FanHouse Braves

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That every once in a blue moon, a pitcher doesn't even have to throw a single pitch to get a win. How? Rockies reliever Alan Embree demonstrated Tuesday night against the Nationals. He entered the game with two outs in the top of the eighth and the score tied at 4-all and Washington outfielder Austin Kearns standing at first base.

Embree caught Kearns leaning off the base a little early and ensnared him in a rundown -- a rundown in which the southpaw hurler ended up making the putout.

The Rockies scored in the bottom of the inning and the journeyman gave way to closer Huston Street, who locked up what became easily the least work-intensive victory of Embree's career.

"Then I end up with the ball [in the rundown] somehow, and I'm going, 'What just happened?'" Embree said. "And then I came in and they went, 'You're done. Do you think you can go tomorrow?'

---

---

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

A week ago Sunday night, Mariano Rivera earned his 500th save. Which should make us realize a few things about closers:

• The truly great ones are the those who can sustain it for a long time. Getting 40 saves a year for 12 years would still leave one short of 500.

• Even getting to the second tier isn't easy. Only 18 players have had as many as six 30-save seasons: Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Billy Wagner, Troy Percival, John Wetteland, Dennis Eckersley, John Franco, Jason Isringhausen, Robb Nen, Jeff Reardon, Todd Jones, Jose Mesa, Roberto Hernandez, Randy Myers, Rick Aguilera, Tom Henke and Todd Worrell.

In other words, the shelf life for a typical closer is a short one. They can burst onto the scene – and flame out quickly (right, Mr. Gagne?)

• But it also means that teams can find short-term solutions for the ninth inning any number of ways.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That reigning NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is actually better this year, which makes it seem like a long time ago that we wondered how he'd top his 2008 season. Lincecum has erased all memory of that slow start by stringing together 23 consecutive scoreless innings, including seven against the Astros on Saturday.

Lincecum is now 9-2 with a 2.23 ERA, lower than last year's 2.64 ERA. He's looking like a strong candidate to start the All-Star Game in St. Louis, which would be a nice way of making up for last year. Lincecum was picked to go to the game in New York, but he was too sick to attend.

"It would mean a lot -- the hard work paid off," said Lincecum. "If I do happen to start, it will make up for the fact I didn't even make it to the field last year."

As a team, the Giants have now pitched two shutouts in a row for the second time in a week. Previously, they hadn't done it since 2002.

---

---

The Atlanta Braves have announced that struggling second baseman, Kelly Johnson has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right wrist.

This is the second piece of bad news Johnson has received this week. After Tuesday night's game, Bobby Cox announced that Martin Prado would take over as the starting second baseman for the Braves. Johnson, who is hitting .214 this season in 234 at-bats, has been mired in an awful 9-for-74 slump. Johnson's overall poor hitting, especially his .174 average against right-handed pitchers, combined with Prado's recent success forced Cox to rule out a platoon situation and give the job outright to Prado.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Braves have their longest winning streak of the year.

OK, it's only four games. But before Thursday night, Atlanta was the only team that had not won four straight at some point this season.

And where has it gotten the Braves? Not out of fourth place in the NL East – yet within two games of the first-place Phillies, their victims the past three games.

---

---

It's a baseball podcast. The math is easy right? BaseCast. Let's rock.

Hey there! It's the initial MLB FanHouse BaseCast. You know you're excited, and frankly, you should be, because it's pretty freaking awesome. In this episode, host tandem Will Brinson and Andrew Johnson (Prez) welcome Matt Snyder and Ed Price into the proverbial fray.

We discuss -- with Snyder -- the Cubs' lack of success, the insane notion of cutting Carlos Zambrano and if a division title is still in the works. Then Ed joins us from Yankee Stadium where we (ironically?) talk about the banged up Mets, the NL East race and whether the Braves plan on making a deadline deal or not.

---

---

We've all heard by now that Jeff Francoeur has a lucky pair of turkey underwear. The Braves are 7-0 when he wears them to the ballpark.

Sunday, Francoeur decided to tempt fate, announcing that he would wear his lucky underwear for the first time in back-to-back games. On Tuesday (the Braves were off on Monday), the world was going to see just how powerful this lucky charm was for Francoeur and the Braves. However, tragedy struck.

Running late to get to Turner Field, Francoeur returned to his home to find his underwear wet and still in the washing machine. Instead of waiting for the dryer to runs its course, Francoeur left for the game wearing normal undergarments.

It hasn't been the greatest week for Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Not only is he feeling the heat of the Chicago media with the Cubs scuffling, but he's also gotten into an argument with Milton Bradley in which he called his right fielder a "piece of [expletive]." Regardless of whether the exchange should have ever left the clubhouse or not, it's not exactly the type of thing you want the world to know about.

All of this was done after a recent poll by Sports Illustrated in which Major League players were asked anonymously which manager in baseball they would least like to play for, and which one they'd most like to play for. Guess which one Sweet Lou emerged "victorious" in.

Jeff Francoeur seems like kind of a weird dude. I base that solely on the fact that, according to something I read Monday, he owns a pair of lucky "turkey underwear."

Yes, I wish I was kidding. But I'm not! Frenchy rocked out the bird-covered drawers in multiple games recently, based on the fact that the team is 7-0 on days when he wears them.

Francoeur said he had not worn the turkey briefs for back-to-back games all season, but will Tuesday (the Braves were off Monday, and he planned to ask his wife, Catie, to wash the underwear).

[...]"I wore the turkey underwear," he announced before Sunday's game. [Tommy]Hanson then proceeded to pitch six scoreless innings Sunday and the Braves beat the Red Sox, 2-1.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Sunday was a good day to steal home in the major leagues. With an assist from Carlos Zambrano, who airmailed a pitch to the backstop as Dewayne Wise attempted to suicide squeeze, Chris Getz was credited with a steal of home in the White Sox's 6-0 victory over the crosstown rival Cubs. Zambrano followed by plunking Wise, pushing the oft-heated interleague rivalry close to fisticuffs.

Later in the afternoon, the Angels' Gary Matthews Jr. pulled off a straight steal of home in Los Angeles' 12-8 win over the Diamondbacks.

"I got a good jump and pulled it off," Matthews said. "The key was getting a big lead. They're definitely not expecting it with two strikes. If there was a right-handed hitter up there, I wouldn't have even tried."

---

---