Now, That Wasn't So Hard, Was It?: Atlanta Braves Snap Nine-Game Skid

That was rough, wasn't it?

Count the layers of the L-sandwich: W-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-W.

After a stretch of futility of nonagonal proportions (bad geometry joke), the Atlanta Braves scratched out a win (and their first save in 20 games) Friday night in Atlanta as Billy Wagner induced a double-play to Houston clean-up hitter Carlos Lee.

Timely offense, superb pitching, and mostly clean fielding (we'll forgive J-Hey's boot in right field) netted the 'Bravos' what had so eluded them for over a week.

Well, it was either that or me wearing my Elon University shirt today—the last thing I wore before this horrid stretch started last week against the Phillies.

But, I think I'll sit pretty with the former...

Doesn't this just feel great, though?

Even sans Escobar and Jurrjens for a bit, just seeing some excitement out of this line-up (especially from the lead-off spot) is extremely refreshing.

Nate-Dogg energized this lifeless heap of humanity (and a surprisingly sizable Turner Field crowd) with a lead-off blast to left-center and also went on to swipe a bag after a perfectly placed bunt-for-hit.

Throw in 1.5 Jason Heyward home runs (as he was robbed of a near-blast in the eighth by Hunter Pence) to bring his April total to six (about 1/3 of what I predicted for him before the season started—that's looking pretty bad), and this group showed some of the promise it displayed in the season's first two home series.

A Tommy Hanson eight-inning, 99 pitch, seven strikeout, no walk, (*breath*) two-run performance followed by Billy Wagner's second save took care of the other end of the game as the Braves added a tally to bring their win total to a whopping (sarcastically) nine.

Now, this was only one game—but it offered a lot to build on.

Sparking the offense on their home turf (provided this keeps up at least a bit) before shipping out for three game sets at Washington, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee should bode well for the National League's worst team in terms of team batting average.

One win after nine losses is kinda huge—but two or three in a row are needed to really solidify the team's bot of regained mojo.

But, it takes one in a row to get those multiples.

So, until tomorrow...