Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves Preview: Roberto Hernandez vs Aaron Harang

The Atlanta Braves finally emerged with an exciting victory on Wednesday evening, and with that, the team will be looking to build on any acquired momentum with Thursday’s afternoon tilt against the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Mojo” can be important thing in baseball, and Atlanta will put that theory to a significant test on getaway day.

The Pitching Match-up:

Aaron Harang continues to defy any rational expectation, and that was evident by another productive outing in his last trip to the mound. The 36-year-old right-hander allowed just one earned run over seven innings in a loss to Washington on August 9th, and for the year, Harang is maintaining a highly respectable 3.31 ERA through nearly 150 innings. His 1.39 WHIP likely indicates that a regression is on the horizon, but he has fought it off to this point, and Braves Country is thankful.

Harang’s opposition on Thursday afternoon will be Roberto Hernandez, and the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona is making just his second start as a member of the Dodgers. It has been a renaissance year for the now 33-year-old Hernandez with a sub-4.00 ERA over his time with Philadelphia and Los Angeles, but the Braves battered him a bit in his last outing during a win on June 28th.

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The Particulars:

Date: August 14, 2014

Start Time: 12:10 pm ET

TV Channel: SportSouth

Radio: 680 AM/106.7 FM (Local in Atlanta), Full list of Local Affiliates

Live Stream: MLB.tv (Click Here, $)

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The Predictions:

Before we offer our predictions for today, here’s a look at our records to this point:

• Carlos: 7-4
• Brad: 5-6

In the series finale, both Carlos and myself are backing Aaron Harang and the Braves, if only to take advantage of what is at least an even match-up with regard to starting pitching. It will be interesting to see how the bats respond with a 12:10 start, and anything can happen.

Please feel free to sound off in the comments with your predictions for the game and feel free to rub it in our faces when you beat us on twitter (@ATLBeatBlog).