June 30- MIL 6 NYM 3
42-35 +2.0 on STL
Burns & Braun Help Get over on Santana
It was only Mike Burns 2nd start and he was facing a Cy Young winner, so I wasn't too optimistic about this game. After a 1st inning which including a leadoff walk that scored on a David Wright 2 run home run, I figured this could be one in the loss column. Ryan Braun picked things up in the 3rd with an RBI single (1 of 4 on the day) and Burns started cruising after that. He didn't issue any more walks in his 6.2 innings of work and the Mets only had 5 hits total off him. Meanwhile, things unraveled for Johan Santana in the 4th. He walked Burns on 4 pitches, then Fernando Martinez slipped chasing a Corey Hart fly ball and the Crew had 2nd & 3rd with 1 out. J.J. Hardy walked to load them, then Braunie brought them all in with a double, moved to 3rd on the throw home, which got by the catcher and scored when Santana threw wildly to 3rd. Braun had 3 hits on the day and is 7-13 lifetime against Santana. Prince Fielder padded the lead with his 20th homer of the season in the 7th.

The game seemed to be more indicitive of the Burns we've heard about-- a control pitcher. His strike to ball ratio was 66 to 29 and 16 of those strikes were on the first pitch. Ken Macha was incredibly pleased with his ability to use all 4 of his pitches for strikes and pitching into the 7th is what I really appreciated. After 4 teams and 48 appearances over 3 years, Burns had his first career win.