Looking Ahead for the Atlanta Braves: Week 1

Today, Jason Hey...

I mean, this upcoming week for the Atlanta Heywards...

This is hard—not writing about Jason Heyward and his phenomenal Opening Day, that is.

Because, let's face it, a 440-foot blast from a 20-year-old in his first big league at-bat (seeing his third big league pitch) is pretty impressive.

But, hey, there is other stuff going on, right?

(And, no, I'm not talking about the MLBPA doing it's damnedest to stink up this 2010 Opening Week...though that does grind my gears.  I'm going to stick with the boys in the A-T-L.)

I mean, we have Jair Jurrjens kicking off his third Major League campaign against Ryan Dempster and the grossly overrated (as usual—and that's not based solely on Monday) Cubbies.

Tommy Hanson facing fellow sophomore Randy Wells.

Timmy Hudson kicking off his 2010.

And the second go-round for Derek Lowe.

Right, there's plenty to talk about.

The Braves, having already eclipsed their 2009 best for runs in a single game with the game we've already read about 1,500 times, get to show off what promises to be their trademark for the '10 campaign.

People seem to be forgetting about that, you know.

While the +11 run differential the Bravos are sporting right now is nice, that sort of performance is not this team's game.

This is a club designed to (though they might not necessarily be managed as such) win the close ones—to score three to five runs with a bunch of walks, dinks, droops, and doubles (with only the occasional homer peppered in) while JJ, Big Red, Huddy, D-Lowe, and the Dragon Slayer (to be seen Sunday, not really this week) keep the opposition down for O'Flaherty, Moylan, Saito, and Wagner.

Look for this group, which makes up the best one-to-five rotation in the senior circuit, to display the talents that netted the Braves the third-best staff ERA in 2009 against the North Siders and the soft-hitting San Francisco Giants (although I will grant the Giants an acknowledgement of fear for the Lowe-Lincecum match-up forthcoming, and of admiration for the greatest nickname in professional sports with the Kung Fu Panda).

Let's just hope that the Braves' offense isn't as feast-or-famine as it was in 2009...can a brother get those three-to-five runs that I referenced just a bit ago?

I'm calling a sweep of the Cubbies and two-of-three from the Giants (or 5-1 at the end of week uno of the 2010 season).

Oh, and here's your daily dose of Jason (note the death of the o-ver-ated chant...).

You didn't really think I could totally dismiss this, did you?

Of course not!

I get how big this was...and congrats to the kid (whose shirt I just purchased) who had earned every bit of praise he has gotten.