Are these Atlanta Braves for real? That’s the question that this eleven game road trip will prove. So far everything is starting to fall into place for the now first place Braves with every facet of the team delivering apart from, ironically, the All-Stars. It has all started at the top of the line up when Bobby Cox chose to place the white hot Martin Prado in the lead off in place of the anonymous figures of Nate McLouth and Melky Cabrera. While it was only one position that Martin moved up its importance was never clearer than in the Phillies series when the Braves scored a run in the bottom of the first inning in each of the three games. Prado went 3-for-3. After replacing Kelly Johnson at second last year Prado has come from reliable to brilliant to the team’s best player, and that isn’t some overly optimistic judgement he is proving day-in-day-out how important he is to the success of the team. It seals the deal when his teammates recognise him as their All-Star as happened this week when Peter Moylan took a break from giving us all heart attacks in relief to launch the “Vote for Prado” All-Star game campaign. In one of the best spontaneous demonstrations of togetherness Moylan twisted the “Vote for Pedro” shirt from the movie Napoleon Dynamite that has become such a cultural symbol after the films cult success. Had this been Nick Swisher launching a campaign for Yankee team mate Robinson Cano we would have seen it all over sportscenter and various panel shows across sports, but this is the age of great Southern obscurity and it took Atlanta area blogger to even put it in the news. But Prado deserves every little bit of praise from bloggers, reporters and teammates alike not just because of his incredible hitting but also the spark he brings to the clubhouse, he is clearly one of the most liked members of the roster and should be lauded at every turn for his effect on everyone involved in the Atlanta Braves organisation.
While Prado has been hitting all year one member of the Braves team who’s sudden change of fortune has been almost single handedly responsible for the Braves winning the tight games they lost in April. After being as dormant as the pencil Bobby Cox used to change his line-up card in April the slugging first baseman Frank Wren signed in the offseason appeared in the form of Troy Glaus. While Glaus, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones wasted almost every RBI opportunity they were afforded threw the season’s first three weeks the former Cardinal racked up nearly 30 RBI’s in the space of 31 days. He also managed to hit more home runs than Mac and Chipper combined which makes the often maligned Frank Wren look like a recruiting genius. Glaus has made the middle of the Braves, which has been pretty limited in its production, look a lot more dangerous because, even though neither McCann nor Jones have hit very well they have both worked a tonne of walks. The improvement in Glaus as an RBI guy has made these works important, even crucial. His three-run home runs on consecutive days are the perfect example of Glaus’ importance to the line-up.
Pitching was always the basis of the 2010 Braves team and it looks like this prophecy has come to fruition, with the resurgent Tim Hudson leading the way with his outstanding 2.30 ERA. It has not just been their performances on the mound that makes this pitching staff so impressive but their performance off it. Every night the biggest cheer leaders in the dugout are those pitchers on their day off. There appears to be a closeness with these guys like we haven’t seen in a long time, even Derek Lowe has shown a willingness to join in the fun which has been reflected by his dramatically increased pitching performance. With Hudson, Wagner and Moylan assuming positions of leadership it has allowed the young Braves pitchers to grow, especially someone like Johnny Venters who is quickly establishing himself as a potential cloer-in-waiting even with Craig Kimbrel in the minors. The most impressive young pitcher on the Braves staff has not been the super-hyped and super-impressive Tommy Hanson but his less recognised room-mate Kris Medlen. The youngster who came up last year to bridge the gap to Hanson’s inevitable arrival at the Major League level was unimpressive in several spot starts in 2009, in the bullpen however he was dominant. After Jair Jurrjens went on the DL with an injured hamstring Medlen stepped in and has been the Braves second best pitcher in the 5 starts he has made and should not be the one to lose his place when Jurrjens gets healthy.
While I am certainly not saying the Braves are suddenly in pole position to win the NL East after May they look a lot more competitive than at the conclusion of April and I can’t quite figure out the difference in the team that happened between April 30th and May 1st but whatever happened this is all of a sudden looking like the team every single Braves fan hoped we were on Opening Day. We may know more about this team in just a few days when they get back to Atlanta in eleven days.
While Prado has been hitting all year one member of the Braves team who’s sudden change of fortune has been almost single handedly responsible for the Braves winning the tight games they lost in April. After being as dormant as the pencil Bobby Cox used to change his line-up card in April the slugging first baseman Frank Wren signed in the offseason appeared in the form of Troy Glaus. While Glaus, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones wasted almost every RBI opportunity they were afforded threw the season’s first three weeks the former Cardinal racked up nearly 30 RBI’s in the space of 31 days. He also managed to hit more home runs than Mac and Chipper combined which makes the often maligned Frank Wren look like a recruiting genius. Glaus has made the middle of the Braves, which has been pretty limited in its production, look a lot more dangerous because, even though neither McCann nor Jones have hit very well they have both worked a tonne of walks. The improvement in Glaus as an RBI guy has made these works important, even crucial. His three-run home runs on consecutive days are the perfect example of Glaus’ importance to the line-up.
Pitching was always the basis of the 2010 Braves team and it looks like this prophecy has come to fruition, with the resurgent Tim Hudson leading the way with his outstanding 2.30 ERA. It has not just been their performances on the mound that makes this pitching staff so impressive but their performance off it. Every night the biggest cheer leaders in the dugout are those pitchers on their day off. There appears to be a closeness with these guys like we haven’t seen in a long time, even Derek Lowe has shown a willingness to join in the fun which has been reflected by his dramatically increased pitching performance. With Hudson, Wagner and Moylan assuming positions of leadership it has allowed the young Braves pitchers to grow, especially someone like Johnny Venters who is quickly establishing himself as a potential cloer-in-waiting even with Craig Kimbrel in the minors. The most impressive young pitcher on the Braves staff has not been the super-hyped and super-impressive Tommy Hanson but his less recognised room-mate Kris Medlen. The youngster who came up last year to bridge the gap to Hanson’s inevitable arrival at the Major League level was unimpressive in several spot starts in 2009, in the bullpen however he was dominant. After Jair Jurrjens went on the DL with an injured hamstring Medlen stepped in and has been the Braves second best pitcher in the 5 starts he has made and should not be the one to lose his place when Jurrjens gets healthy.
While I am certainly not saying the Braves are suddenly in pole position to win the NL East after May they look a lot more competitive than at the conclusion of April and I can’t quite figure out the difference in the team that happened between April 30th and May 1st but whatever happened this is all of a sudden looking like the team every single Braves fan hoped we were on Opening Day. We may know more about this team in just a few days when they get back to Atlanta in eleven days.
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