BravesBlog.net

The Braves make their second appearance in
the new Nationals Park tonight after a seemingly pointless one game
show down for the opener on March 31st.

Let’s hope they fare a little better tonight.

We’ve got;
Dominant Hudson. On the mound tonight, who despite two great
starts, is only 1-0 to show for it. We’ve got 13 IP’s 5 R’s, 7 K’s and
0 BB’s from Huddy in April. Very nice.

Slumping Teixeira. It’s not RFK any more. This is the kind
of park where you can get some hits. Although hitter friendly Coors
Field wasn’t a good setting to ignite Tex’s bat maybe getting out of
the CO Chill and into some warmer weather may help get things started.
The low is 68 in DC tonight although there are scattered showers to
come.

Smokin’ Chipper. Hitting .385 after 9 games. What more can I say?

Amazing Moylan. 1.93 ERA in 6 appearances. The only guy I really get excited about seeing out of the pen. 1 ER, 1 BB and 3 K’s.

They’ve got;
A team coming off 7 straight losses. Let’s kick ‘em while they’re down.

Matt Chico on the mound to start the series. 0-1 5.56 ERA,
after two starts. Good control. 9 K’s and 3 BB’s and only 1 HR so far.
However 7 ER’s and 14 H’s in two starts means our lineup could get hot
on this guy.

The ever talented franchise player Ryan Zimmerman. However,
since single handedly defeating the Braves with his walk off dinger on
March 31st, Ryan is hitting just over the Mendoza line at .209. He’s
had one other homer and mustered only 3 RBI’s during the Nats 7 losses
in a row.

Honorable Mention- Lastings Milledge the former attention stealing Met is hitting .305 w/ 5 RBI’s. Christian Guzman is off to a good start at .298 and 6 RBI’s.

Other than that the talent in Nats’ lineup is sparse. Poor Ol’ Willie is managing a .077 BA in 8 starts and 13 AB’s.

So if you’ve been feeling a little down about the Braves and their
awful showing in Colorado this week, this is a good team to get back on
track against. Then we go to the warmer climate of Miami to take on the
first place Marlins. (Did I actually just type “First place Marlins”?).
And even though the Fish have been good lately the lack the
intimidation they once had with Miggy and D-Train in the mix.

Braves and Natspos. 7:35 EDT. Let’s get it back in gear tonight.

Keep Choppin’,
JB in ATL

The Braves took a much needed day of rest on Tuesday after a pair of disappointing one run losses. It was a day to
pause and reflect and now it is time to kick Bucco Butt and then
hopefully finish Thursday with a series win.

There’s a number of things I could discuss
today; stats, predictions, rants, or any number of the items us sports
bloggers like to throw around.

I, of course, like to do things a little differently.

The question I have today as we come off our short hiatus is of the rhetorical kind.

Why is it that we blog? More importantly why do people like myself find it so effortless to blog about baseball?

It’s the same diamond. Same spheroid. Same
162 games a year. But there’s so much to talk about between the foul
poles. This game we love has spawned multiple blog sites hosting a
myriad of prognosticators and baseball “experts” opining about anything
from Alex Rodriguez’s paycheck to who has the best hotdog in their
respective stadium.

So is there room in the world for one more blog? Room for more amateurs cramming their commentary into this cyber superhighway?

Sure. Why not?

The Information Age has brought about this
lovely medium that allows data to be accessible to each of us at the
touch of button and manipulate it to tell our particular story or
defend our particular and sometimes controversial points of view.

But we have been telling the story of
baseball as a people for years. We’ve been celebrating its nuances,
beauty, both victories and heartbreaks, through song, legend, story and
countless replays. Yet, we’ve been “blogging” about baseball ever since
baseball began.

Whether we be “Royal Rooters” who gather
at our favorite watering hole. Or whether we sit in the stands, meeting
with strangers and forecast how our team will fare this year if one or
two key players stay healthy.

We’ve been journaling and editorializing
about baseball for years. As laymen who need a platform for our
critique, baseball is better than any sport, in this humble blogger’s
opinion, for providing the fodder for discussion.

There’s no game or pastime more eloquent.

There’s no sport that provides the same type of poetry and elegance.

There’s no team like my Braves; win or lose.

There’s nothing like a place where
community happens with words, trash talk, and sound off’s are exchanged
at a somewhat constant basis about a love we all share whether it be
for the our team or a hatred for the other guys’.

Blogging may seem like a new advent. And
in a way, the form itself is fresh and exciting for many fans. But the
essence of what makes blogging so wonderful is the same thing that
inspired the lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Old Ball Game” and inspires
us today to create fantasy teams and argue about Terrance Moore’s last
column.

It’s having that platform. Whether it be
used as a soapbox, a venue to post our insights, or a place to artfully
construct our baseball inspired sonnets and prose… blogging has become
just as much a part of baseball as the scorecard in its’ efficacy to
provide us a way to journal and capture the history of each season.

With that said, we have 160 games to play so there’s plenty of blogging for us to endeavor upon together.

As for tonight, we get to see Jair
Jurrjens’ first start as a Brave in the regular season, Tex break his
0-6 slump, and witness the Braves snag their first win of the year.

Keep Choppin’

JB in ATL