Month: April 2008

After Hudson, where else can the Braves turn for quality starts?  Sure there is Smoltz, but he is on the DL and likely injury prone.  If he does stay healthy, he will put up innings.  That would give us last year – Hudson, Smoltz, and pray for rain.

Glavine looks decent; he managed 5 innings in his first start.  Jair Jurrjens looks very impressive, and has a lot of upside, but he only managed to go 5.1 innings in his first start before tiring out in the sixth inning.

Last night Hampton was scratched before the game and is now on the 15-day DL.  Chuck James will replace Hampton, but guess what?  James is coming off the DL, and before the latest Hampton injury, James was going to be sent to AAA.

Jeff Bennett did a nice job as an emergency starter, going 6 innings, and only giving up 3 runs.

I know the season is young, but if the starters cannot stay healthy and provide quality starts, it will be an extremely long, frustrating, and ultimately disappointing season.

Mine shipped today from Amazon.com. Not sure why I had to have one, and why it cost $54.99. Nevertheless, it will be good to rumble again, and I cannot wait to try this puppy with MLB 08 The Show, Formula One Championship Edition, and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (in a couple of weeks).

The Braves lost their home opener to the Pirates in 12 innings, 12-11.  Glavine managed a decent game (5IP, 7H, 1ER, 2BB, 3SO), but he needs to provide some quality starts to protect the middle of the bullpen.  Glavine had a high pitch count (97 pitches), which probably contributed to Cox pulling the plug early.  No point in pushing things two games into the season.

Cox threw the kitchen sink at the Pirates; 8 relievers tried to keep things under control, but Acosta was awful (.2IP, 3H, 4ER, 1BB, 1SO, 2HR).  Boyer ended up being the goat, pitching the final two innings (2IP, 2H, 3ER, 1BB, 3SO, 1HR).  I hope this is not a sign of things to come.  Still early days, so reason to panic.

I am still not sold on Johnson as the leadoff hitter, but as I mentioned yesterday, options are very limited.

The Braves are off today, so everyone gets a rest from my Braves ramblings.