King of the Rock

Do you have what it takes to be King of the Rock? Test your skills on the court this Saturday as participants from around the Atlanta area; compete in this one of a kind tournament.

Participants will not only vie for a $1,000.00 cash prize, but also the opportunity to represent Atlanta in the tournament of champions. The tournament of champions will be held on Alcatraz...That's right Alcatraz. Hence the name, King of the Rock! So if you have game, Central park will be the place for you this Saturday.

-   Event Details  -

Date: July 28, 2012

Where: Central Park
400 Merritts Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
Registration: 5:00pm; Games begin at 6:00pm
Website: http://www.redbullusa.com
                                      

Braves Weekly Wrap-Up

This week was a good one for the Braves and the National League as a whole.  The Major League All-Star Break began on Monday with the Home-Run Derby, which was won by Prince Fielder of the Detroit Tigers.  Fielder became the first player to win the Derby as a part of both the American and National League.  Tuesday, the All-Star game was played.  Dan Uggla recorded an RBI, but the story of the game was Chipper Jones.  In his final All-Star appearance, the 40-year old Brave recorded a single in his only at-bat.  Before the at-bat, he received a standing ovation from the Kansas City fans.  Chipper was quoted as saying that the night went exactly how he scripted it.  The National League ended up winning the Mid-Summer Classic 8-0 with San Francisco Giant Pablo Sandoval being named the MVP.

Chipper Jones looks to stay hot

After the 4-day break from baseball, the Braves suited up to battle the New York Mets on Friday.  The series was an important one not only because of the NL East standings, but because the Braves strung together 4 straight wins before the break.  Carrying that momentum through the break will be necessary to catch the NL East leading Washington Nationals.  On Friday, the Braves were throwing Tim Hudson against the Mets.  The usually consistent Hudson did not have his best outing, going only 4 innings while giving up 4 runs on 8 hits.  However, the Braves offense and some timely pitching from the bullpen were able to overcome Hudson’s poor performance.  Although David Ross’ homer in the third was a big moment for the Braves, two other moments stood out in this game.  When Jack Wilson was injured in the fourth inning, Martin Prado was called upon to play shortstop.  The fact the he is willing to play anywhere at any time, and play well, shows why he is arguably the Braves most important player.  The second moment was Chipper’s home run in the sixth inning.  The home run tied Chipper with Mike Schmidt for second-most RBI’s by a third baseman with 1,595.  The second game of the series with the Mets was another important game for the Braves because of the way it was won.  After Tommy Hanson struggled to pitch effectively, the Braves found themselves down 7-5 in the eighth.  In the bottom of the inning, Martin Prado delivered a single that scored the game-tying run.  Heyward followed with another single that scored the go-ahead run.  Craig Kimbrell struck out the side in the ninth to finish the win.  In the series cap on Sunday, the Braves finished off the sweep behind six shutout innings from Ben Sheets and a big home run from Freddie Freeman.  If Sheets can continue to pitch well, the Braves may have finally found the answer to their starting rotation’s struggles.

Ben Sheets threw a great game in his first start in two years

Do You Have Plans for the 4th?

With the 4th of July rapidly approaching, many people are scrambling to put together some last minute plans. If you find yourself in this position, there is no need to worry. We have compiled a list of great events around the town to help you celebrate the holiday in style.
                                                       

Centennial Park

Centennial Olympic Park

Centennial Olympic Park will host its annual 4th of July extravanganza, with gates opening at 6:00pm. Thier muscially synchronized fireworks display, is one of the more popular events in the area, so if you plan to attend we would advise arriving as early as you can. The fireworks  show is slated to start at 9:40pm

Lenox Square

Lenox Square

Once again Lenox Square will feature one of the largest 4th of July Celbrations in the South East. As always, bands will play, and family friendly activities will be available to event goers from noon till after sundown when the show begins. This years fireworks display is set to run for around 20 minutes, featuring over 4,000 fireworks.

Stone Mountain 

Stone Mountain Park

Aside from the Lenox Square event, Stone Mountain Park features the most popular 4th of July themed event each year in the Peach State. If you plan on attending this event, we suggest you arrive as early as possible. You might even need to make a day of it with your friends and family. The parks attractions will be available at 10:30am, so from noon on you should expect the park to be packed. While you are waiting on the main show to begin, you can check out both the new Sky Hike and Geyser Towers attractions to help pass by the time. As always the folks at Stone Mountain Park will put on an awesome laser show, that will be immediately followed by their fireworks display, set to begin at 9:30pm.

Do you already have plans for the 4th? Hit the comments below and let us know what you plan on doing!

Braves Weekly Wrap-up

This week for the Braves started out very well.  After losing two straight to the Red Sox to finish out the series, the Braves needed Tim Hudson to deliver a strong pitching effort against the Diamondbacks, and that is exactly what he did.  He pitched eight strong innings in which he only gave up 1 run on a solo home run off the bat of Jason Kubel.  In this game, the Braves offense also had a great game.  By game’s end, every person in the lineup had at least two hits except for the struggling Dan Uggla.  Jason Heyward and Michael Bourn continued their hot streaks by combining to go 4-9 with 2 RBI and 3 runs.  In the second game of the series with the D’Backs, Tommy Hanson delivered a strong start to follow up Hudson’s effort.  He struck out 5 over 6.1 innings and only allowed 3 runs.  The biggest blow for the Braves was delivered by Chipper Jones in the sixth inning when he belted a 2-run home run.  The game on Thursday featured the Diamondbacks’ top pitching prospect, Trevor Bauer, throwing against the Braves.  While the Braves were able to get baserunners and drive up his pitch count, they left 11 men on base while Bauer was pitching.  With the game tied 2-2 in the ninth, Craig Kimbrell gave up a solo homer to Chris Young.  The game finished with the Braves losing 3-2.

Andrelton Simmons makes an acrobatic catch against the Diamondbacks.

The weekend series was a series that the Braves needed to win against the Washington Nationals.  In the first game, they did not perform like they needed to.  After they tied the game with 4 runs in the 7^th, they had all the momentum.  However, that momentum quickly swung back to the Nationals when Michael Morse hit a solo home run leading off the eighth off of Chad Durbin, giving the Nationals a lead they would not lose.  The second game went better for the Braves.  After Mike Minor gave up two runs in the first two innings, it looked like another typical Minor start was occurring.  However, he settled in, and with the help of the Georgia heat, the Braves were able to drive Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg from the game after the third inning.  After he left the game, the Braves scored 4 more runs to finish the winning effort.  In the final game of the series on Sunday, the Braves were unable to beat the Nationals.  Hudson failed to repeat his pitching performance against the Diamondbacks, giving up five runs over 6 innings.  The Braves finished off the series by losing 8-4.  The Braves finished the series 4.5 games back of the Nationals in the NL East standings.

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg struggles in the Atlanta Heat.