Opening Day Victory

A great start for the Braves as they opened their season by beating the Washington Nations 2-0. Shutting out the opposing team is also a nice little addition to the win as well. Beating Nationals Livan Hernandez is always a plus in my book too. I say this because Hernandez was the pitcher in game five of the 1997 National League Championship where he was given an alien like strike zone by umpire Eric Gregg. He went on to strike out 15 batters that game for a win. Yeah, if you don't remember this controversy, go find a clip of this and see for yourself. Strikes being called in the opposite batters box! Click on Hernadez for pitching stats and you can see that this was certainly not talents here that won the game. I can only give him credit for his continued use of the gift he received.

Here's a video I found that shows a few strikeouts of this game. About 1 minute 34 seconds in it shows one batter swinging, but what other choice did he have? Then the next batter (Fred McGriff?) watches a ball go by for a strike at least 6 inches off the plate.

- Derek Lowe struggled in the first inning a bit, but he got settled down and did well. He had over 100 pitches before he could finish the 6th inning. I think he got into a full count seven times. 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 SO was his line.

- Braves bullpen was fantastic for 4.1 innings. Kimbrel got the save.

- Chipper Jones went 2-4 with a run. He hit key double where he later scored on a Brian McCann hit. Chipper's knee looks to be causing no problem.

- McCann was 2-4 with an RBI.

- Jason Heyward was 1-2 with a walk. He had a home run in his first at bat of the season. Last year, he hit one in his first at bat of the season and of his career on opening day as well.

* The Braves have an off day tomorrow (Friday) and will continue the series vs. the Nationals on Saturday. Tommy Hanson will be on the mound for his first start of the season.