A hit parade for the Braves gains games on the leaders

The Braves had 17 hits last night and beat the Brewers 9-4. The top three hitters in the order (Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, and Chipper Jones) were 7 for 13 with 5 walks, 3 homers and 7 RBI. Javier Vasquez had a solid outing, throwing 7 innings and giving up 4 runs. Peter Moylan and Rafael Soriano each pitched an inning of relief. The two teams play tonight at 705p EST. Tommy Hanson will pitch for the Braves.

The Phillies and Rockies both lost, so the Braves are 5.5 games behind Philly in the NL East and 2.5 games behind the Rockies for the wild card.

The Brownsburg 12s lost to McCutcheon last night in the finals of the Section 1 tournament. The only Brownsburg Little League team left is the 10s and they play today and tomorrow in pool play in the state tournament.

We gained a game on Wednesday just to give it back on Thursday

The Braves lost to the Giants yesterday afternoon 5-1. The game was tied at 1 after 7 innings, but two Atlanta errors (Peter Moylan and Ryan Church) led to 4 unearned runs in the 8th to account for the difference. It was a well-pitched game for the Braves. Kenshin Kawakami threw 5 innings and gave up 1 run on 5 hits, however it took him 97 pitches to complete those 5 innings. Kris Medlen came on in relief and pitch the 6th and 7th innings and pitched well. Then it all fell apart. In the 8th, Mike Gonzalez pitched to one batter before getting hit in the arm by a line drive. Boone Logan relieved Gonzalez and turned a sac bunt into a base hit. Moylan relieved Logan and turned another sac bunt into a run-scoring error. Two more hits and another error later, it was 5-1 and the Braves did not have a chance. Yunel Escobar had the only bright spot for the offense, hitting a home run off of the foul pole. Oh well, it's only one game. The Braves start a series with the Brewers tonight at 805p. Javier Vasquez will pitch for the Braves.

Atlanta is 6.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East, as the Phillies beat the Padres last night. The Phillies are 15-2 in their last 17 games. The Braves are 3.5 games behind Colorado in the wild card race.

The Brownsburg 12s beat McCutcheon 10-7 last night, setting up a winner-take-all game for the Section 1 title and a trip to the state tourney. The game is tonight at 7pm at Brownsburg.

The Brownsburg 10s played their first game of pool play and lost to host Wabash 7-2. BBurg plays TH North on Saturday and the District 10 winner on Sunday. They need to win both of those games to ensure they get a spot in the final four bracket.

Braves win and the Phillies finally lose

The Braves beat the Giants last night 4-2. Jair Jurrjens out-dueled San Fran's Tim Lincecum, giving up 1 run in 7 2/3 innings and getting some run support. The offense was led by Yunel Escobar's 3-run homer in the third inning. Brian McCann had an RBI single in the first inning to account for the other Atlanta run. Rafael Soriano came on in the ninth and allowed a run to score, but still got the save. The teams play this afternoon at 110p. Kenshin Kawakami will pitch for the Braves. The Braves are now 5.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East, due to the Phillies finally losing a game after winning 10 in a row. Atlanta is 3 games behind Colorado for the NL Wild Card.

Lance Lynn started for Class-AA Springfield last night and threw a great ballgame, but took the loss due to a lack of offense from his teammates. Lance threw 7 innings, giving up 1 unearned run on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 7 batters.

The Brownsburg 12s lost to McCutcheon last night 7-5 and will have to come from behind one more time to win the Section 1 tournament. Game two of the series is tonight at 8pm. It's "win or go home" for the Dogs tonight.

The Brownsburg 10s play the District 9 winner at 530p today in the 9-10 year old state tournament. This is game one of pool play, with games two and three on Saturday and Sunday.

Things are clicking, but are we peaking too early?

The Braves beat the Giants last night 8-1. They scored 3 runs in the third inning and 4 in the fourth inning to take an insurmountable lead. Derek Lowe gave up 1 run in 6 innings for his third straight quality start. Over those starts, Lowe has given up 5 runs in 18 innings. I think he is back on track after his miserable June when he had a 6.54 ERA. The offense was led by Brian McCann (2 for 3, HR, 4 RBI), Chipper Jones (1 for 4, 2 R, RBI) and Martin Prado (3 for 5, 3 R, RBI). The teams play again tonight at 710p. It should be a great match-up as Jair Jurrjens pitches for the Braves while All-Star starter Tim Lincecum will pitch for the Giants.

The Braves have won 5 of their last 6 games, but are still 6.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East. The Phillies have won 14 of their last 15 games to take a strong hold on the division. The Braves are only 3 games behind in the wild card race, so they need to keep playing well. Once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen.

Drew Storen was promoted to High Class-A Potomac yesterday. He seems to have acclimated well as he pitched 2 innings and got the save. Storen allowed one hit, no walks, and struck out 3 batters. He is holding batters to a stingy .190 batting average.

Lance Lynn will pitch tonight for the Class-AA Springfield Cardinals. Game time is 805p eastern.

In little league, the Brownsburg 12s play McCutcheon tonight in the first game of a best-of-three series to decide who wins the Section 1 title and the chance to play in the state tourney. The Brownsburg 10s start play tomorrow in the state tourney.

Big offense + good defense + good pitching = WIN

The Braves started off slowly, but used a big 7th inning to beat the Giants 11-3. Atlanta started the seventh inning by getting the first 6 batters on base, including a tie-breaking triple by Matt Diaz and a two-run homer by Ryan Church. Chipper Jones and Garrett Anderson both homered early in the game to tie the score after the Giants put two runs on the board against Atlanta pitcher Tommy Hanson. Hanson gave up 3 runs in 7 innings to get his 5th win of the season against zero losses. The two teams play tonight at 710p. Derek Lowe will pitch for the Braves. The Braves are still 6.5 games out in the NL East because the Phillies have won 9 games in a row. However, Atlanta is 4 games out in the wild card race with 5 teams ahead of them.

The Brownsburg 12s fought their way out of the loser's bracket to beat Plainfield 9-0 in the championship game of the District 8 Majors tourney. After losing to Plainfield in the winner's bracket final, the Dogs beat Fall Creek once and Plainfield twice. BBurg will now play McCutcheon in the Section finals. The series starts tomorrow at Brownsburg and is a best two-of-three format with games on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (if necessary).

The Brownsburg 10s start pool play in the state tourney on Thursday. They also have pool play games on Saturday and Sunday. The tourney is at Wabash Little League.

Can somebody beat the Phillies?

The Braves beat the Mets last night 7-1, taking 3 of the 4 games in the series. Yunel Escobar made up for his missed hit-and-run Saturday by going 3-for-4 with a homer and 4 RBI. Javier Vasquez threw 7 great innings and finally got some run support to get the win. Vasquez gave up 1 run on 6 hits and struck out 5 batters. He also helped himself at the plate, going 1-for-2 with a run scored. Nate McLouth walked 4 times, but does not have a hit since the all-star break. Garrett Anderson got two hits and is 8-for-18 over his last 5 games. The Braves are 6.5 games behind the NL East leading Phillies, who have won 8 in a row. The Braves are 4.5 games out of the wild card slot. The Braves host the Giants tonight at 710p. Tommy Hanson will pitch for the Braves.

The Brownsburg 12s beat Plainfield yesterday to set up a winner-take-all game tonight for the district 8 title. The game is at 7pm in Brownsburg.

They had their chances

The Braves lost to the Mets yesterday 5-1, but they had many chances to win the game. In the 7th inning with the bases loaded and the Braves down 2-0 with one out, Nate McLouth struck out and Martin Prado grounded out. Chipper Jones homered to lead off the 8th to make the game 2-1. After two more hits, two walks, and a caught stealing on a missed hit-and-run sign, Greg Norton struck out with bases loaded to end the inning. To add insult to injury, Manny Acosta allowed three runs in the 9th to put the game out of reach.

Nate McLouth was 0 for 5 and left 5 runners on base. Martin Prado was 1 for 5 and left 3 runners on base. Ryan Church had a good game against his former team as he was 1 for 2 with 2 walks. Garrett Anderson had a big pinch-hit in the 7th inning to load the bases, but the Braves could not get a run across. The lack of timely hitting ruined a great day from Kenshin Kawakami. Kawakami pitched 6 2/3 innings and gave up 2 earned runs for his second straight quality start. The two teams play tonight on ESPN at 6pm. Javier Vasquez will pitch for the Braves.

The Brownsburg 12s beat Fall Creek last night to advance to the finals of the District 8 tournament. They need to beat Plainfield twice to win the championship. The first game is Sunday afternoon at 3pm and Monday night at 7pm, if necessary.

Drew Storen kept his hot streak going with another shutout inning of relief for Class A Hagerstown. He struck out all three batters he faced. In his last 5 appearances, he has thrown 6 2/3 innings and struck out 15 batters while allowing zero base runners. At this rate, he may be moved to High-Class A Potomac or Class AA Harrisburg before the end of the year.