Never before in his Big League career has big money Johan Santana allowed 12 hits in a game. Then again, he may never have faced a team as red hot and on fire as the 2008 Atlanta Braves in May. The Braves bats are rockin' and their pitching continues to dominate night after night as they sweep the Mets in 4 games to put their win streak at 5.

Tim Hudson was sent in with the tall order to beat Santana, the Mets hope for 2008, for the second time this year (Smoltz beat him the first time). After losing Tom Glavine to the Braves this season, the Mets turned in the cash to get Santana as their ace. The Braves had other plans, and as they showed tonight, their great momentum can overturn an early deficit against even the greatest of pitchers.

For the 4th straight game, Chipper Jones raised his average now at .412 after going 2-4 and Teixeira stayed hot as did Kelly Johnson. But, the big story being Tim Hudson who, after giving up early back-to-back homers battled back to keep the ball down and gave up nothing more completing 8 solid innings and gaining his 7th win of the season.

The Mets had a brief moment of excitement knowing their ace was on the mound after getting the early lead but their recent frustrations mounted on while learning in 4 games way exactly what the Braves are made of.

The Marlins, however, had no intention of letting the surging Braves inch closer to the hallowed 1st place mark and continue to play great baseball themselves garnering another win and keeping the Braves a game and a half out of first.

Next Game: 6:30 CST at Turner Field
Doug Davis, LHP (1-1, 3.72) vs. Jo-Jo Reyes, LHP (2-1, 4.12)

When the Braves have it all going, they may have the best team in the National League. The have a potential shutout 3 games out of 5 and the other 2 starts folks like Campillo and Reyes have shown the potential to be great, if not awesome.

Of course, no fierce team could be complete without solid offense and the Braves are finally clicking on all cylinders.

Mark Teixeira had 3 hits in the game as well as Brian McCann & a resurgent Jeff Francoeur who was a double shy of the cycle in Wednesday night's 11-4 blowout.

Chipper raised his average again going 1-2 and now batting a Major League best .410 but had to come out late in the game after being hit in the ankle by a pitch.

Jair Jurrjens picked up his 5th win of the year after yet another dominant outing, going 7 strong innings allowing only 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 2 walks and 1 strikeout. He dropped his ERA to 2.64.

The Braves go for the 4 game sweep at 6pm Central Time as two Aces match up. Johan Santana (5-2) for the Mets and Tim Hudson (6-3) for the Braves. The Mets will try and stop the slide and the Braves will go for 5 in a row with hope the Marlins will finally give them a chance to gain some ground in the East. The Braves are currently tied for second place, 1.5 back of Florida.

You can't know how long something like this will continue for Chipper Jones. But, it's an amazing sight to see. One I'll surely remember the rest of my life and pass on my children as Chipper's amazing hot streak appears for years to come in trivia questions. About the only way Chipper can continue to raise his average is to get two hits a night and hope not to end up with 5 or more official at bats. When 2 for 5 lowers your average in May you know you're doing something special. With a little luck and some 2 for 3 games Chipper could actually be still above .400 in June as we're now a full week into May.

I think his influence has rubbed off. Suddenly McCann's bat is taking off and balls are dropping, Kotsay too. Of course, Escobar continues to hit, no shock there and as long as he continues to be on base in front of Chipper, Chipper's going to rack up a lot of RBIs. He'll end up with 140 and 40 HRs or so if this keeps up! Stay hot Chipper! It's worth the price of tickets to see this offense.

However, good offense coupled with bad pitching is not worth much. So, happily for the Braves, they have both working right now in beautiful harmony. Starting pitchers are sharp as ever. Hudson shows week after week why he's the starter the Braves knew they signed, Glavine's still Glavine and Jurrjens is still wowing fans and opponents with his presence on the mound. If Jo-Jo Reyes can get energized from the Braves 5 game win streak and pitches like he did Saturday then fans can really be excited.

Hopefully Soriano will be back in the 'pen soon but until he his, Boyer, Acosta, Ring, Campillo and Bennett are dominating the end of most games. Add Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano and John Smoltz to the end of the games and the bullpen might become the most feared in the National League, if not the Majors.

All above to say, the Braves have it working. They're hot. They're hitting. They're pitching. And they're STILL NOT HEALTHY. Good news for Braves fans, bad news for the NL East. If the Braves can do this now, just wait.

Noon game today (Central Time). Braves go for 6 in a row.

Go Braves!