The Braves Blog

Sorry for the delay writing about opening day. I wasn’t able to watch the game live because I was at work, but I did catch the replay (at least most of it) that evening. Before I talk about the game, I want to point out what a horrible job FSN did on the rebroadcast.

First of all, I understand the need to skip ahead because of time constraints, but don’t show 3 minutes of commercials, announce you are skipping ahead, and then show 3 more minutes. Also, the boring 1-2-3 inning is a good one to skip, not the inning in which Andruw Jones hits a homerun.

Okay, the game itself. First of all, I never put much weight into what happenings opening day. With the extra levels of emotion and excitement most players will find their games a little off. I think tonight’s game will mean much more.

The good news of yesterdays game was that we scored 11 runs. The bad news is that the Dodgers scored 10 runs most of them against the revolving door of the bullpen. First let me say that I am not worried about Tim Hudson’s lackluster performance. I think its a safe bet he will be a more effective pitcher this season than that. Remember the disaster of a game John Smoltz pitched last year on opening day.

Now, the bullpen is another story. I don’t think you can really judge them off yesterday’s performance because of the factors I mentioned above. However, the bullpen is going to be an area I am weary of until proven otherwise. Given the good work they did the majority of the spring, I have a feeling it wont be long until my confidence is restored in the Braves’ bullpen.
I think there were more positives than negatives in yesterday’s game, and I think the positives are a sign of an exciting season yet to come.