Must win weekend

The Braves lost to the Phillies last night 3-2. Rafael Soriano gave up a home run to Ryan Howard to lead off the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie. In Soriano's last 10 games he has 2 blown saves and 2 losses with an ERA just under 9.00. It may be time to put Mike Gonzalez back into the closer role or to have a two-headed monster come out of the bullpen. Gonzalez has pitched well recently, including a scoreless 8th inning in Friday's game. He has not given up an earned run since July 9th, throwing 11 innings during that stretch. Anyways, Soriano's performance ruined a great outing by Jair Jurrjens. Jurrjens pitched 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on a Chase Utley homer, and striking out 6. The offense only got two runs on RBIs by Chipper Jones and Ryan Church. Game two of the series is this afternoon at 410p on FOX. Kenshin Kawakami will pitch for the Braves in what is a must-win game.

Atlanta is now 6 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 1.5 games behind the second-place Marlins. The Braves really need to win these next two games to stay alive in the division race. Atlanta is 3.5 games behind Colorado in the wild card race.

Lance Lynn pitched last night for the Springfield Cardinals, but had trouble finding the strike zone. He threw 102 pitches over 4 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and striking out 4. The problem is that he walked 5 batters. He would have got the win if he would have pitched one more out, but in the minor leagues there is no reason to put more stress on the arm than is necessary. Lance is now 6th in the Texas League in ERA, 7th in strikeouts, and 10th in WHIP.

Tucker Barnhart was 0-for-5 yesterday for the GCL Reds. He batted second in the lineup and was the DH for the game. Barnhart is 1-for-13 with 3 strikeouts on the season. It may take him another week or so to get back on track after the delay from the MLB office on his contract.

Which way weekend?

The Braves play a pivotal series with the Phillies this weekend. This will most likely decide whether Atlanta will be playoff contenders or not. Jair Jurrjens will pitch tonight against Joe Blanton. Game time is 735p.

The Redskins got their asses handed to them by the Ravens last night 23-0. Baltimore piled up 500 yards of offense, including nearly 400 yards in the air. The Washington offense did not get 200 yards. I know our offense is bad, but the defense really needs to come through if we are going to stay in games this year. Maybe we can chalk it up to the first preseason game, or maybe it will be a long season. The Redskins host defending champion Pittsburgh on Saturday the 22nd.

Lance Lynn was scheduled to pitch game two of a double-header yesterday, but game one went 13 innings, so they postponed the game to today. Lance will pitch in game one of Friday's double-header. Game time is 605p eastern.

Drew Storen got his second save for AA Harrisburg on Thursday night. He struck out one and walked one in his inning of work. He has still not given up a hit since being promoted to Class AA.

Tucker Barnhart got his first professional hit and he was 1-for-4 for the GCL Reds on Thursday afternoon. Tucker was behind the plate for the first time and threw out 1 of the 2 runners that attempted to steal a base.

Five.......Five Wins.......Five wins in a row!!!!

The Braves beat the Nationals last night 6-2 for their fifth win in a row. Adam LaRoche showed why GM Frank Wren traded for him by hitting two home runs. LaRoche was 2-for-3 with 3 RBI. Garrett Anderson and Martin Prado also homered for Atlanta. Derek Lowe pitched 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 5. Peter Moylan and Mike Gonzalez each pitched a shutout inning of relief. The Braves have the day off on Thursday before hosting Philadelphia in a huge three game series that could turn the division upside down.

Atlanta is tied for second place in the NL East with the Marlins and are 4.5 games behind Philly. The Braves are 3 games behind Colorado in the wild card race.

Lance Lynn pitches tonight for the Springfield Cardinals in game one of a double header with two 7-inning games. Game time is 705 EST.

I'm back, baby!

I just got back from four days in Vegas. It's a crazy little town. All boobs and legs, especially after the sun goes down. It's a lot more exciting than Indiana.

The Braves took three out of four from the Dodgers and beat the Nationals last night 8-1. Tommy Hanson shut down Washington by striking out 9 over 6 2/3 innings while only giving up one run. Hanson has quality starts in 4 of his last 5 games and has a good shot at the rookie of the year. Chipper Jones had a home run and Ryan Church was on base 4 times, including two walks and a double. The final game of this two-game series is tonight at 710p. Derek Lowe will pitch for the Braves.

Atlanta is 4.5 games behind Philly in the NL East and one game behind second-place Florida. The Braves are 3 games behind the Rockies in the wild card race.

Brownsburg's Tucker Barnhart has been signed by the Reds and made his professional debut on Tuesday night with the Gulf Coast League (GCL) Reds. He was the DH and batted second in the order. Tucker grounded out in the first inning, but got an RBI due to the previous batter getting a triple. He was then called out on strikes twice in a row. He led off the 8th with a walk and scored on another triple. Not too bad overall, 0-for-4 with a run and a RBI with 2 Ks.

Lance Lynn will pitch tomorrow for the Springfield Cardinals. Lance has pitched well, but is not getting any run support. He has a 2.58 ERA in his last 10 games, but is only 4-2. It's not just a Springfield problem, the entire Cardinal organization is weak on offense.

Drew Storen has been promoted to Class AA Harrisburg. Storen pitched a three-up, three-down ninth inning to get the save. In 25 innings this year, Storen has held hitters to a .191 average and has 37 strikeouts and only 2 walks. He may be in the majors pretty quickly as there are only 4 right-handed relievers with a better ERA and more innings in the organization this season.