Young Braves help team to victory

The Braves beat the Reds yesterday afternoon, 7-0 behind a great pitching performance from 22-year-old Tommy Hanson. Hanson threw 6 innings of shutout baseball, striking out 2 while giving up 3 hits and 4 walks. Peter Moylan, Rafael Soriano, and Mike Gonzalez completed the shutout with an inning of relief each. Nate McLouth had a homer and 4 RBI to lead the offense. Next, the Braves start a brutal stretch of games against the best teams in each league. This weekend, they host the best team in the AL, the Boston Red Sox. After a make up game against the Cubs on Monday, Atlanta travels to the Bronx for three games with the second-best team in the AL, the New York Yankees. Next weekend, they travel to Fenway Park for three more games against Boston. After a day off on June 29th, the Braves go to Philly to play the NL East-leading Phillies. The next four series have teams that are a combined 44 games over .500 (including Boston twice). It would be great if the Braves could go 8-5 over those games, bringing their record to even with a week to go before the All-Star break. We will see what happens tonight as Japanese starters Kenshin Kawakami and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch for the Braves and Red Sox.

Arizona State beat North Carolina 12-5 to advance in the College World Series. North Carolina was eliminated. The final four starts today as LSU plays Arkansas and Texas plays Arizona State. Arkansas and Arizona State must win to stay alive in the tournament.

Lance Lynn was solid, but not spectacular, in his performance on the mound last night for the Springfield Cardinals. He gave up 4 runs in 6 innings and was in position for the win until the Cards gave up 2 runs in the top of the ninth to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. Lance is now 5-2 with a 4.11 ERA at Double-A Springfield. Drew Storen made his professional debut for the Single-A Hagerstown Suns last night and was greeted with a home run by the first batter he faced. He gave up one more hit in the inning, but settled down to retire the rest. Storen pitched one inning, giving up a run on the homer and striking out one batter.