Pitching In a Sauna Does Wonders for the ERA

Sox: 4 Braves: 1
Sox: 1 Braves: 0
Sox: 1 Braves: 2

If the Atlanta Braves had any kind of offense, they'd be a serious threat for the NL East division race because their pitching is pretty dang good, and underrated too. The records of starters such as Jair Jurrjens and Javier Vazquez betray how dominant these two guys can be. Tommy Hanson is also impressive and, like Beckett on Friday night, he was pitching while under the weather. A young rookie who can shut down both the Red Sox and the Yankees has a good thing going. The Sox offense struggled to score runs this series, though they won it 2 games to 1, and you have to tip your hat to some fierce pitching.

Now, enough about the other team! The Red Sox pitchers didn't do too badly either, limiting the Braves to three runs over the entire series. Two of the three starters shut the Atlanta bats down. Granted, the lineup down south is nowhere near what the Sox face in their own division, but it was nice to see both Beckett and Wake throw so many goose eggs on the Turner Field scoreboard. Penny allowed two solo dingers, but otherwise pitched well himself even if he had to take the loss.

Wake and Beckett both deserve serious consideration for the All-Star Game. Beckett overcame a very tough April to return to his awesome '07 form in May and June (save for an aberration against the Phils two weeks ago). Wake's been the rock in these first three months of the season. He's gotten some nice run support for a change, but that doesn't take away from some clutch outings like the one in Oakland where he flirted with a no-no. His ERA is above 4, but so is the ERA of one of the other 10-game winners, Kevin Slowey, who will likely get All-Star consideration as well, given his record. To do what Wake does at almost 43 years old proves just how valuable this guy is to the team. When the rest of the starters were all over the place in the early going, Wake's been quietly keeping his opponents (as long as they're not the Angels) at bay.

Now that the Sox have left Hotlanta, the 100 degree temperatures, and interleague play behind, they head back up to Baltimore to take on the 0's. The O's pitching will be a nice change of pace from the stuff they faced in Atlanta. Tomorrow night, Lester (who seems to own the O's) faces a guy I've never heard of, Jason Berken, who is 1-4 with an ERA north of 6. Let's hope that means lots of runs for the Sox.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!