Braves Commentary

Here's a good commentary on the first two games of the season. Basically said, the Braves "can do better than this". Enjoy the read by Terrence Moore - AJC:

They were jilted lovers.
That’s all.
So this wasn’t surprising on Monday night at Turner Field: With future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine returning to the Braves after pitching five seasons for the dreaded New York Mets, he made an instant transformation among those in the Braves Nation from baseball Judas to the most blessed person who ever lived.
It was unofficially Thomas Michael Glavine Appreciation Night for what otherwise was the Braves’ home opener. That’s because Glavine received more hugs and cheers than anybody from the frequently lively crowd whenever his name was mentioned. He rose to the occasion. Just one of the two runs that the Pittsburgh Pirates scored off his 42-year-old left arm was earned during his five innings. Still, his efforts weren’t enough to keep the Braves from watching their 4-2 lead become a 9-4 deficit before they scrambled to tie the game with five runs in the ninth.
The Braves’ middle infielders have to do better than this. (I say AMEN!!) Errors by second baseman Kelly Johnson and shortstop Yunel Escobar produced runs for the Pirates on routine plays. The Braves’ bullpen also has to do better than this. After Peter Moylan watched the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman blast one of his pitches into the Washington night for the game-winner Sunday, a series of Braves relievers were pounded by the Pirates for seven runs.
There was Glavine, though, among the reasons why the Braves were supposed to rise higher than everybody thought. In other words, nobody was supposed to know the Braves were going to rise higher until it was too late. That’s why, depending on how you look at it, this is exactly what the post-division-streaking Braves don’t need: Early believers, at least when it comes to those away from the choppers and the chanters. Let’s just say this team can’t do what it was preparing to do, which was hide in the large shadows of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Mets before sprinting to the National League East championship.
Suddenly, the Braves are getting lots of unsolicited love from everywhere.
At least three prominent talking heads at ESPN say the Braves will go from finishing third in the division the past two seasons to capturing it. Fox Sports baseball insider Ken Rosenthal also picks the Braves. (Let's hope they're right)
The same goes for our David O’Brien, along with me, by the way.
This can’t be good, can it? “You know, at first we thought it would have been better for us to sneak up there, and if people wanted to talk about us some and give us a few compliments, we’d take it,” Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. “We feel like we’ve got a great team.”
Well, it’s a good team. It was only a decent one last season after a slew of pitching issues for a franchise that was immune to such things during its record 14 consecutive division titles. As a result, to complement the Braves’ impressive collection of returning sluggers and exceptional manager Bobby Cox, management strengthened that pitching in several ways, starting with going back to the future for Glavine.
Victories aren’t as important in Glavine’s world now as innings, and given his latest outing, he looks poised for his normal 200-plus at season’s end. He’s joined in the Braves starting rotation by the efficient Tim Hudson, off to a splendid start after his debut in Washington on Sunday night. Then you have the esteemed John Smoltz, the healthy Mike Hampton and the promising Jair Jurrjens. The bullpen remains a scary work in progress (see those late-inning collapses), but it has potential and flame-throwing Rafael Soriano as a closer. (that's the crazy thing, our opening pitching outings for the last two games have been great!!)
Nothing has happened to shake the confidence of those believers.
“When you look at our clubhouse, and when you talk to our guys, you got a sense as we started rising in the opinion polls that our guys were feeding on that a little bit,” said Frank Wren, the Braves general manager, already making nice strides in his first year on the job. “(Braves players) were used to this for so many years that they were accustomed to being the top dog. So, we liked it early in spring training to be under the radar, but the more attention we got, the more they seemed to thrive on it. So I guess we like it both ways.”
Those believers would like the Braves a lot better if they start fielding and relieving as well as they can.
Which is better than this.