This weekend the Braves head to Washington for a three game set against the last place Washington Nationals. Looking at the probable pitching match-ups for the series things are looking favorable as the Braves look to continue to chomp on the Phillies heals.

Tonight Kenshin Kawakami (4-6, 4.25) makes his return to the mound after leaving a game a week and a half ago after being hit on his neck with a batted ball in his start against the Yankees. The Nationals will send out Ross Detwiler (0-4, 5.24)

In the second game of the series Tommy Hanson (4-0, 2.48) looks to remain unbeaten as he’s matched up against John Lannan (5-5, 3.45). While Hanson continues to be a breath of fresh air for the Braves, Lannan continues to show that he is the leader of the Nationals rotation. He’s pitched five straight quality starts entering this series.

In the finale game of the series Derek Lowe (7-6, 4.44) is set to pitch against Scott Olsen (1-4, 6.56) While Lowe pitched well in his start against Philadelphia on Tuesday he’s struggeled of late and the Nationals may help right the ship. Olsen on the other hand returned to the Nationals rotation after a shoulder injury sidelined him for six weeks. Olsen lasted seven innings allowing two runs against Florida on Monday.

Looking at his numbers from a few years ago you’d be hard to find anyone who would guarantee Branyan a starting role and with a slumping economy pay him $1.4 million.

Enter Seattle. Jack Zduriencik who previously worked in the Milwaukee system became the Mariners GM this winter and knowing the body of work Branyan had put in and his skill set decided to give him a role.

Branyan currently has 241 at-bats, a number that is his most since 2002 when he was split time between Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Branyan has mashed 19 homers, five short of that same 2002 season. His 40 RBI at this point of the season gives him a relative shot at 90 on a very bad offensive club and yet the most surprising of all is that he is hitting .303 … yes Russ Branyan, and I looked twice to verify it’s not a typo.

Sadly Seattle who is two games above .500 ranks last in the American League in runs scored and 29th in baseball. The team has just two players batting over .275 in Branyan and outfielder Ichio Suzuki. Branyan is joined by second basemen Jose Lopez who has 10 homers as the only two players in double digits. Lopez leads the team with 46 RBI, Branyan and third basemen Adrian Beltre are the only two other players who have more then 30.

To showcase how bad Seattle has been it’s worth pointing out that Branyan actually is the only player who has scored 40 or more times and while I never thought I’d be talking about Branyan’s taking bases on balls it’s worth nothing that while he leads the team in strike outs he’s also walked more then anyone else.

The Yankees as a team have scored the second most runs in all of baseball and of course play in what is often rightfully called the toughest division in baseball. If Derek Lowe and the Braves are going to make it to the post season they must beat good teams as well as bad ones.

The Braves won the first game of this series before dropping what was a close game early on last night. Against the American League East Derek Lowe has had mixed results.

Against Toronto he pitched 7.1 innings allowing two runs in a W. In his last two outings against Baltimore and Boston he’s been beaten allowing 10 ER in 8.2 innings while giving up 15 hits, walking four and striking out just two.

Derek Lowe was brought in to be an ace on the Braves and tonight he needs to step up against stiff competition. As has been the case for what seems like a month the Braves remain three games under .500 and four games back in the NL East.

Fossum, 31, did not appear in a big league game for the Yankees and despite a 3.38 ERA and a 43/15 K/BB ration for their Triple-A club there didn’t seem to be much chances the left hander would see big league time with the club.

Used as a starting pitcher by the Yankees while at Triple-A there is a chance another team will take a look at Fossum as a LOOGY.

For those counting Fossum has been signed by seven different organizations in his career that started when he was a supplemental pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1999. Fossum has appeared in big league games for Boston, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Detroit and the New York Mets. He’s also pitched in the minors for the San Diego Padres and Yankees. In addition he attempted to make the Pittsburgh Pirates as a non roster invitee last season.

While keeping open the possibility to take advantage of some part-time broadcasting duties during the regular season or postseason, Glavine has determined that he won’t continue to explore the possibility of pitching, coaching or serving in an advisory role for any Major League clubs again this year.

He also said he has decided against filing a grievance against the Braves. Glavine’s agent, Gregg Clifton, had reportedly discussed this matter with a labor attorney and the players’ union.

Glavine is open minded about pitching in 2010 but considering he’ll be 44 and a year and a half removed from his last major league start it’s looking as if the 305 game winner and two time Cy Young winner has thrown his last pitch.

With the $1 million contract that Glavine signed in February, he was due a $1 million bonus when he was placed on the 25-man roster. After tossing six scoreless innings for Class A Rome on June 2, the veteran hurler thought he was just five days away from making his Major League regular season debut and gaining this bonus.

On June 3, Glavine arrived at Turner Field and was given the option to either retire as a member of the Atlanta Braves or be released. Glavine choose to be released and for whatever reason there hasn’t been much interest in the left hander’s services this season.

Glavine underwent a surgical procedure last August that repaired both his left elbow and left shoulder. While his elbow proved to be sound, he came to Spring Training this year and continued to be plagued by the shoulder which bothered him throughout a majority of his career.

Glavine noted that not playing this season gave him the oppurtunity to be a father for a full summer.

“I enjoy going to my kids’ hockey games and ballgames and all that other stuff,” Glavine said earlier this month. “On the one hand, I’m kind of looking forward to having a summer for the first time in 25 years. It’s just not the way I envisioned doing it.”

McLouth who came over in a trade with Pittsburgh is hitting just .240/.309/.360 in his 12 games with the Braves hitting just 1 home run and driving in a total of just 2 RBI in 50 at-bats.

The Braves knew scoring would be tough this season but had hoped Jeff Francoeur would break out of a multiple season slump and the addition of veteran Garret Anderson would help add some runs but so far the Braves have struggled.

In the Braves last 13 games they have combined to go 4-9 and have scored just 3.23 runs per game. To make matters worse they’ve scored three or less runs in seven of those contests and were shut out in back to back games against Milwaukee.

With the exception of Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and at-times Yunell Escobar the Braves lineup is lacking offensive depth.

Last season the right hander went 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA while pitching 200.2 innings in his first full season in the Dodgers rotation. This season he’s looking like a CY Young candidate.

Billingsley moved to 9-3 on the season lowering his ERA to 2.72 as the Dodgers finished up the series with a 6-3 victory in Arlington. With his performance in the game Billingsley now ranks first in the NL in wins and his 93 strike outs are third.

The Dodgers are now an impressive 42-22 with a 7game lead over the rival San Fransisco Giants. The Rangers remain in first in the AL West 2.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels.

His longest outing of the season came against Seattle earlier this month, in that contest he went seven scoreless innings while allowing two hits and three walks. In his last two outings he’s went 4.2 innings while walking 7 and has seen his ERA climb to an unsightly 5.81.

To make matters worse his last two outings have come against Oakland and Atlanta.

The Orioles may give Hill another shot but even Baltimore can’t keep Hill on the roster hoping he can figure out where the strike zone is. Brian Bass again relieved him today and is starting to look like his replacement in the rotation.

Tommy Hanson will face an Orioles lineup that has surprisngly been just middle of the pack this season. The Orioles will trot out Brian Berken who allowed 9 runs in just 3 1/3 innings in his last start so hopefully he will be just the start this team needs.

I plan on watching this game tonight so I’ll try to do one of them memorable posts.

Just like some of the players who he has managed during his tenure as the Braves manager, Cox downplayed the significance of the milestone number. “It’s not a big deal at all,” Cox said. “It’s something you don’t think about. All it means is you’re getting old and you’ve been around a long time.”

Cox ranks fourth on the all-times win list with 2,355 career wins.