More of the same...

The Braves lost their fourth game in a row, losing to the Pirates 3-0. The Braves have scored 7 runs in their past 4 games and are batting a paltry .200 in those games. The loss last night was no fault of starter Jair Jurrjens who threw 6 1/3 innings and only gave up 1 run. Of course, the bullpen did not help out giving up 2 runs in 1 2/3 innings. The bullpen ERA is now 6.89. Jeff Francoeur had three hits and is playing much better than he did last year. Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar both sat out on Friday due to injuries. The two teams play today at 1235p. Jo Jo Reyes, who was just called up from AAA Gwinett, will get the start for Atlanta.

The Ball State baseball team also suffered their fourth straight loss, losing to Central Michigan 9-6. They have the same problem with the bullpen that the Braves do. The BSU relievers gave up 7 runs in 4 2/3 innings. Kolbrin Vitek (.355 avg) had 3 hits, Jeremy Hazelbaker (.429) and Ian Nielsen (.364) had 2 hits each. The teams play at 100p today at BSU.

The 6-0 Brownsburg baseball team travels to Lebanon today for an 11am game. Next week, they have huge conference battles with highly-ranked Noblesville and Hamilton SE.

NCAA Baseball Seeding Predictions

With a month left until the tournament, here are my top 8 projected seeds for the NCAA baseball tourney in alphabetical order, with current RPI in parentheses.

Arkansas (7)
Cal State Fullerton (1)
Clemson (11)
Georgia (15)
Georgia Tech (2)
Miami (3)
North Carolina (5)
Texas (10)

Dropped out - LSU (16) and Rice (4)

In top 8 of RPI, but not projected top 8 seed - Coastal Carolina (6), Rice (4), and UC Irvine (8).

MLB betting pick of the day - Arizona -142 vs San Fransisco

Ugly, ugly, ugly

The Braves were swept by the Marlins, losing Thursday 6-2. The Braves totaled 7 runs in the three games and batted .198. It's a long season, but the offense needs to get crackin' if we are to compete for the division title. The pitching in the series was about average, nothing spectacular. The Braves travel to Pittsburgh over the weekend to play the Pirates. Jair Jurrjens gets the start for the Braves on Friday. Game time is 705p.

Ball State starts it's three-game series with Central Michigan today at 3pm.

Brownsburg used an 8-run inning to beat McCutcheon 10-2. Alex McGowan got the win for the Bulldogs.

Is this season 2 of "Lost" again?

The episode of Lost last night reminded me of the episodes from season 2. There was a bunch of character development, but no real plot movement. It seems too late in the game to have episodes that don't move the story forward since there are only about 20 episodes left of the series. In this episode, we learned about Miles and his entire story, including a brief appearance by Naomi. It was fairly interesting with no reveals that hadn't been figured out by now. Hurley was his usual comical self. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are on the precipice of being ratted out for their moving little Ben to the Others. At the end of the show, Dan came back on the island. Next week is a recap show and in two weeks the 100th episode will be on.

A struggle from the start

The Braves lost to the Marlins tonight 10-4. Derek Lowe started for the Braves and had a tough first inning and a tough fifth inning. Lowe ended up throwing 106 pitches in his five innings, but still left with the game tied at 4. Once again, the bullpen failed to come through and gave up 5 runs in the ninth inning. In total, the bullpen gave up 6 runs in 4 innings, raising it's already poor ERA to 7.00. Also, the offense didn't help themselves, only getting 6 hits. These last two games have made me sick. I hate it when we keep the game close, or even have the lead, just to watch the bullpen throw batting practice and give it all away. The teams play tomorrow at 1210p. Kenshin Kawakami will start for the Braves.

Ball State's game against Indiana was canceled due to poor field conditions. It is not likely to be rescheduled. They have a three-game series with Central Michigan this weekend.

Brownsburg beat McCutcheon on Wednesday night, 1-0. Matt Duncan got the win and Dalton Wentz got the save. The Dogs host McCutcheon Thursday night at 530p.

The Biggest Loser - My dark horse pick goes home

Laura was sent home on TBL last night due to a stress fracture in her hip. I'm surprised that this doesn't happen more often. Strenuous workouts for sedentary people who weigh 250-400 pounds can't be good on the bone structure. Anyways, Laura gained 3 pounds and Kristin lost 2 to be the two contestants below the yellow line. It was also the makeover show, which made some of the players look much better once they got all cleaned up. Of course, if I lost 1/3 of my weight and was shown what to wear by a fashion mogul and didn't have to pay for any of the new clothes, I would look pretty damn good too! So, that leaves 6 people left on the ranch. Tara has lost the most percentage of weight so far and has won 10 challenges this season. If she ever drops below the yellow line, she is gone, especially since she just lost her teammate Laura. Mike has lost the second most percentage and has the support of Ron and Kristin, at least. I want Tara to win, but I think that Mike will be the $250,000 winner at this point.

There's not much you can do when you don't hit the ball and can't field it either

The Braves could only muster 4 hits in losing to the Marlins 5-1. Javier Vasquez threw 6 innings and gave up 3 runs, a bare-minimum quality start. The bullpen only gave up 1 earned run in 3 innings of work. The lone Braves run came off of Kelly Johnson's solo homer. The quickly-aging Garrett Anderson made 2 errors on dropped foul balls that led to an unearned run. Anderson is batting .143 on the season. Has time caught up to him? We may need to put Matt Diaz in left field and play Anderson when Diaz needs a day off. It is still early in the season, but it's much easier to win division games early than it is to win them later in the season.

The Braves received some more bad news as Tom Glavine will require at least two weeks off for his sore left shoulder. At 43 years old, he may not want to rehab for a few months and could retire pretty soon. It would be a sad day for Braves fans if the face of the franchise would have to hang up his cleats.

Ball State's baseball team was rained out against Huntington. The Cardinals host Indiana on Wednesday.

Brownsburg's baseball team plays at McCutcheon on Wednesday and hosts them on Thursday.

The Big Bang Theory

Millions of years ago, the earth was created.......just kidding! I love Monday nights, because my favorite TV comedy, The Big Bang Theory, is on the tube. The show is so funny that I even laugh out loud when watching an episode I have already seen. The show is well-written and the cast fits together nicely. Kaley Cuoco is the lone female of the main cast, and holds her own against the guys pretty well. Comedy is definitely her thing. She tried drama during a season of Charmed and did a decent job, but she wasn't exactly acting against the best actresses of our generation. She's a good fit for roles like she had in "8 Simple Rules" and her current show. Plus, she is smoking hot. That's got to count for something, right? Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons are the other main characters. You may remember a young Galecki from Christmas Vacation or his role as Darlene's off-and-on boyfriend on "Roseanne". I mostly relate to his character on the show. I most remember Jim Parsons as the guy in the Stride gum commercials before his role in this show. He may be the best actor on this show. If he is not like his character in real life, he does one hell of a job on the screen. Anyways, if you have nothing to do on Monday nights, watch this show. It's always good for a laugh or two.

Sweep, Sweep, Swept

The Braves got back on track this weekend by sweeping the Nationals in a 3-game series. They won 6-5, 5-3, and 8-5. Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar are batting .400 this season to lead the team. Derek Lowe has a 0.82 ERA in two starts to lead the pitching staff. The Braves have an off day today then host Florida for a three-game series.

As stated in a previous post, the Brownsburg Bulldog baseball team won three games on Saturday to claim the Hendricks County title. They are scheduled to play Ben Davis tonight, but it looks like it may rain most of the day. They start conference play on Wednesday, hosting McCutcheon at 530p.

The Ball State baseball team was swept by Bowling Green over the weekend, 3-2, 7-6, 9-7 (10 inn). In Sunday's game they scored in the top of the 10th inning to lead 7-6, but Bowling Green hit a 3-run homer to win it. The Cardinals host Huntington College on Tuesday before hosting Indiana on Wednesday. BSU is now 5-5 in the conference, but only 1 game out of the division lead.

Fantasy Sports Update

It is the last week of fantasy basketball and my father is in the championship game. He is down 6-3 with only today left. He has 7 players against his opponents 4. Can his team have a good day and flip two categories so that he can get the win? We will see.

It is the first week of fantasy baseball. My brother's team is beating me even though he has an empty 3B slot. My sister-in-law's team is beating my father's and she probably hasn't even looked at her team yet. Baseball is a funny game.....