Things are Heating up in Hotlanta

This game should be declared the game in which the Braves put their terrible month of June behind them. Scoring the most runs they've scored since the first week of the season, the Braves took advantage of the solid mediocrity of Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan. Either that, or a secret trade happened during the night in which we sent the Cards our own John Thomson, and he then died his hair black and went back out there to try and face his old team. Okay, it just seemed like the weak link in our rotation on the mound, but it was really the weakest link the St. Louis rotation.

Chuck James pitched like one should pitch when given a five run lead in the first and an 11 run lead in the forth. He threw the ball over the plate and made the St. Louis batters put it in play. Yes, a couple of them hit it over the outfield fence, but he only walked one and didn't try to strike everyone out, he just made good pitches and let his defense get him some outs - and it worked.

The real people that are heating up in Atlanta are some of the stragglers in the batting order. Marcus Giles is finally figuring out what being a leadoff hitter means, as his on-base percentage this month is a whopping .565, and he is sporting an eight game hitting streak. Edgar Renteria collected his fourth multi-hit game this month and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Chipper Jones pushed his average back over .300 for the first time since early June and extended his hitting streak to nine games. Adam LaRoche has a modest five game hitting streak in which he has raised his average to .259, the highest it's been since mid-April. And rookie Scott Thorman added the 14th run on the night with his first Major League homerun, and got the silent treatment as he came back to the dugout.

The bullpen again pitched well (it feels so weird writing that). Tyler Yates, Macay McBride, and Chad Paronto all pitched scoreless relief for Atlanta.

A big test lies ahead for tomorrow's starter, Tim Hudson, as he tries to rebound from three bad outings in a row in which he has surrendered five or more runs. He hasn't registered a win since June 10th, losing all four starts since then. He couldn't ask for a better opponent in Reds pitcher Joe Mays, he of the 8.21 ERA and 0-5 record. It might be a great night to come out to the ballpark. Not only is it John Smoltz player statue night (first 15,000 fans), but with Mays and Hudson on the mound there's a chance you might see 30 runs scored.

St. Louis 4, Atlanta 14 at Turner Field
St. Louis Record: (45-38)
Atlanta Record: (37-48)

Winning pitcher - Chuck James (3-0)
Losing pitcher - Jeff Suppan (6-5)