Note: this was written for the Score Atlanta website (www.scoreatl.com, or see the link at the bottom of the page!) yesterday, though it was not posted. Wednesday is deadline day, so I can understand. Sort of. The Braves of course won last night. Go Bravos!
After seven games, the Atlanta Braves are 3-4 and are out on the left coast, battling the Padres. That is sad actually when you think about it. Having to battle the Padres, one of the worst teams in baseball coming into the season. Actually, Atlanta lost the first game of the series 17-2, so perhaps I shouldn’t say battling.
What should we make of the Braves after the first seven games? This team sadly still has some of the problems the 2009 team encountered. Troy Glaus was brought in and converted to first base in an attempt to supply the lineup with more power. Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor would weep as Glaus has not lived up to the billing, and his defense has been suspect to date. On the other side of the diamond, Chipper Jones has already missed action due to an injury, though he did provide the Turner Field faithful with a jolt of electricity last week with a game-winning home run. Nate McLouth has also yet to return to his all-star form he showed for so long with the Pirates.
It hasn’t all been bad though, despite the record. Derek Lowe has yet to pitch lights out, but he is 2-0. If he is going to “struggle” like that all season, I’ll take it. Kenshin Kawakami pitched well against Tim Lincecum the other day and Tim Hudson looked strong in his season debut.
The Braves bullpen has had its moments, with Billy Wagner looking really sharp, save for his blown save against the Giants. Even in that outing though, Wagner looked good until he hung a slider to former Brave Edgar Renteria. Moylan and Saito have looked impressive out of the pen, and Scott Proctor has been very impressive for Gwinnett. It is only a matter of time before Jo-Jo Reyes (nine runs in his last outing on Monday) is sent down and replaced with Proctor.
The middle infield has picked up right where last season left off, both defensively and offensively. Martin Prado’s hitting has been the bright spot of the season and his defense is more than passable. Yunel Escobar meanwhile remains as clutch as any Brave we’ve seen since David Justice and his range and arm take the sting out of Rafael Furcal’s do-si-do last season.
And who can forget the biggest story thus far of the season: Jason Heyward. Whether it is NBC Sports, ESPN, Sporting News or MLB Network, everyone is heaping praise upon the Braves young rightfielder and he has lived up to the hype thus far, just like Tommy Hanson did last season. Heyward is leading the team in RBI and home runs, and he broke out of a slump by making adjustments, seemingly overnight. This kid is impressive and it will be interesting to see if Bobby Cox keeps him in the No. 7 hole or is tempted to move him up to compensate for the struggling Glaus. Due to Glaus’ struggles, Brian McCann is once again hitting from the cleanup spot, and while he has proven he CAN do it, I’d rather him not have that added pressure and just be allowed to rake from the 5-spot in the order.
Bottom line; it appears that McCann will have some company this season for the all-star game with Heyward and perhaps Wagner, but the real story will be this team finding that clutch hitting when need be. The San Francisco series was 1-2 but could have been 3-0 with timely hitting. Solve that and the Braves will challenge for 92 wins. That’s a big if, but, it always is.
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