Tonight the Braves took a shot at the Reds right-hander with the best ERA in baseball, Johnny Cueto. “Cueto has been as good as he’s ever been this season. He hasn’t allowed a run in 16 innings over his past two starts and just one run over his past 23 innings. He has a team-high six quality starts out of seven outings.”

The Braves had 12 hits. Michael Bourn had hits in three consecutive at-bats, Brian McCann had two hits and a homer and Martin Prado was 3-for-4.

“Chipper Jones singled to drive in his 11th run in the past 11 games and move within 13 RBIs of the all-time lead among third basemen. And the Braves are now 17-5 with Jones in the starting lineup this season.”

 Pitching on the mound for the Braves tonight was, Tim Hudson. Hudson pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs, to move to 145-5 in games over his career when his team supplies four or more runs while he’s on the mound.

Hudson, now 2-1 with a 3.96 ERA in four starts back from the disabled list, could unwind and pitch assertively.

Tomorrow the Braves take on the Miami Marlins at Turner Field. 

Lauren Shantha, Follow Lauren on Twitter @lshantha

There has been much debate over why Dan Uggla was not charged with an for not covering second base as Tyler Pastornicky fielded a Todd Frazier hit ball. Just to clarify, Pastornicky gets the error because the runners were going with the pitch on a full count and two outs.

The first thing you learn playing defense in little league is the play is at first with two outs, so even if the runners had not been in motion, the play was still at first base. (at the very least, the runners were going on contact, making a force out difficult at best. Two outs, run on anything is one of the first rules of base running.) » Continue reading “Braves: Who’s Not on 2nd?”

Don Sutton said on a Braves Radio Network broadcast that he was convinced that Chipper studied theater in the off season. I on the other hand, think it was a mandatory team activity- kind of a Banding People Together team building activity. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go check it out!) If you look at this young season in the musical drama terms, it is shaping up as a rock opera.

Noun 1. Albums of rock music that aspired to the status of art; first appeared in the 1960s.[Wordnet].

Rock operas, concept albums, song cycles and oratorios all differ from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are unrelated to each other in terms of storyline. The rock opera style sometimes overlaps with concept albums, song cycles and oratorios. More recent developments include metal opera and rap opera (sometimes also called hip-hopera). The category a particular work falls into is, to some extent, defined by the intent and self-definition of the work by its creator, as long as the creator’s interpretation does not stray too far from the accepted definition of what constitutes a rock opera. The formal distinction may be that the rock opera tells a coherent (if sometimes sketchy) story, often with first-person lyrics sung by characters; while a concept album or song cycle sets a mood or maintains a theme. Some albums share characteristics of more than one category. Opera consists of individual singers acting out a specific character within a drama. The same is also true of a legitimate rock opera. If a work consists of singers who sing a story, but do not act it out, it is not a rock opera, and should not in the traditional sense, be categorized as such.

Not seeing the correlation? Atlanta is using a collaboration well beyond five part harmony, a variety of instruments, a coherent (if sometimes sketchy) story mostly sketchy, and most importantly, individual singers giving a dramactic performance, not merely singing the lyrics. » Continue reading “Braves Banding Together”

Atlanta Braves @ St. Louis Cardinals
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Mo

Braves 19-12, 11-8 away. 2nd place in N.L. East, .5 games behind Washington Nationals.

- Braves are 3rd in N.L. in runs scored (164), 5th in B.A. (.265)
- LF Martin Prado to play in series.
- Chipper’s last trip to Busch Stadium.

Cardinals 20-11, 8-4 @ home. 1st place in N.L. Central.

- Took Wild Card lead during Braves epic collapse in 2011.
- Coming off series sweep of Arizona Diamondbacks.
- Longtime Braves nemisis Lance Berkman to come off disabled list with strained left calf.
- Leagues National League in wins (20) joining Tampa Bay Rays & Texas Rangers atop MLB.
- Beltran 2nd in league with 10 home runs. Jon Jay 3rd in N.L. with .379 ERA, Furcal 5th with .361 ERA.
- DEFENDING WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS.
- Retiring former manager Tony LaRussa’s number.

Probable Starters:
» Continue reading “SERIES PREVIEW: BRAVES @ CARDINALS”

Cole Hamels received a five game suspension and a undisclosed fine after intentionally hitting Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper with a pitch during Sundays 9-3 loss to the Phillies. Hamel started serving his suspension the day after his clash occurred.

After the game, Hamels said he intentionally hit Harper in the lower back in the first inning.

When you think about his punishment on the grand scheme of things, five games are nothing. At most, Hamels will be missing one game.

 
» Continue reading “Cole Hamel Might Deserve a Little More Than Five Games…”

At the top of the fourth, the Braves are at bat, the score 0-0. The Braves are taking on the Cubs tonight at Wrigley Field.

Pitching tonight for the Braves we have right-hander, Randall Delgado 2-3, 5.14 ERA. » Continue reading “Real Time: Atlanta Braves vs. Chicago Cubs”

In another theatrical Braves comeback, Eric Hinske played the hero with an 11th inning game winning home run. You may wonder why » Continue reading “BRAVES at ROCKIES: FUN FOR ALL AGES”

If this is how he is going to play out his final professional season, Chipper has to hold up until October.

» Continue reading “Chipper Delivers in Bottom of 11th”

Earlier today I said that when it comes to the Braves and Phillies throw out what you think you know. My head is about to explode, so please try to follow the runaway train that resides inside my head. Here goes… » Continue reading “Braves/Phillies…What Did You Expect?”

The Braves were hot, the Phillies were not, but what happens against anyone else in the league is no factor in what goes on in this rivalry. Atlanta has not beaten Philadelphia since July of last year and have been outscored 51-14 in that time. With Jonny Venters giving up two runs in the eighth, leading the league in scoring and being held to two runs, and most of all, allowing 11 hits to the team that has been able to make contact, it was clear the Phils still had the Braves number.

Tommy Hansen hopes to change that tonight as he faces Roy Halladay…no big deal. It’s not like he faces a guy with a 1.95 ERA or anything. Oh that’s right, Halladay does have a 1.95 ERA and his shortest outing has been seven innings this season. Clearly, Halladay’s losses can be blamed on lack of scoring by the Phillies.

Hansen will be relying on his offense to get back to its hitting ways to get the team back on track, and for the Braves to end their streak, all but Freddie Freeman anyway. Freeman hit his first home run against Halladay and is 3-7 overall. Maybe he was too young to be scared, but hopefully he has hung on to whatever it was that gave him those numbers!