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Monday, April 17, 2006
Underdogs? That’d be us
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sitting here eating a chicken parm sandwich in my hotel room, listening to “Essential Dean Martin” and getting ready to catch the infamous No. 7 train at Grand Central Station for the lovely ride to Shea and the start of the most eagerly anticipated Braves April series since … well, I don’t know, probably since last April.
But anyway, it’s pretty big. It would be real big, if Smoltz was facing Pedro (or Smoltz was facing anybody in the series), and if Chipper and Renteria weren’t hurt and out of the lineup. But it’s still pretty big. Sort of. If for not other reason than the Braves can see what they’re up against down the line, provided the Braves can stay in the race long enough to get their own ship righted and healthy, which I’ll assume they will do (get healthy and stay in it, that is).
The Metropolitans and their long-suffering faithful are geeked up, and so are the tabloids. Back page screaming banner headline today isn’t about the Yanks, but the Mets: “Bring ‘Em On!”
The “em” would be the Braves, of course.
But if their fans believe now’s the time to finally end the Braves’ divisional dominance, well, the Mets’ players and manager know that talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk….
“I always feel good going into each series, no matter who it is,” Mets manager Willie Randolph told reporters after his team improved to 9-2 with a rout of the Brewers on Sunday. “But feeling good playing the Braves doesn’t mean a whole lot. You want to win the series. You can feel good going in, and not feel too good going out.”
But frankly, folks, the Braves simply must be considered heavy underdogs against the Mets, at least in this week’s series with the Mets at full strength and surging, and the Braves’ lineup without two key components and the bullpen perhaps showing signs of the heavy early workload.
Meanwhile, their first two starters for the Braves in the series are Jorge Sosa and Kyle Davies, who’ve been shaky to say the least, and Tim Hudson (9.20 ERA) will go against the rejuvenated Tom Glavine in the finale. Whew. If the Bravos can win this series somehow, it’d be huge for their confidence and, more importantly, would remind the Mets and their faithful that it doesn’t really matter what kind of shape the teams are in, the Braves seem to always have the upper hand, or at least most of the time.
Here’s one to keep any eye on right away: Sosa tonight, coming off two bad outings in his first two starts, will face nemesis Carlos Delgado, who kills the Braves in general, but no one worse than Sosa, both before and since he joined the Braves. Delgado is an absurd 12-for-25 with six homers off Sosa. SIX HOMERS!
That’s not amore.
