My brother yelled at me BRAVES ARE ON!!! and i busted into the living room and turned on the tv to see Atlanta play (which rarely happens). Ever since the Braves aren’t on TBS I haven’t been able to watch much Braves baseball.

• Anyways i came in in the top of the second and the first thing i noticed is that Javier Vazquez gets ahead in the count on almost every batter. His outside fastball is dirty and it sets him up for his curve and inside slider. 4 strikeouts in the first two innings. Not bad at all.
• Brian McCann got walked in the second and made me laugh on the basepaths. Jeff Francouer came up to bat and on the second pitch from Wakefield, the speedy backstop stole second! It was his fourth stolen base of the season and the first one i have ever seen him make.
• Its the top of the third and I have always known that Tim Wakefield had a nasty knuckleball, but it is amazing at how much the ball dances. You can clearly see the movement even on TV. Hopefully the steller Atlanta offense can pick up on it… I also think that Wakefield should definitely be in the All-Star game. He has never been in one and he is 9-3. Why not? He is one of the most fun pitchers to watch and isn’t the All-Star game just to draw fans?
• But, one of the negatives of a knuckleball pitcher is stolen bases. If he throws the knuckler then almost any runner can steal succesfully (ala Mr. McCann) Gregor Blanco took advantage of this in the top of the third and also swiped second base.
• One thing that made me mad about this game is that i can’t get to watch Nate McLouth or Yunel Escobar. These two players are always fun to watch. And i will keep saying that Yunel needs to stay with Atlanta because of the high energy that he plays with. He is probably the best shortstop in the NL East right now.
• In the top of the fourth Big Papi singled on Vazquez’s first pitch and then fanned Mark Kotsay for his 6th K in 3 1/3 innings. Then Jacoby comes up and grounds into a DP. So far so good…
• Garret Anderson came up in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and crushed one to deep right… but it went foul and the next pitch he pops up to the first basemen. Just great.

So in the top of the fifth the commentators started

talking about the Dodgers and i thought struck me. Juan Pierre is going to be sitting on the bench when Manny (ugh) comes back. Will LA trade Pierre to get some more pitching? They definitely will need some if they are going to go to the playoffs. We have pitching to offer and we also do not have a legit leadoff batter unless thats where McLouth will be batting. If we could get Pierre I think that Atlanta would be much better. There is no speed in the Atlanta lineup after you take Nate out (he isn’t even exactly a speedster). So Pierre could hit first and McLouth would bat second. He could probably have great success batting second in front of Chipper and Pierre has 17 stolen bases. We definitely could use a few of those. So should Atlanta look into getting Pierre from the Dodgers? I think they should

• Back to the game, its the bottom of the fifth and the Braves just got their SECOND hit form Diory Hernandez. So we once again have no run support when our pitcher is doing good.
• Vazquez throws alot of strikes. He has the highest percentage of swing and miss strikes in the majors and he has 8 K’s in 5 2/3 innings. I wonder how good Atlanta would be if their hitting was as good as their pitching?
• Somehow i only just realized that Jason Bay is not in the Sox lineup. Thats great for Atlanta but Bay is also a guy that I like to watch play. Also I think Bay has a great shot of getting the AL MVP but I am still pulling for Miguel Cabrera to get it along with the Tigers going to the World series. They could probably use another arm and bat if they want to get that far though. If Magglio was hitting they would only need an arm but he isn’t and he usually drives in a lot of runs so they are going to have to find a replacement.
• Vazquez just walked two back to back batters but all of his pitches were still very good along with a curve ball that I thought should have been strike three on Big Papi. Vazquez now has three walks and eight strikouts in 5 2/3 innings… but mark kotsay just singled to left and drove in the first run of the game. Jacoby Ellsbury grounds out to Casey Kotchman and Vazquez gets out of his longest inning of the game.
• Its looking good in the bottom of the sixth as Gregor Blanco leads off the inning with an infield single and his second hit of the game.
• The Braves are obviously not used to being able to steal because they are trying to bunt and move him over instead of STEALING on a KNUCKLEBALL PITCHER. Why not steal, and then bunt him over to third if you really want to bunt. that would make much more sense but anyways Blanco is at second after a ‘successful’ bunt and Chipper is at the plate. Lets cross our fingers… and Chipper lines out to Pedroia. Briann McCann is now up with two outs and a runner in scoring position. Something Needs to happen this inning… but it doesn’t. Ground out to first for out number three.

Well I have to go now and as you can see the Braves offensive woes continue and something either needs to be done or we should just start looking forward to next year. The pitching is still good though so thats something we can look forward to. Also if Tim Wakefield doesn’t go to an All-Star game i will be dissapointed and I can only imagine what Red Sox fans will feel like.

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Los