It started with an official farewell to Javy Lopez and ended with exhaustion.

5 runs down in the bottom of the ninth, the Braves came to life thanks to some timely offense and what should have been a game ending popfly by McCann. Left Fielder Jason Bay looked like he had the ball tracked but suddenly losing it under the lights he overran it and it dropped in the outfield between left and center. Escobar scored from 3rd and Chipper was busting it from first and scored sliding to tie the game at 9. But that's all the Braves would get until the 12th inning. Blaine Boyer gave up a 3 run homer in the top of inning and in the bottom of the inning Teixeira and McCann promptly got two outs. Then Jeff Francouer kept hope alive with a 2 out homer to left-center and Kotsay followed with a hard-hit double. Matt Diaz delivered an RBI single up the middle scoring Kotsay and making it a 12-11 game. Corkey Miller, the Braves last player on the bench came to bat and popped up to center. All held their breath but Pirates Center Fielder Nate McLouth made the play easily and the Braves hopes ended and start the season 0-2.

Two games into the season for the Braves, two great outings for Braves starting pitchers. Glavine, with a roaring ovation from the crowd and very little help from home plate umpire Joe West, pitched a Tom Glavine classic. He went 5 innings and painted the corners in pure Glavine fashion. While he and West disagreed on several close pitches, Glavine put the pitches where he needed when he needed to and limited the Pirates to 7 hits, 2 runs (only 1 of which was earned) and 2 walks. While not his best outing during his amazing career, certainly a welcome sight for Braves fans. The bullpen, overall, was not such a welcome sight through the 9th.

Chris Resop came into the game in relief of Glavine in the 6th, pitched one inning and gave up 1 hit and 1 run while facing 4 batters.

Peter Moylan bounced back from the loss last night in great fashion in the 7th by getting two ground balls as his sinker was moving all over the place. He came out of the game when Escobar made a throwing error to first. Royce Ring came into the game and promptly got the 3rd out.

A mostly very rough night for much of the Braves bullpen. Manny Acosta came into the game in the 8th and immediately struggled, giving up a go ahead homerun to the Pirates' Xavier Nady followed by a single, a wild pitch and a walk. He did get a strikeout and a flyout in the inning but the single and walk came to haunt him as he delivered a 94mph fastball to McLouth who promptly deposited it into the Braves rightfield seats for a 3 run homer. Jeff Bennett also gave up a run and a couple of walks.

However, after the miraculous 9th inning the Braves Soriano pitched a so-so 10th inning. Gave up no runs but did get hit hard a couple of times. Blaine Boyer fired strike after strike and looked sharp in the 11th handing down 2 strikeouts to a depleted Pirates offense. But in the 12th, after getting two outs, Xavier Nady completed his great night with his 2nd homerun, a 3-run shot that proved 1 run too much for the Braves to overcome.

On the offense, a better night than last night for the Braves. Brian McCann drilled a homerun to right field and Yunel Escobar continues to flat out hit the ball. Going 3-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs Escobar gave the Braves a 3rd inning lead but his 2-out 7th inning throwing error cost Glavine a chance at the win as the Pirates tied it up 4-4.

Kelly Johnson came out of the game after scoring on Escobar's triple in the 3rd. He had committed an error attempting to field a ball at second the previous half-inning and may have hurt himself in the process. A right-knee strain was the diagnosis and is listed day-to-day.

It was a tough opener for the Braves to suffer after the crushing defeat to the Nationals last night.

Tuesday's an off-day.

Next game:
Wednesday April 2nd at 6:10 Central on FSN vs. Pittsburg

Tom Gorzelanny (Pirates - LHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (Braves - RHP)

NL EAST STANDINGS:
2-0 Washington Nationals
1-0 New York Mets
0-1 Florida Marlins
0-1 Philadelphia Phillies
0-2 Atlanta Braves

Labels: Atlanta Braves Baseball, Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Tom Glavine

For Braves fans that were as disappointed as I was when they found out that PTV would carry 45 Atlanta Braves games there may be good news!

Even though Peachtree TV is exclusive to the metro-Atlanta market, several television companies (satellite and cable) have signed deals with PTV to allow them to carry those previously missing 45 games!

If you live in the southeast and outside of the Atlanta market (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee) you may be able to get these games after all.

Here's a rundown of the info I have so far as to which networks will be carrying these games:

DirecTV
Comcast/CSS
Charter/CSS
Brighthouse Network - Channel 697
Knology:

• Augusta channel 73
• Charleston channel 35
• Columbus channel 18
• Dothan channel 6
• Huntsville channel 11
• Knoxville channel 6
• Montgomery channel 71
• Valley channel 39

If you have any other information on the channels available or other systems offering the PeachTree deal, please reply to this post with a comment!

This is great news for Braves fans.

Of course, if you're out of the SouthEast and are used to seeing your Braves on TBS, you can subscribe to (for a fee) the MLB Extra Innings package that most services offer. With that subscription you also get about 70 out-of-market MLB games per week.

This is a great start for the Atlanta Braves. Sure, they lost their first game in 9th inning Dan Kolb fashion, however, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Tim Hudson was fantastic. His only rocky time came in the first inning where he gave up two, 2-out runs and also commited the year's first error. After that, lights out is the only appropriate term. He was as sharp as I've ever seen him.

In relief, all looked good. Including tough loser Peter Moylan. His pitches were moving all over the place as he recorded all outs until Ryan Zimmerman came to the plate with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. Moylan left the ball too close to the heart of the place and Zimmerman didn't miss it. A thrilling win for the fans at the new Nationals stadium.

Offense-wise, not much happening. Chipper Jones hit the first homerun in Nationals Park and Mark Teixeira just missed a top of the 9th game tying homer. He ended up with a double off the top of the wall and Martin Prado scored the 9th inning tying run on a passed ball after pinch running for Teixeira.

Braves bring in the Home Opener tomorrow at Turner Field vs. the Pittsburg Pirates.

Probable Starters:

Tom Glavine for Atlanta
Ian Snell for Pittsburg

6:10 Central Time on PTV.

ITEM OF NOTE: The day after each game an updated EFF will be available online here.

For more information on the EFF, one of the best pitching statistics in baseball, click on the "EFF: New Pitching Stat" link.

The 2008 season for the Atlanta Braves kicks off Sunday. Spring Training was one of the biggest Spring battles that I can remember. With Hampton dominating, Javy Lopez not making the team and the utility players fighting it out it was a lot of fun to keep up with!

It appears that John Smoltz will indeed start the season on the DL but barely. He intends to make his first start on April 6th which may put Tom Glavine as the home opener on Sunday.

Tim Hudson will kick off the Braves season in Washington for the Nationals home opener.

The Braves Lineup is likely to look something similar to this:

Kelly Johnson
Yunel Escobar
Chipper Jones
Mark Teixeira
Brian McCann
Jeff Francoeur
Matt Diaz
Mark Kotsay
Pitcher

Though Kotsay could be higher up in the lineup.

The Braves rotation could likely resemble this:

Tim Hudson
John Smoltz
Tom Glavine
Mike Hampton
Jair Jurrjens

We'll know for certain the Braves bullpen and backup catcher soon!