Tommy Hanson got the nod today and he gets my nod for the day. He pitched pretty damn well: 6 and 2/3rds innings, 3 hits, a run, 3 walks, and a pair of strikeouts. Moylan relieved him, but had some trouble, as he gave up 3 hits and 2 runs and had to be relieved by Jonny Venters before recording an out. Venters pitched another inning without incident. Jesse Chavez came in the 9th and gave up a walk before ending the game. Overall, good.

The story of the day really has be more about the offense, who have averaged 6 runs/game in May. They started early and didn’t look back, with Chipper awkwardly knocking a shot over the right field fence in the 1st.

Hey, it works.

Troy Glaus hit a 3-run shot in the 7th, his 8th of the season. Other than that, Eric Hinske drove in 2 runs on a single and a fielder’s choice. Yunel Escobar also drove in a pair of runs on a single. In total, 9 runs on 11 hits. It was a good day. Now, stay in first.

Braves win, 9 – 3.

Next game, 7:10 PM EST vs. the Phillies on Peachtree TV and ESPN.

Tim Hudson (5 – 1, 2.24) vs. Cole Hamels (5 – 3, 3.82).

Kris Medlen, who has replaced Jair Jurrjens while he’s been on the DL, pitched this game and was pretty solid. He went 6 and 2/3rds innings, gave up 4 hits, 2 runs, a pair of walks, and struck out 2. Not perfect, but enough to keep the Braves in the game. O’Flaherty relieved him and struck out the only batter he faced. Saito followed and struck out 2, earning his first win of the season. Wagner came on in the 9th, struck out 1, and got his 7th save of the year.

The offense was lacking in the beginning of the game, but when the time came, they stepped up. Troy Glaus started off the game with a sacrifice fly in the first. In his next at-bat, he hit his 7th homer of the year. After that, the bats remained silent until the 8th inning. With 2 outs and runners on first and second, pinch-hitting Chipper Jones hit a bloop towards left field.

It dropped.

This gave the Braves a 3-2 lead. Then Jason Heyward came up to the plate and drove in McCann and Chipper with a triple, his 37th and 38th RBI of the year. Who expected this from him at the beginning of the year? All I can say is I’m very happy with the way this team has been playing.

Braves break out the brooms, 5 – 2.

Next game, 1:05 PM EST vs. the Phillies on Sports South.

Tommy Hanson (4 – 3, 4.06) vs. Joe Blanton (1 – 3, 5.63).

Tim Hudson commanded the mound for 6.2 innings giving up 5 hits, with only 1 run (earned) and striking out 1. Moylan closed out the 7th with a K and O’Flahrety and Venters each pitched an inning with no issues.

The offense really exploded today, and surprisingly enough Troy Glaus was the center of it all. Going into the game Glaus was batting .194 and within 5 at bats had improved to .221 thanks to 3 hits and 4 RBIs. In the bottom of the 7th Jason Heyward hit his 7th HR of the season with a fly ball to center field. This is the 3rd straight game in which Heyward has hit a home run. Infante and Prado both had 3 hits as well. Combined the Braves has a season high 15 hits this game.

Braves win 10-1. Let’s see how long we can keep this win streak alive. Go Braves!

Next game: Norris vs. Lowe

Tommy Hanson pitched 8 solid innings tonight only allowing 4 hits and 2 runs (both earned) and struck out 7 leading the way for Billy Wagner in the 9th. With a little help by turning a double play, it was 3 up, 3 down for the Astros and game over.

Offensively this game was a pleasure to watch after the last 9 that we have endured. Nate McLouth began the game by hitting a solo shot to center field for his 2nd HR of the season. Martin Prado was also able to score thanks to Troy Glaus reaching on a fielding error by the Astros.  In the bottom of the 3rd Jason Heyward landed his 6th HR of the season with a 2 run shot to center field. Additional highlights include McLouth stealing a base in the 2nd inning, he tried this again in the 4th and was unsuccessful.

It’s about damn time. The Braves win this game 4-2 sparing Bobby Cox from what would be only his 2nd 10-game losing streak of his career.

Next game: Rodriguez vs. Hudson

Jurrjens (who is 0-3 on the season) left the game after the first with a strained left hamstring. He had already given up a 3 run homer to the Cardinals 3rd baseman David Freese, with a little help from the right field foul pole. Kris Medlen was brought in and kept things close by only allowing 2 hits and 1 run in 3 innings of work. Pretty solid in my opinion, and left the Braves with hopes of coming back and taking it. After all, we seemed to have a knack for being the comeback kids early on this season. All of that changed with Chavez though who, on 4 two-out hits, gave up 4 runs including a 3 run double from Freese.

Offensively this team is becoming more and more frustrating to me. Add 2 more innings ended with double plays this time. Prado in the 1st, Infante in the 6th. The highlights of our offense this game would be Escobar, who had two singles and a run scored in his three at-bats, but was removed from the game in the eighth due to a strained left adductor. Heyward provided his 5th home run of the year with a solo shot in the top if the 7th. It just wasn’t enough though. The bats really need to step up if we want to have any chance of winning.

Braves lose 10-4.

Next series is at home against the Houston Astros.

I said I had faith in Kawakami. Well, apparently, he did not. He went 4.1 innings, gave up 5 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), walked 4, and struck out 4. Jonny Venters, a pitcher I didn’t even remember was on this team, came in and was pretty ineffective. He let all of Kawakami’s runs score. O’Flaherty and Chavez followed with an inning each, without much drama. Same story as always. One thing to note is that the Braves turned 4 double plays. I don’t know if this speaks more towards their good defense, or the fact that the Cardinals always had runners on.

The offense was its usual terrible self. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, this team can’t compete without somebody/something to spark the offense. Even though they had 7 hits, they failed to plate a single run, for their fifth shutout of the year. End this garbage already, please.

Braves go down, 6-0.

Thursday’s game, 1:40 PM EST on SportsSouth. J. Jurrjens (0 – 2, 5.48) vs. A. Wainwright (3 – 1, 1.69).

I’ll give my predictions: Braves lose 4-1. They’ll provide no run support for Jurrjens, but get a mercy homer in the 8th inning (I’m looking at you, Heyward).

Lowe started this game and he was good to begin with, but ended weakly. His line was 5 and 2/3rds innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Moylan relieved Lowe in the 6th, and allowed one of his runs to score on a hit. Medlen and Wagner followed with an inning of their own without any drama. Wagner did drill Matt Holliday, though, so kudos to him. It was just a case of the same story as usual, where the starter failed, the bullpen was decent, but neither mattered because the offense just wasn’t enough.

The Braves managed to score 4 runs in this game, which came from a variety of players. Three came on singles from Melky Cabrera, Derek Lowe, and Chipper Jones. Martin Prado also drove in a run on a fielder’s choice/error. Other than that, the bats were relatively silent. The Braves had the bases loaded in the 7th inning with 2 outs and the Kid up at the plate, but he struck out looking. They need Heyward to start hitting again, or anybody, really, or this is going to be a long season.

Braves lose 7 in a row, 5-4.

Wednesday’s game @ 8:15 PM EST on Peachtree TV.

Kenshin Kawakami (0 – 3, 4.76) vs. Jamie Garcia (1 – 1, 1.42). I have faith in him.

Hudson started this game and had a decent outing until the last two innings he pitched. He went 6+ innings, threw 94 pitches (53 strikes), allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. He received a no-decision for his effort. Moylan relieved him in the 7th inning and allowed Hudson’s third run to score. Saito pitched the 8th and allowed a ground-rule double that would be the game winning hit. For this, he got charged with the loss. The pitching staff has seen better nights, but oddly, the bullpen blew it this game, while the starter was solid.

Of course, another reason why the Braves lost was because they did not score enough runs. They tallied up 9 hits, and runs came in the form of a McCann sacrifice fly, a Troy Glaus single, and a Nate McLouth double. The Braves struck early, but after the 4th inning, they were done.

The offense could’ve been more productive.

Not the worst night they’ve ever had, but the pitching staff needed more run support.

Braves drop the opener, 4-3.

Next game, Tuesday @ 8:15 PM EST on Peachtree TV. Lowe (3 – 1, 5.24) vs. Carpenter (2 – 0, 3.60).

Win, dammit.

From a pitching standpoint, Kawakami, Jurrjens, and Hanson were actually pretty decent. I don’t know when Jurrjens is going to win his first game if the offense doesn’t provide him with any run support. Hanson was phenomenal, while only pitching 5 innings a rain-shortened game, he struck out 8 and gave up an unearned run. Kawakami and Jurrjens only gave up 3 runs in their respective starts. The bullpen wasn’t all that bad, either. They were worse than they have been, but still not terrible.

That word is reserved for the offense. I don’t know what happened this weekend, but they just looked out of it. This included a stupid base-running blunder by Escobar that cost the Braves a run on Saturday. They could only provide the Braves with 3 runs in the 24 innings that they batted, which was just not enough to win anything.

The three losses dropped the Braves from first place to last in the division (8-10) and gave them a record below .500, all the while being swept by the Mets.

Let’s not do that again.

Braves drop game 16, 5-2.

Braves lose game 17, 3-1.

Braves get beat in game 18, 1-0.

Lowe started this game and was less than spectacular. In 5 innings of work, he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), walked 2, and struck out 3. Not his best performance of the season. Medlen relieved him for a third of an inning, giving up a run. O’Flaherty followed, finishing the inning without letting any more damage occur. Moylan pitched the next inning, giving up 2 runs. Finally, Chavez pitched the last 2 innings, only giving up a hit. Not a great performance from the pitching staff.

Still, it did not really matter, because the offense only provided 3 runs on 9 hits. These runs all came in the form of outs from Diaz, Prado, and McCann. Not their best performances of the year as the Braves’ offense was held in check by Jamie Moyer.

Braves lose, 8-3.