You have to like this start. While the Braves did lose the series finale, they’re sitting atop the NL East with a rock solid 7-2 record. If asked as the beginning whether that would have been acceptable, I would have been all for it.
On Tuesday, the team did it all. Tim Hudson threw seven shutout innings and gave up three hits Jeff Francoeur went two for five with a homerun and five RBIs. Andruw Jones also went yard for his first of the season in the 8-0 blowout win.
Wednesday was almost as good as the offense put up eight runs and Chuck James had a nice start. He improved to 2-0 on the season with six shutout innings. The pen gave up a few runs but by then, the game was pretty much in hand. Chipper Jones hit his first homerun of the season and Andruw Jones hit his second of the series and he drove in three runs in the 8-3 win.
Then yesterday, the bats went silent. Held to just two hits, the Braves didn’t score a run. Even worse, a very nice start by John Smoltz went to waste. He gave up just two runs on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts in eight innings of work in the 2-0 loss.
The 5-4 Marlins come to town next so the Braves can’t let up with all of this competition inside the division. Mark Redman will take on Dontrelle Willis in the series opener.
