Can't win, even at home

The Braves were swept in their season home series with Philly last night, losing 4-3. Philly has won all 9 games played at Turner Field this year. You can't fault anybody for this loss. Mike Hampton was brilliant, pitching 7 innings and giving up only 2 earned runs. Two runs were unearned on errors by Josh Anderson and Chipper Jones. Julian Tavarez and Jeff Bennett threw scoreless innings of relief. The offense was well spread out as nobody had more than one hit or RBI. Casey Kotchman hit his first homer as a Brave and Kelly Johnson extended his hitting streak to 16 games. The Braves host the Mets tonight at 710p. Jo Jo Reyes will pitch for the Braves and Oliver Perez will pitch for the Mets.

The BSU/IU game still has IU as a 3-point favorite, however the over/under has moved to 61. That's a lot of points.....

Never had a chance

The Phillies scored 4 runs in the first inning in route to a 6-1 victory over the Braves last night. Jair Jurrjens gave up those 4 runs in the first and only threw 4 more innings after that. He took the loss and is now 13-10 on the season. Vladimir Nunez gave up one run in 2-1/3 innings and Blaine Boyer gave up the other run in his 1-2/3 innings. Casey Kotchman and Jeff Francoeur had 2 hits each. Greg Norton had a pinch-hit RBI. Norton's OPS as a pinch-hitter this year is 1.046, his OPS+ is 159 (100 is the league average OPS+).

Ball State's football team travels to IU on Saturday for a 7pm game. The line has dropped to IU -3. The over/under has been set at 60. Neither defense is very good, but the last two games in this series has gone under the total (47 in 2006, 58 in 2008). It should be a fun game and a good test to see if Ball State is ready for the big time.

Same, Same, Same

The Braves led the Phillies 7-4 after 6 innings, then what usually happens happened. The bullpen gave up 2 runs in both the 7th and 8th innings to allow the Phillies to take the lead. The Braves had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth, but Gregor Blanco struck out with the bases loaded and the Phillies won the game 8-7. 22-year-old James Parr started for the Braves and gave up 4 runs in 4-1/3 innings. His ERA is still a very good 2.20. Kelly Johnson extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a pinch-hit single. He also had 2 RBI in the game. Brian McCann had 3 hits and 2 RBI while Casey Kotchman had 2 RBI. Chipper Jones had a hit and is now leading the NL in batting average over Albert Pujols (.365 to .357). Will Ohman, Julian Tavarez, and Mike Gonzalez all gave up runs in relief. Buddy Carlyle, Jeff Bennett, and Jorge Julio pitched scoreless relief. The two teams play tonight at 710p. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves and JA Happ will pitch for Philly.

Not too much today

The Braves host Philly tonight and try to spoil the hopes of the Phillies in the playoff hunt.

Ball State goes to Bloomington to face IU on Saturday night. IU is a 3.5 point favorite, which basically makes this game pretty even. If the home team is only a three point favorite, the teams would be even on a neutral field.

The Redskins host Arizona on Sunday. They are a 3 point favorite. This looks to be a pretty even game also.

The day of big comebacks!

The Braves used a 5-run ninth inning to beat the Mets 7-4. Greg Norton had a pinch-hit 3-run HR to give the Braves the lead for good. Chipper Jones was 3-for-5. Jorge Campillo had a little trouble as the starting pitcher. In 3-2/3 innings, he gave up 4 runs (3 earned), but it took him 87 pitches to do it. However, he was saved by the bullpen, which has been decent lately. Jeff Bennett, Will Ohman, Julian Tavarez, Jorge Julio, and Mike Gonzalez all threw shutout inning of relief. The Braves have an off day on Monday before hosting Philadelphia on Tuesday.

The Redskins were behind for most of the game yesterday, but a 67-yard TD pass from Jason Campbell to Santana Moss with 3 minutes left gave the Skins a 29-24 victory over the Saints. Campbell threw for 321 yards and a TD. Clinton Portis had 96 yards rushing and 2 TDs. Moss caught 7 balls for 164 yards and a TD. Shaun Suisham was 3-for-5 on field goals. But the biggest play was by safety Chris Horton who had two interceptions, including one with a minute left to seal the victory. The Redskins play Arizona next Sunday.

BSU 3-0 for the first time in a long time

The Ball State football team had a slow start, but eventually kicked it into gear and beat Akron 41-24. A Nate Davis interception and a Dante Love fumble kept it close in the first half. BSU led 17-10 at halftime. However, the defense played well in the second half and the offense ran all over Akron to win the game. Freshman strong safety Sean Baker had a fumble recovery for a touchdown and added three interceptions. MiQuale Lewis ran for 154 yards and 2 TDs. Davis was 24 of 36 passing for 300 yards and 2 TDs. Dante Love had 7 catches for 97 yards while Darius Hill and Briggs Orsbon each had a touchdown catch. Kicker Ian McGarvey had field goals of 31 and 32 yards and five extra points. The Cardinals travel to Bloomington next Saturday to play Indiana. It will be a good test for this team to see if they can get over the hump by beating one of the weaker Big 10 teams.

The Washington Redskins have their home opener against the Saints today at 1pm. I hope the Skins offense has a better day than they did last week or this could get ugly.

The Braves split a DH with the Mets yesterday winning the first game 3-2 and losing the second game 5-0. The teams play at 1pm today. Jorge Campillo will pitch for the Braves and Oliver Perez will pitch for the Mets.