Atlanta won its fifth consecutive game last night. The 11-5 victory vs. Washington was also the Braves ninth straight road victory. "It's getting to be a lot more fun. I think we're pretty good right now," said Bobby Cox. Tommy Hanson is pretty good right now, too. The rookie improved to 11-4 after pitching seven strong innings - and he's only been with the club since the end of June.
It's been 15 years since Atlanta won ten straight road games, but that's exactly what the Braves need today. A victory would mean back-to-back-to-back road sweeps for Atlanta - St. Louis, New York, and Washington - and more importantly, it would keep the Braves firmly entrenched in the Wild Card hunt as they return home for the season's final seven games, regardless of what Colorado does today vs. St. Louis.
St. Louis clinched its division last night and now Tony La Russa can begin resting starters and lining up his rotation for the playoffs, but the Cardinals still have an eye on the league's best record and home field advantage in the postseason - and La Russa will make sure the Rockies get a good game today.
Derek Lowe will get the ball for Atlanta today vs. Livan Hernandez and the Nationals.
Hernandez is 1-7 with a 7.33 earned run average in his last nine starts, while Lowe has won three consecutive road starts. If all goes well today vs. Washington, then the Braves will return home no worse than 2.5 back of Colorado.
Colorado has an off day on Monday when the Braves begin a three-game set with Florida, and - praise to God - Josh Johnson is pitching today vs. New York, so the Braves will not have to face him at all in that series.
I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but best case scenario is the Rockies lose today and the Braves win today and tomorrow to move within one game with six to play.
On Saturday the Braves probability of winning the Wild Card (click here to see how it's calculated) was reported by ESPN to be approximately ten percent. Today it's ticked up to nearly twenty percent.
It could happen.
Trivia tidbit: Atlanta scored four runs vs. Washington during the first inning on Saturday, upping its season total to 77 first inning runs. Thanks to a rotation that has given up only 42 first inning runs, Atlanta has outscored its opponents by 35 runs during the first inning of play this season. That's the second best advantage in all of baseball. Only the Dodgers have done better, outscoring opponents by 66 runs in the first inning of play.
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