won the game yesterday. After Morton left the game, the bullpen did not allow a run in 11 innings. Blaine Boyer, Will Ohman, Mike Gonzalez, Buddy Carlyle, Manny Acosta, and Royce Ring all contributed to the effort. Yunel Escobar was 4 for 9, Chipper Jones was 3 for 5 with 4 walks, Mark Teixeira was 3 for 7 with 3 RBI including the game winner in the 17th. The Braves begin a west coast road trip tonight against the Dodgers at 1010p. Jorge Campillo will pitch for the Braves, Hiroki Kuroda will pitch for the Dodgers. The Braves are 6 games behind in the NL East and 7.5 games behind the Cardinals and Brewers for the wild card spot.

Speaking of the Brewers, they have reportedly made a trade to get CC Sabathia from the Indians. That would definitely help their playoff chances.

Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in the Mens final at Wimbledon yesterday. It was an epic 5-set match that some people are calling the best of all time. Nadal won the 5th set 9-7.

Ryan Hunter-Reay won the IRL race at Watkins Glen.

Back to the drawing board

The Braves lost their 6th game of their last 7 last night to the Astros 6-1. Jo Jo Reyes gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings to take the loss. The offense was just as poor, only getting 4 runners on base. The teams play on Sunday afternoon at 135p. Charlie Morton pitches for the Braves, Wandi Rodriguez pitches for the Astros.

The Phillies have signed Brad Lidge to a 3-year $37.5 million contract.

Kyle Busch won a wreck-filled race at Daytona last night.

The IRL is at Watkins Glen today. I hate road courses, so I may not watch it.