CURRENT STATE OF THE BRAVES

 The Braves have had a tough week- the negative press about the Roger Mcdowell situation and the DUI that Derek Lowe got were disappointing. But whats more dissappointing to me is the braves are 4-7 at home. They are 6 games behind the Phillies and  right now there bullpen is struggling. Craig Kimbrel is a rookie so I know he will have highs and lows during his first full season. I just hope his lows will be at the start of season rather then end of it- that being sad its not fun to see him struggle right now. When you have your 8th and 9th inning guys with less then 3 years of Mlb experience it does concern you a little but. I still have alot of high hopes for Kimbrel and Venters though. Im confident they will be successful this year. I wouldnt be too suprised to see the braves eventually make a move for some more veteran help in the bullpen

The offense is still struggling- Uggla hasnt hit anything yet. Heyward is hot and cold. Alex Gonzalez seems to blame his struggles more on the umpire then he does himself. This offense needs to step it up. The starting pitching so far has done well. Brandon Beachy doesnt have the wins to show for it but hes  pitched very well. I hope the offense will start scoring more runs for him soon. Its  too early for major concerns but the bullpen has shown it cant fully hold leads and AGAIN this offense is problematic.. I hope as the weather gets warmer the Braves offense will too... by the way  what are your thoughts on Fredi Gonzalez first month as manager???

BRAVES SWEEP THE GIANTS!!

 I dont know about you but Im pumped after this weekends series with the Giants- Beat Lincecum, swept the Giants the team that won world series/ team that ended our season last year. Its not only we swept them but the way we did. The offense hit well- got the big hits when we needed. The pitching rotation pitched well also.I  will say I think the Braves bullpen is being overworked and Peter Moylan being hurt right now is a big loss out there. But Im encouraged by the offense and I will give props to Nate Mcclouth who has hit better in the 8 hole. I was also encouraged by Heywards weekend series because he hadnt hit anything the past 10 days. I hope hes turned the corner. The Braves got to within a game of .500 again which is a step- But now they need to step it up even more because Philly has the best record in baseball and with that pitching staff you wont see them go on many 5-6 game losing streaks. I  dont think the Braves are close to  hitting where they will be but Im more confident in the team now then I was a week ago. I hope the team is more confident to and can go to San Diego and handle business there just like the Phillies did this weekend. Good teams need to capitalize on bad teams. The Braves  have struggled most of April but I hope the sweep this weekend will  get them the fresh of breath air they need to really go hard  and start puting long win streaks together.