Braves Take Final Game

The Braves were able to defeat the Padres 5-4 with Kyle Davies on the mound. Overall a good series taking 2 out of 3 from a 1st place team.

-Kyle Davies actually pitched a good game. He went 6 innings giving up 1 earned run and had a total of 6 strike outs. Perhaps it is a sign of better things from Davies. As history indicates, I just highly doubt he will continue tonight's success in future games.

-Brian McCann hit a homerun and totaled 4 rbi tonight.

-Andruw Jones went 3-3. I can't even remember the last game he had 3 hits. This is a good sign anyways.

-Scott Thorman is absolutely horrible, I have finally run out of patience with this guy. Salty at 1st base permanently anyone? Bring up Brayan Pena or Corky Miller to backup McCann. Both moves would improve the Braves.

-I also think Chris Woodward should be demoted as well. Come on, there are guys out there that are in the minors or FA that could be better utility players.

-I kind of like Kelly Johnson hitting in the back of the order, but I like him hitting lead off too. I think if Kelly can produce better without leading off, then go for it. The only problem is who leads off when Willie Harris isn't in the lineup? If Johnson continues to hit well again, there is no way Cox will continue with a 2nd base platoon. Johnson raised his batting avg from .271 to .287. Check out his game log.

-Bob Wickman nearly blew the game. 5 hits, 3 earned runs in one inning? We can not accept that kind of performance from the closer.

I also found some pretty good talk on prospect Elvis Andrus. Coach Guy Hansen said Elvis reminds him of Derek Jeter. I never liked Jeter, but Jeter has always been a good ball player. I would certainly accept the idea of Andrus being related to Jeter in terms of ball playing ability. You can read the article about it here.

The Braves will take the next four days off due to the all-star game and then play their next series vs the Pittsburgh Pirates starting Friday.

Players that were selected to represent the Braves in the All-Star game are Brian McCann and John Smoltz. John Smoltz will be unable to attend due to injury. Although I felt that other Braves players were deserving such as Edgar Renteria, keep in mind that the All-Star game is pretty much a popularity contest, and rarely are all of the best players selected correctly.