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Sunday, April 6, 2008
Weekend series sweeps Braves into first
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After all the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth, our Bravos are sitting pretty atop the NL East, tied with the Marlins (of all teams) with a 3-3 record. (The Mets and Phillies, by the way, are 2-3 and 2-4, respectively.) Whaddaya know? Despite the ugly start, the Braves aren’t out of it after all.
There were a number of impressive performances during the weekend’s two-game sweep of the Mets — I have to say that again: SWEEP OF THE METS — most important among them, John Smoltz’s five-inning season debut. Some replays showed he was favoring the shoulder a bit, which isn’t exactly what you want to see, but he’s got five days to work that out.
In addition to Smoltzie’s inspiring outing Sunday, the bullpen was spectacular, having been given a night off on Friday, and Mark Teixeira came through with a huge two-run homer that turned out to be the difference in the game. Tex also made a pair of stellar defensive plays: a nice backhand grab of a Mark Kotsay throw to complete an 8-3 double play to end the fourth and a diving stop that led to an assist on a 3-1 putout to end the game.
As the Braves head out on their longest road trip of the year (10 games in 11 days), here are a few more positives they can take with them:
• Kelly Johnson returned to action with a pinch-hit grand slam on Saturday and a 1-for-4 error-free day on Sunday.
• Tim Hudson’s second start of the year was as solid as his first — and this time he got a W for the effort.
• Matt Diaz, who started the year 1-for-9, has quietly gone 7-for-16 in his past four games and is sitting at .320.
• In Sunday’s lineup, there wasn’t a position player hitting below .290 except Teixeira, who looks to be coming around. Those bats should be able to do some damage in that thin Colorado air in the next series.
• Even with Sunday’s 0-fer, Chipper Jones is hitting .500 in April (8-for-16).
So what was your favorite part of this weekend’s sweep? What’s your take on the current NL East standings? How do you think the pitching will fare in the Rocky Mountain cold?
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