Brian Mcann of the Atlanta Braves had been coming around of late but he had a real stinker at the plate on Friday night against the Florida Marlins. Mcann went zero for six with four strikeouts and seven runners left on base. The zero for six dropped Mcann's batting average for the season to .262 and his batting average for June to .238. Mcann came into the 2007 season expected to be one of, if not the premiere offensive catcher in the game. Mcann's preseason projections were .305 with 31 homeruns and 102 runs batted in, but with current marks of .262, 7 HR, and 41 RBI it doesn't look like he has a pray of reaching those numbers. If the Braves have the Playoffs in their future Mcann will need to get going in a big way.
I guess it is a good thing that John Smoltz questioned Chipper Jones' toughness and essentially kept him from returning to the disabled list. Jones went two for three with four runs batted in and three walks on Friday against the Florida Marlins. Jones is now batting .332 with 13 homeruns, 36 runs batted in, and an OPS of 1.032. In the time that Jones played in June he is batting .431. It looks like the trash talking lit a fire in Jones and he is on a mission to show how good he still is. I've got Jones on one of my teams and I'm really glad Smoltz called him out. Thanks Smoltzie!
Brad Penny of the Los Angeles Dodgers will be searching for his 11th win of the season today, but Jake Peavy and the San Diego Padres will be standing in the way. Penny has been awesome, thus far, in 2007 but this will be his first start of the season against the Padres. The Dodgers website reports that Penny's fastball topped out at 101 miles per hour in his last start and it was consistently at 95 MPH. Many of you probably remember Penny's appearance in the 2006 All-Star Game, when he is bringing the heat like that it is hard for even the games best hitters to have success. Penny is currently 10-1 with a 2.04 ERA and he has a WHIP of 1.13. Expect a pitchers duel in southern Cal today.
Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs led the charge on Friday enabling the Cubs to overcome a five to nothing first inning deficit. Ramirez went three for five with two runs scored but most importantly he blasted a two run walk off homerun to give the Cubs a 6-5 win. A-ram is off to the best start of his career, considering he usually doesn't start hitting until now, batting .304 with 15 homeruns and 44 runs batted in through 237 at bats. Once again based on the fact that Ramirez is significantly better in the second half he has a nice cushion and pace set right now, so when he gets red hot in the second half he could easily set new career highs.
John Maine of the New York Mets isn't a premiere pitcher but he is probably one of the hottest pitchers right now. Maine started game two of the Friday doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies and threw eight innings of four hit ball in which he allowed one earned run and struck out six. Maine has won three consecutive starts and in that span he has allowed four earned runs in 22.1 innings with 16 K's and only 13 hits. Maine is one guy that probably wishes the All-Star break wasn't coming.
