Once again, you can't win if you don't score

The Braves were stymied by an unbelievable pitching performance by the Giants Tim Lincecum last night, losing 1-0. Lincecum struck out 14 Braves and gave up 2-hits in the complete game shutout. Cody Ross singled home Buster Posey for the only run of the game. Atlanta's Omar Infante led off the game with a double and Brian McCann doubled in the seventh inning, but the Braves could not muster any type of offense against Lincecum.

Tonight is Game Two of the NLDS. Tommy Hanson will pitch for the Braves while the Giants will send Matt Cain to the mound. Game time is 937p on TBS. The Braves must win this game to have a chance in the series. Tommy Hanson has pitched well lately with a 1.81 ERA over his last 7 starts, but it's the Atlanta offense that needs to kick it in gear.

(...and I didn't even mention the missed stolen base call that eventually cost the Braves the game last night!)

Let's hope the Braves at least get a hit tonight

Game one of the Braves/Giants NLDS series is tonight at 930p. Derek Lowe will pitch for the Braves while the Giants will counter with Tim Lincecum. Lowe has pitched well lately with a 5-0 record and a 1.17 ERA in September. His season ERA is 4.00 and he has been given 4.87 runs of support per game. Lincecum also pitched well in September. He was 5-1 with a 1.94 ERA during the final month of the season. For the season his ERA was 3.43 and he got 4.45 runs per game from the Giants offense.

This game will come down to which offense can get out of it's slump. Neither team averaged more than 4 runs per game in September. The Giants averaged 3.66 runs per game and batted .235 with a .704 OPS. Not to be outdone, the Braves averaged 3.5 runs per game and batted .247 with a .684 OPS. All of these numbers are way below the league averages, but considering both team have been playing in "playoff-type" games over the last month that is to be expected.

I expect the Giants will win tonight's game, based on home-field advantage, slightly better offense, slightly better pitching, and I'm sure an Atlanta error will cause a few unearned runs that will make the difference (The Braves had the most errors in the NL this year).

We made it!

The Braves struggled throughout the weekend, but did win one of three games against the Phillies. Coupled with a Padres defeat in San Fran, the Braves made the playoffs as the wild card team. Atlanta now faces the Giants in the NLDS starting Thursday at 930p.

The potential pitching matchups are:

Game 1 - Derek Lowe vs. Tim Lincecum

Game 2 - Tommy Hanson vs. Matt Cain

Game 3 - Tim Hudson vs. Barry Zito

The Braves need to get the bats going. In September, the team batted .247 with an OPS of .684, both well below league averages. The pitching wasn't too good either. The team ERA in September was 3.71, the team's worst showing since April.

In other news, the Redskins beat the Eagles on the road to go 2-0 in the division. They ran the ball and played good defense, which is what this team has to do to win ball games.

Also, the Ball State football team went to Central Michigan as 19-point underdogs and came out with a 14-point victory. The BSU defense forced 4 turnovers and had 6 sacks, holding CMU to 13 points under their average. Next week is homecoming for the Cardinals against Western Michigan. BSU will probably be the favorite in this game and the line could be up to a touchdown or so. Imagine, a team that got beat by Liberty as a 7-point favorite over another D-1 team.....this is a crazy game.