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Baseball-Reference.com preview [opens in new window]
Wow. The Braves' starter today has an ERA under one. Of course, the Braves' starter today also has two major-league starts in his career, and one of those was back in 2005. Still, he pitched six scoreless innings against the Mets, and we've all seen how the D-backs struggle against pitchers they haven't seen before. [Someone needs to do a study on that: is it our advance scouting which is inept, or is this something which all clubs experience?] No-one on the roster has faced him before, so I trust the top of our order will take a few pitches and work deep into counts, and try to give everyone else a look at him.
Johnson will be hoping to reproduce the form he showed last time out at Turner Field. That would be, of course, his perfect game, four seasons ago - so let's just say, he hasn't allowed a hit at Turner Field since August 2003. Hopefully, he can extend the streak by a few more innings tonight. His last outing, with seven shutout frames, was his best of the year, and I'm also noting Johnson seems to be showing better control. He has walked only three in his past 22 innings, compared to nine in his first 16.2, though the strikeouts have also dropped off sharply.
I'm working today, doing some overtime, but will be keeping an eye through online means. Azreous is on recap duty, since I'll be at this tonight, which should be a great deal of fun. I just have to try to remember to get up tomorrow morning's Gameday Thread before going to bed, since I suspect I will not be around for the first pitch at 10:35am!