The Braves came out swinging last night, scoring 2 in the first inning, beating the Red Sox 8-2. Nate McLouth hit the first pitch of the game for a home run and the next 4 guys got on base to start the rout. Kenshin Kawakami threw another great game, giving up 2 runs and 2 hits in 6 innings. Kawakami has not given up more than 3 earned runs in a game since April 28th, a streak of nine straight starts. The normal bullpen procession when the Braves have a lead (Moylan, Soriano, Gonzalez) threw an inning a piece and struck out two batters each while holding the Red Sox hitless. Garrett Anderson was 3-for-3 with 4 RBI and is batting .364 in his last 10 games. Tonight's game features another good pitching matchup as Derek Lowe will pitch for the Braves and Josh Beckett will pitch for the Red Sox. The Braves are 1-0 so far in their tough June 19-July 1 stretch where they play the best that the MLB has to offer. An 8-5 record during that stretch would put them at .500 on the season.
In the CWS, LSU beat Arkansas 14-5 to advance to the championship series. Texas hit back-to-back homers with two out in the bottom of the ninth to beat Arizona State 4-3 and advance to play LSU. Texas is struggling, but they are winning and that is all that counts, I guess. I'll still pick LSU to win the series.
In classic 1990's fashion, Ken Griffey Jr hit a 2-run pinch-hit homer to tie the DBacks/Mariners game in the bottom of the eighth. He may be struggling this year at age 39 (batting .220), but it is flashes of greatness like this that fans want to see at a ballgame. Of course, if there wasn't a DH in the AL this would not happen. Proponents of the DH state that it allows older hitters to still show what they can do at the plate, so for one day I guess it did work out that way. However, I still don't like the rule....
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