Hudson Shuts out Reds to stop Braves 3 Game Skid

Tim Hudson Pitched 9 Shutout innings Friday Night to give the Braves a much needed boost. Brian Mccann added a 2 run homer and thats all Hudson needed to put this one away. Hudson had the changeup working keeping the Reds Hitters off balance all night long by mixing pitches and speeds. Mcann said he had Unbelievable stuff and was in control all night long. On another good note Mark Kotsay is hitting the ball really well over the last few games and looks to be a solid contributor to this Braves lineup.

Chipper Jones Homers Twice for 2nd Straight Night!

Chipper Jones is on a tear and just when the Braves needed him. Lastnight against the Florida Marlins he has 2 homers and Smoltz pitched 5 Shutout innings to beat the Marlins 8-0. Mccann, Texiera, and Jones went back to back to back in the game.. Kelly Johnson also added a homer to give the Braves 5 total on the night..

Chipper again led the charge tonight with 2 more Homeruns giving him 6 on the young season, while leading the Atlanta Braves to a victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday Night. Jeff Bennett pitched well while filling in for the Injured Tom Glavine who was placed on the 15 day DL for the first time in his 22 year career.
This offensive surgence over the past few days has really come at the right time with the Braves already having 5 pitchers hit the DL this season.

Player Profile: Jorge Campillo, P

Jorge Campillo was called up last week to replace Chuck James on the roster and has done nothing but impress. Campillo pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief against the Rockies this past weekend and has Braves fans really hoping he can keep up this successs. He also came into relief lastnight against the Marlins after Braves Starter Tim Hudson had a rough outing. He again impressed throwing 3 innings and again not allowing any runs and striking out 1. Look for Campillo to get more meaningful innings out of the pen and maybe eventually be come the steady middle relief guy with all the Braves Injuries.

Braves Lose Again!

The Atlanta Braves lost to the Florida Marlins on Tuesday putting there record at 5 and 8 on this young baseball season. The Braves just could not get anything going against Marlins Starting Pitcher Scott Olsen, who came into this game with an ERA over 8. Jair Jurrjens took the loss for the Braves putting his record a 1 and 2 on the season. He pitched fairly well giving up 2 earned runs in 6 innings pitched. The Braves offense is going to have to step it up if they are going to get out of this funk. They also are struggling with Injuries to the pitching staff with Tom Glavine bothered by a hamstring and Peter Moylan headed to the 15-day DL with an Injury aswell. Hopefully the Braves can get it all together and pick up a few wins in this series to get back on track. The Marlins would be a good team to get it going against as they are thought to be one of the least talented teams in the Major Leagues.

Player Profile: Mark Teixeira

Mark Teixeira is one of the top 1st Basemen in the league. The Braves aquired Teixeira in a trade toward the end of the 2007 Season and he hit great. Mark has started off the 2008 Season somewhat slow, but has had some good hits here and there helping to win a game earlier in the Season with a Homerun and then saving it late in the game with a great defensive play. Teixeira is in the last year of his contract and I am hoping the Braves fork out the dough to keep him since this is the firs top notch First Basemen we have had since the likes of Fred Mcgriff and Andres Galaraga. I look for Teixeira to turn it up a notch and hit 35-40 hrs this year and hit around .275. He has always been a 2nd half player, but I hope he turns it on before then.

Glavine Injured, Braves Lose

Tom Glavine was Injured Sunday, while pitching against the Washington Nationals. This was the shortest outing of Tom Glavines career. He only threw 16 pitches before pulling his hamstring. Glavine gave up 2 runs before leaving the game and even though the Braves fought back and only lost 5-4 Glavine still took the loss. Chipper Jones is still hitting well early in this 2008 Major League season, he went 3 for 5 with a homerun and a couple of runs batted in on Sunday. Lastings Milledge went 3 for 3 for the Nationals while Ryan Zimmeran also had a big day driving in 2 runs.

Player Profile: Jeff Francoeur

Jeff Francoeur is a top notch outfielder and the Starting Right Fielder for the Atlanta Braves. He has been working hard in the offseason and has added 10 to 15 lbs of muscle to help him improve on last years numbers. Francoeur has been hitting the ball pretty well to start off the 2008 season and I expect big numbers out of him.
I would say he should hit around .280 and about 35 homeruns while playing solid defense in Rightfield.

Rockies Rock Braves

This game is not even over yet but with the score 12-5 heading into the 9th, I think its safe to say that the Braves got smashed tonight and they just need to call it a night and get ready for tomorrows day game. Goodnight, Lets up for a better day tomorrow or a day off as I am writing this they are talking of Bad weather in Colorado tomorrow.

Player Profile: Mark Kotsay

Mark Kotsay came over in a trade to basically replace the Braves longtime Center Fielder Andruw Jones who left for the Dodgers in Free Agency. Kotsay is a solid player that will just come to the ballpark ready to work everyday. He is a good defensive Center Fielder and has a solid bat in an already deep Atlanta Braves lineup. He has started the 2008 season off a little slow but did hit a 2-Run shot last night in losing effort to the Colorado Rockies. I think Kotsay will have a solid year nothing spectacular, but it is nice to have a guy towards the end of the lineup that can get hot and get on streaks now and then.

Rockies Top Braves 4-3

Jair Jurrjens 2nd start not quite as successful as his first. Jurrjens did not throuw a bad game, giving up a few dinks and dunks that cost the Braves runs, while
Ubaldo Jimenez Pitched solid after the first inning giving up only a 2-Run Homer To Mark Kotsay the rest of the way. I feel like we need to be hitting the ball more, being more consistent to take advantage of our strong pitching staff. When a starter gives up 4 runs or less we should be able to put up enough runs to with these types of games. It is still early in the season and I really like the way this team was built and think the Braves are still well on there way to being a contender.

Player Profile: Matt Diaz

Matt Diaz is definately a top notch Hitter. He will be the main starter for the Atlanta Braves in Left Field this year. Diaz hit .338 last year and .327 in 2006 in limited duty. The Braves are expecting big things from Diaz this year with a lot more at bats. His power numbers should land around the 15 to 20 homerun range with the extra at bats this season. Look for Diaz to have a big season in 2008.

Teixeira, Smoltz Lead Braves to Victory

John Smoltz pitched well in his season debut, holding the New York Mets scoreless for 5 innings before leaving the game with shoulder soreness, later saying it was a precautionary measure. Smoltz and Johan Santana had a pitchers duel going as Santana only gave up 1 run through 7 innings. Aaron Heilman gave up a 2 run Homer in the 8th inning to the Braves Mark Teixeira to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. The Braves bullpen held onto the win allowing 1 run for a game final of 3-1. The Braves swept the Mets in a 2 game series this past weekend as the 1st game of the series was postponed to a later date due to rain.

Francoeur, Johnson leads Braves

The Atlanta Braves took home a win Vs. the New York Mets with an 11-5 victory. Jeff Francoeur had a big night for the Braves collecting 3 hits and 3 runs batted in. While Kelly Johnson was not able to start for the 3rd straight game with a sore knee, Bobby Cox gave him the Opportunity to pinch hit and boy did he take advantage, with a 3-2 count against him Kelly Johnson he lauches one into the outfield seats for a Grand Slam which also helped the Braves pull away and take the first win in this series as the Friday night game was postponed until a later date due to rain.
Tim Hudson had a solid outing giving up 3 runs over 6 innings, while earning his first victory of the season.

Player Profile: Tom Glavine

Tom Glavine led the Atlanta Braves to division title after division title, but then decided in 2003 when he became a Free Agent to bolt for the New York Mets. He was said to have family in New York and im sure they were offering more cash, but in the end there is no place like home. Glavine resigned with the Atlanta Braves for the 2008 season. Glavine has 22 year Major league experience and is definately on the downside of his career. I expect him to hit the 12 to 14 win area this year and help the Braves pick up the Braves out of the 3rd spot in the rotation. Tom Glavine will always be considered an Atlanta Brave in my mind.

Player Profile: Kelly Johnson

Kelly Johnson is coming into the 2008 Season in his 3rd year with the Atlanta Braves. He will be the Braves starting Second Basemen and will most likely stick as the Braves leadoff man aswell. Kelly Johnson is one of my favorite all around players because of his ability to hit for power and average and also show decent speed at times. Johnson is also much improved as a defensive Second Basemen aswell.
Look for Kelly to have a strong year this year and improve on his numbers from 2007.

Braves VS. Mets Postponed

The Braves Vs. Mets Game for Tonight was postponed due to rain and will be
rescheduled on a later date as a double header.

Braves Smash Pirates

The Atlanta Braves had a big 8th inning to blow open a close game witht he Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. It was Juir Jurrjens first Major league start and he was impressive. He had a shutout going through the first 5 innings as the Braves led 3-0. Juir then somewhat ran out of gas as he gave up a few hits in the Top of the 6th that led to 2 runs. He was pulled from the game in the 6th Inning and was hoping for the rest of his Braves teammates to hang on to the 1 run league so he could get his first win as an Atlanta Brave. They more than did this. It stayed 3-2 until the 8th when the Braves laid it on and added 7 runs. The Braves really needed this as they were 0-2 coming into this game and had had a few bullpen problems along the way. Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer and Yunel Escobar added a three-run shot during the Braves huge 8th inning.

Bullpen Lets Braves down yet again

The Atlanta Braves lost to the Pittsburg Pirates in 12 innings on Tuesday. It was a normal 4-4 Game in the until the Braves called on there Bullpen in the 8th and gave up 4 runs. The Pirates also added 1 in the ninth to be up by 5 runs going into the bottom of the 9th where the Braves scored 5 runs of there own to tie the game and send it in to extra innings. Neither team scored again until the 12th where the Pirates scored 3 and the Braves actually added 2 but it was not enough and the Pirates took home the win with a 12-11 victory in 12 innings.
The Pirates where led by Xavier Nady who hit 2 homeruns including a 2-run shot in the 12th to push the Pirates ahead. The Braves scored many of there runs off of walks and errors from the Pirates. The Braves where led by Yunnel Escobar who had 3 hits and 3 runs batted in. They also got homeruns from Jeff Francouer and Brian Mcann. This was also Tom Glavines first start in his return to the Atlanta Braves, it was somewhat overshadowed by a wild and crazy game.

Chipper's HR not enough for the Braves

Chipper Jones hit an opening day homerun but it was enough for the Atlanta Braves. Tim Hudson pitched well, but Odalis Perez matched him throughout the game, until it was left up to each teams bullpen. Ryan Zimmeran was the hero of the game with a Walk Off Homerun to allow the Washington Nationals to win on opening day in there brand new state of the art ballpark.

Braves set Opening day lineup for 2008 Season

The Atlanta Braves have set there opening day Roster. Here is how they are going to start the season.

The Braves will Carry 12 Pitchers to start the season.

Pitchers: 1. Tim Hudson 2. Mike Hampton 3. Tom Glavine 4. Manny Acosta 5. Jeff Bennett 6. Blaine Boyer 7. Jair Jurrjens 8. Peter Moylan 9.Will Ohman 10. Chris Resop 11. Royce Ring 12. Rafael Soriano.

Batters:

Catchers: Brian McCann, Corky Miller and Brayan Pena.

Infielders: Yunel Escobar, Gotay, Kelly Johnson, Chipper Jones, Prado and Mark Teixeira.

Outfielders: Mark Kotsay, Matt Diaz, Jeff Francoeur and Blanco.


John Smoltz and Chuck James will Start the year on the DL. Smoltz is expected
to come back for the 2nd series of the year against the mets while I expect James to make a few starts in Triple-A once he recovers before making it to Atlanta