Pitching wins championships, just remember that. Tommy Hanson added another win to his Rookie of the Year resume as the Braves bested the Nationals Tuesday night at Turner Field. Hanson had a shakey first inning, struggling to find his command on every pitch, but he battled through, actually struck out the side in the first, and only allowed one run to score. After that, he was pretty much in command. He got some help from the third base umpire, who ruled Nyger Morgan out on a steal attempt, when he seemed to be safe -- that led to a Washington coach being ejected.
As for the offense, it was pretty much evenly spread out, with everyone contributing. Every regular got at least one hit. Ryan Church was 2-for-3 with 2 walks filling in last minute for Nate McLouth. Chipper Jones was 2-for-4 with a walk and a homerun that was absolutely crushed in the 7th.
We broke the Nationals 8-game winning streak and sent their best hitter, Adam Dunn, home with a golden sombrero.
The Braves did some good hitting with runners in scoring position, getting some key run-scoring doubles from Martin Prado in the third, and Yunel Escobar in the fifth. Just a lot of good hitting in this game. And a lot of good pitching. More games like this, please.