KTE - Braves, April 8-10

[Frayed Knot]

May as well use the off-day to get to start to know our next enemy as we head to the first road trip of the season.

Tuesday, 7:10 Bartolo Colon vs Aaron Harang (game sponsored by Polident)
Harang is actually only 35 (36 if a few weeks) but is now with his 7th team. Rumor has it that one of those teams was the Mets although I have no memory of such and can't confirm or deny such accusations.
Naturally in his first and only start with the Braves he skunked the Brewers on 2 hits and a walk over 6.2 innings in what became a 1-0 Atlanta win.

Wednesday, 7:10 Wheeler vs Ervin Santana
Santana ( RHP 31 y/o) will be making his first ever start for the Braves, having seen his FA attempt ignored until the closing days of ST when Atlanta suddenly lost like nine pitchers to TJ surgery in the same afternoon.
Coming off a pretty good year in KC [9-10; 3.24; 1.14 WHiP] after a mostly good eight year run with Anaheim: 105-90 w/a 4.19 career ERA

Thursday, 7:10 Mejia vs David Hale (he regrets that he has but one sucky night to give for his team)
Hale (RHP, 26 y/o) has made three starts in MLB, two in 2013 and one this year,. Got a ND against the Nats last week, giving up 1 ER over 5 innings.
He was a Braves 3rd round pick in 2009 out of (say it with me folks) Marietta, Georgia although in this case via Princeton University. Not exactly young (27 by the end of the year) and didn't really tear up the minors or get tabbed as a top prospect so we probably shouldn't expect him to be the next great Braves pitcher. But that doesn't mean this game will be pleasant.

[Frayed Knot]

Not a lot of surprises in the Braves everyday lineup as their offense went essentially unchanged during the off-season at seven positions and so has their lineup over the six games played to date.
IF = Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla, Andrelton Simmons, Chris Johnson. OF = Jason Heyward + Upton^2, the same crew they finished up with last year (except for when NYM pitchers were smoking Heyward in the face w/fastballs).
All those players have started and finished every game over the first week.
Hitting so far this young season: Freeman, Johnson & Simmons. Not = Upton, Upton, Heyward & Uggla

Losing longtime catcher Brian McCann was the only real change on offense this winter so not surprisingly that's the only position where they're switching things up so far, giving three starts to caveman Evan Gattis, two to backup Gerald Laird, and one to off-season pickup Ryan Doumit. Definitely some power in that trio although even France's 'Maginot Line' was better defensively.

Bench squad includes OF Jordan Schafer, and IFs Taylor Pastornicky & Ramiro Pena, but those three have combined for all of 3 ABs over six games.

[Edgy MD]

You may ask, "That bullpen can't be doing it all over again, can they?"

Yes, kids, it can. So far, the relief squad has put up a 1.35 ERA in 13 innings, with an opponent OPS of .398. But they've allowed one stolen base in one attempt, so they CAN BE RUN ON.

Seriously, if you want to beat these guys, and you do, get to them early and often.

Rk	Screaming Indian Guy	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	SO/9	SO/BB
1	Luis Avilan	1	0	1.000	0.00	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0.000	9.00	INF
2	Craig Kimbrel	0	0	.000	0.00	3	3	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	9	0.000	18.00	INF
3	Ian Thomas	0	0	.000	0.00	2	0	0	1 1/3	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	6	1.500	13.50	INF
4	Jordan Walden	0	0	.000	0.00	2	1	0	1 1/3	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	8	1.800	16.20	3.00
5	Gus Schlosser	0	0	.000	2.70	3	1	0	3 1/3	1	1	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	11	0.600	5.40	2.00
6	David Carpenter	0	0	.000	3.00	3	0	0	3	2	1	1	0	2	0	5	0	0	0	13	1.333	15.00	2.50
	Team Total	1	0	1.000	1.35	16	6	3	13	7	2	2	0	4	0	19	0	0	1	50	0.825	12.80	4.75

[Frayed Knot]

Kimbrel's been used in three games so far. He's faced 9 batters, gotten 9 outs, K'd six of them, two have hit fair balls.

[Zvon]

Great job. Thank you FK.

U2 Edge, tho right now that's depressing. But when we wreck their pen it'll be even more exhilarating .