Atlanta Braves News

The Chicago Cubs will resume their 11-game homestand tonight with the first of three straight games versus the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field.

At age 23, Yovani Gallardo already is a special major-league pitcher, and the Milwaukee Brewers intend to keep him that way.

Ninety-eight pitches into his afternoon, Scott Olsen stood on the pitcher's mound, watching everybody converge on him like some claw closing its fist. The infielders joined by his side, the full sayonara conference, and there came Washington Nationals Manager Manny Acta, out of the dugout, past the first base line, ready to pluck the ball from his pitcher's hand and pass it along to somebody else.

'I thought I was done,' Olsen said.

Viewed from above, the ensuing meeting took Olsen's toughness quotient to a new level and provided the galvanizing moment in Washington's 5-3 victory against the Atlanta Braves. The claw of humanity came in for the swipe, and Olsen was still there, defiant, dead-set on finishing his own game. Acta walked back to the dugout. The pitcher, still on the mound, had his Maximus moment. Nationals Park roared. Like that, Olsen -- the stepbrother in Washington's homegrown rotation -- had won the crowd.

Atlanta split a rain-shortened series against Chicago - both extra innings contests determined by one run - with the Braves taking the first game 6-5 in 12 innings and the Cubs taking the second game of the series 3-2 in 11.

Selections to the midsummer classic have now become old hat for Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann.

Shortstop Yunel Escobar and center fielder Nate McLouth were both in, then out, of the Braves' lineup for Tuesday night's series opener against Philadelphia.

The 300th career home run of Adam Troy Dunn, when ball met bat, followed the flight path of so many before it. Up it went, engine-powered, roaring beyond the outfielders, beyond the right field wall, beyond the lower section of outfield seats, finally dropping about 15 rows up in Section 239, well beyond the barrier of a normal man's limitations.

Little about Dunn's career, or his homers, obeys the conventions. He hits balls of unusual distance with unusual regularity and, though he hasn't yet played for a winning team, the full majesty of a tape-measure homer still claims a certain power. Even after it has landed.

The Boston Red Sox, 2-1 losers to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon, have won their last six series but in four of those last six series they had a chance to sweep only to fall in the last of the three game set.

The Norfolk Tides shut out the Gwinnett Braves 5-0 on Friday. Tides pitcher Chris Tillman was dominate in 7 2/3 innings, limiting the G-Braves to only four hits and striking out seven.

The Atlanta Braves are looking more and more like a threat in the NL East, and their recent success at the plate has helped them make a move in the standings.

Hey, didn't you used to be the last guy who hadn't committed to a college hoops program? Even though she's not at Wimbledon this week, Anna Kournikova's still in the news ... for getting into a catfight after a woman threw a drink at her in Vegas.

Starting pitcher Andy Pettitte #46 of the New York Yankees pitches to the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field on June 25, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Atlanta Braves have placed second baseman Kelly Johnson on the 15-day disabled with right wrist tendinitis.

The NL East has proven to be the free-for-all many thought it would be. The Atlanta Braves are in fourth place, but are only three games out of first place on July 1... by Joel Barker 48 reads Opinion The NL East has proven to be the free-for-all many thought it would be.

If you were watching Thursday's Braves' game on Sports South, you probably saw this.

Matt Diaz drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double and the Atlanta Braves beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Thursday night to complete their first home sweep of the Phillies in four years.

In just a few short yeara s Villa Ricaa s annual July 3 Fireworks Extravaganza has become the biggest Independence Day celebration west of Atlanta and this year promises to be no different.

The Braves ask: "How do you solve a problem like Yunel?" Yunel Escobar is, shall we say, a different sort of Brave.

The Louisville scored twice in the first inning and again in the third to defeat the Gwinnett Braves on Sunday at Gwinnett Stadium.

Jair Jurrjens allowed his first hit with two outs in the seventh inning on a night the Atlanta Braves finally gave him some run support, beating the reeling Philadelphia Phillies 11-1 on Wednesday in Atlanta.