Opening Day: Brave First Impressions

Well, Opening Day has come and gone; and while it's just one game in a long season, first impressions can be revealing.

For the Atlanta Braves, Opening Day was extremely encouraging—something their fans have not felt in a long time.

The Braves had many obstacles to consider on Opening Day. They were playing the reigning World Champions on the road(gulp), starting a rookie center fielder who had never gotten past Double-A ball, staying with a once-promising outfielder who was coming off such a horrific season that he redid his batting stance, offensively anchored by a 36-year-old batting champ coming off an injury.

On the mound, the Braves started without pitching anchor John Smoltz for the first time since fire was invented, and are temporarily without Tim Hudson and Tom Glavine (surgery recoveries).

In spite of all these hurdles, the Atlanta Braves came to play on Opening Day.

The Pitching

Derek Lowe was simply fantastic. He had that trademark sinker ball—both in and away. His slider had a subtle cutting motion—not as pronounced as Greg Maddux’s cutter, but equally as effective.

He even caught a line drive off the mound, reminiscent of Mad Dog’s gold glove work.

Over eight innings, Lowe scattered a paltry two hits, struck out four (including big Ryan Howard), and induced 13 grounders on an economic 97 pitches. In one inning, he only needed nine deliveries.

Reliever Mike Gonzalez came on in the ninth and did his best impersonation of Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams, promptly giving up a run and eventually having the tying run at the plate.

However, the kid managed to strike out Howard and Raul Ibanez to close it out—more likely due to their tendency to go fishing, in my opinion.

If Gonzalez can gain some control on his delivery and not fly in three different directions when he pitches, he will be a formidable. The velocity is there, but the consistency is not.

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