Ian Snell is taking the hill for the Pirates. We’ll be updating throughout the game as the Braves try to get back into the win column.

Tonight, Jair Jurrjens looks to overcome some of the control issues that have haunted him up until this point in the season (while still retaining a solid 2.45 ERA) and bring down Paul Maholm for the Pirates.  The left-handed Maholm comes into tonight’s game with a 1-0 record and a 1.32 ERA.  The Braves have struggled at the plate against lefties throughout last season and into the first games of this one.

We’ll be updating throughout the game as the Braves try to get back into the win column.

Jurrjens will be pitching the first game for the Braves while Tim Hudson will make his regularly scheduled start in the second game.  We have another doubleheader in a couple weeks against the Mets; let’s try and start a good streak on those today.

Jair Jurrjens (3-2) takes the mound toda for the Braves trying to improve his 1-2 road record.  On the other side of the mound for the Pirates will be Zach Duke, who has great stuff,  but has struggled thus far this season.  The key for the Braves today is to not continually lose base runners to double plays.  We need to get on the board and continue to get the offense going throughout the game.

It looks like we may have a bit of a rain delay today to start off the game and possibly thoughout the rest of the day, so we’ll see if we get it in or not.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there, hopefully the Braves can get us a win.

The spot for James on the roster was made by placing Buddy Carlyle on the 15-day disabled list after the collision that knocked him out of the game in Atlanta on Thursday.  Buddy has a strained neck and bruised temple and hopefully we’ll see him back in action after a little bit of rest.  Road games have been the weak point of the Braves so far this season.  With a road record of 4-12, the Braves have the fewest road wins in the majors so far this season.  You can’t make it to the postseason if you can’t win on the road.

Taking the mound for the Pirates will be Tom Gorzelanny (2-3, 6.91).  Gorzelanny has a tendency to give up runs, but the real key is whether or not the Braves can get the bats going early in the game.  We’ve had problems with McLouth and Nady patrolling the Pirates outfield and stealing hits away from us.  Hopefully we can get that changed tonight and put another win up on the board.

Tom Glavine will be on the mound for the Braves tonight, looking for his first win of the season.  Glavine was 1-out short of getting a win against the Reds last week, but just couldn’t make it out of the inning.  Tonight, I look to see Glavine keep the Braves in the game while the offense tries to provide the needed run support.  Let’s get above .500 for the road trip, guys!

Jeff Bennett is a trooper, stepping in for the spot start in the emergency start.  He worked hard each of the last two nights and still jumped in there for the start, pitching four innings and 77 pitches.  He struck out three, walked two, and gave up two earned runs.

But the Braves saw the night turn into one much like they experienced the first two nights.  The bullpen (and a Martin Prado error) let the Pirates back into the game, and the Braves lost their third game this season by one run in extra innings.  Bobby seems to like using everyone out there – these guys are going to be tired if we can’t get some solid starting pitching and get them some rest.

Offensively, Chipper continued his hot start, going 3-5.  Reliever Chris Resop got sent to left field for Adam LaRoche’s at-bat, when Royce Ring came in to deal with him.  Resop then came back to the mound and finished his outing.  At least it was entertaining to watch.

The Braves tried to tie it in the bottom of the 10th.  Mark Kotsay hit a monster drive to dead center that was within six inches of going over the wall.  He ended with a stand-up triple.   But that counts for nothing when you can’t score him, and we didn’t.

The final score was 4-3; mark it down as a 1-3 start with all three losses by one run, two of them in extra innings.  Something’s gotta start going our way.

Next up, the Mets come to town, and Hudson will take on John Maine tomorrow.  Should be a good game – tune in here for coverage.  Look for Hudson, Glavine and Smoltz to make the starts against the Mets.  Hopefully we can get the bats going early and we should have some great games to watch.

Mike Hampton takes the mound for the Braves (1-2) tonight to close out the opening home series of 2008 versus the Pirates (1-1).  As long as nothing happens to him in the next 3 hours, tonight will mark Hampton’s first regular season start since August 19th, 2005, when Tommy John surgery and some assorted other injuries knocked him from competition.  The Braves are looking to ride a successful start from Hampton to get their season record back to .500 after starting the season 0-2.

The squad made a strong showing last night, beating the Pirates 10-2 on a powerpacked 7-run 8th inning highlighted by Mark Teixeira hitting his first home run of the season.  Hopefully the Braves can keep the offense going tonight and that the bullpen can provide the needed backup for Hampton.

After we close out the series tonight, we have a 3-game series against the Mets to carry us through the weekend.  Come by and chat with us during the game, 7:10pm EST start.

I was really impressed by Jurrjens.  In the post-game interview, he kept beating himself up for the one walk.  He didn’t seem happy or self-absorbed with the win or the five strikeouts.  He didn’t mention the nasty changeup he throws without hesitation.  He was upset with himself for the one walk and kept saying how he needs to limit the walks this season.  Jurrjens didn’t even get in trouble until the sixth inning.  And his fastball was around 93-94 all night long.

The bats weren’t silent either.  Martin Prado started the evening at second in place of the injured Kelly Johnson (knee, day-to-day), and kicked the game off with a triple.  Chipper knocked him in.  Prado would go on to reach base 3 out of 5 times to the plate, scoring each of those times.  Matt Diaz added a homer in the fourth.

Going into the 8th, the Braves led 3-2, before the floodgates opened.  Both Yunel Escobar and Mark Teixeira broke out the long ball – Tex launching a two-run homer and Yunel going yard to put a three spot on the board.  Add a few singles here and there, and the Braves ended up putting seven runs on the board in the eighth.  Will Ohman came in and closed out the game in the ninth.

Great to see the Braves get their first win on the board – especially with the offense really clicking in the eighth.  Jurrjens is going to be something special.  He’s soft-spoken and modest, and has nasty stuff to back it up.  He is willing to learn from the older guys and will really benefit from that throughout the season.  Hopefully we’ll continue to have Teixeira break out the bat, as he had a slow spring.  Also good to see our bullpen pitch 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.  We’ll take that.

Braves are 1-2 and showing signs of life.  Hampton on the mound tomorrow for Atlanta.  Here’s praying he can stay alive through it.

Kelly Johnson may play – let’s hope the strained knee he ran into Monday isn’t a factor tonight.  Jurrjens has shown some nerves as of late – he’s publically admitted to being nervous about being in the same starting rotation as Smoltz, Hudson, and Glavine.  His dad has been a Braves fan for years so it’ll be good to see the first big league start from a guy who’s been a Braves fan his entire life.

Will Jurrjens settle and pitch a solid game?  Will Kelly Johnson have more issues with his knee?  And will errors from the infielders or crazy outings by the bullpen throw the game away again?

I’ll be commenting while I watch, so drop on by and hang out, post a few comments.

Then came the bottom of the ninth – and we rallied. Started by the second string once again – who drew a series of walks, we somehow pulled alongside the Pirates on a lazy two-out pop fly by Brian McCann. Chipper kicked it into gear as soon as the ball was hit and when the ball inexplicably dropped in short center field, he was already crossing the plate with the tying run. McCann stood on first base with a look of disbelief on his face (that was proudly displayed on the big screen).

At this point, we brought in Soriano. He looked good and kept the Pirates scoreless after giving up a double. The Braves took him out as his spot in the batting order was coming up. Now by this time, the Braves had used so many relievers that Blaine Boyer was the only one left in the ‘pen.

Boyer was spotless in the 11th, striking out two.  We went to the 12th.  Boyer was back on the mound, partially because he was gorgeous in the 11th, partially because there were no more relievers.  Heck, Jair Jurrjens showed up in the bullpen and spent a little time warming up.  He’s supposed to start Wednesday’s game.

But Boyer allowed two base runners and then gave up a shot to right field that just cleared the fence – putting the Pirates up 12-9.  But nobody left – everyone who stuck through the 9-4 deficit in the 9th figured we could pull out of a 12-9 in the 12th.   And we almost did.

Francoeur’s solo shot (which I called, by the way) made it 12-10.  Then Diaz knocked in a run to make it 12-11. And with a runner on base and two outs in the 12th, Corky Miller (the only bench player left to pinch-hit for Boyer) popped a ball to center field.  This time they caught it.  And we had to go home.

Sure, we got an L in the W/L column.  But it didn’t feel like a loss.  It felt like a team ready to fight no matter what the odds this season.  It felt like our team was ready to do battle. It’s baseball season!

Rue’s Scorecards For The Night:
ATL  PIT  Extra Innings

What did I love about last night?

The feeling of walking up into Monument Grove at 4:30, hours before the game started and seeing the crowd of Braves fan. Looking at those statues of Aaron, Spahn, and Niekro…it felt like…history.  Looking at the Phil Niekro statue. Knowing that, like his fellow Grove-mate, Warren Spahn, he’s not going to be with us forever.

The smell of the ballpark food.

Batting practice. Where any slob (myself included) can, for a moment, be a big league outfielder.

The Braves showing the ultimate salute to one of their own. Asking Javy Lopez to throw out the first pitch. You gave us your best years, Javy. And, most recently, you gave us everything you had. Yeah, it wasn’t enough, but we love you for the effort.

And catching Javy’s pitch? In a beautiful and timeless role-reversal: One John Smoltz.

Tom Glavine. Not only was he wholeheartedly cheered when announced in the roster, but at his first pitch, the stadium stood and screamed encouragement and approval.

But how about the game itself?

A couple observations:

When your two best hitters (Chipper and Tex) go 2 for 12, everybody else has to contribute. Do we have depth and not just a couple of super-stars? That’s where you see if all the time that Frank Wren spent roster-planning worked. So, despite the whole 2 for 12 from Chipper and Tex, if the team still scores 11 runs, you are doing something right.

And if you were a Braves reliever who *didn’t* get to pitch last night, you really must feel dejected. Partly because the bullpen was flat, partly because Bobby Cox kept trying to inject some offensive pop with designated hitters, the Braves used every card-carrying member of the relief corps.

We were running through relievers the way Elizabeth Taylor used to run through husbands. (Really sorry if I lost you on that little hyperbole.) By the end of the 12^th inning, I was expecting to see Jeff Francoeur on the mound.

Dude, I’m serious. Who made rubber appearances?

After Tommy Glavine took us through a very respectable 5 innings with just two earned runs, we begin our relief journey with Chris Resop. Join me , won’t you?

You don’t want Resop? Ok, here’s Will Ohman.
You don’t want Ohman? Ok, here’s Peter Moylan.
You don’t want Moylan? Ok, here’s Royce Ring.
You don’t want Ring? Ok, here’s Manny Acosta.
You don’t want Manny to give up a third home run? Ok, here’s Jeff Bennett.
You don’t want Bennett? Ok, here’s Soriano.
Tired of him? Ok, here’s Blaine Boyer. (Throwing 97 MPH, I might add)

Yes, it’s still early in the season to make too many judgments.
Yes, the team is still getting its legs underneath it.
Yes, we had three throwing errors.

But, based on one game, we also had two huge nagging questions answered.

1)  Escobar can handle himself. Mi ese Cubano (See? I am so groovy and cosmopolitan that I just called him “My Cuban Brother”-which I will henceforth declare him to be. I’m not Latino, even on my best days, but that’s just how I roll, amigo.) made six plate appearances and got on base five times. That included a triple, two singles, and 2 walks. Is it me, or is Mi ese Cubano showing some hardcore plate discipline?
2)  What’d you say? KotSAY. Dude is a stud. A single, a double and a walk doesn’t begin to tell the story. Given that he was the offensive catalyst for both late inning (game-tied) rallies, the fact that he recorded an assist by throwing out a runner at home, and the fact that he waived off an eager (and semi-inexperienced) Escobar from a crucial fly-ball and potential collision, I am thrilled to see this guy here. Andruw who? (I know, I know, that isn’t fair.)

In closing, do you know what the best part of last night was?  Knowing that, despite scandals, wars, crime, greed, White House turn-over, and Old Yeller dying (hey, tell me you didn’t cry and I’ll call you a cold-hearted hoser), the game of baseball continues to reflect the best, and at times, the worst, of America.

Despite personal and national disappointments, the death of dreams, and human beings constantly letting you down, Opening Day still whispers hope. A hope that your team has a chance. That it’s your cheering that will be the spark plug that the batter needs to put him over the edge and extend that long-fly ball into a home run. That the collective will of tens of thousands of maddened fans can, by their very passion, turns the poor fortunes of a game into an indescribably adrenaline-laced rally-that you are part of.

So, yeah, welcome to 2008, Braves fans.

I’ll be the one with the Braves cap on.

Smitty

Tonight, the Braves (0-1) kick off a three-game series against the Pirates (0-0).  Tom Glavine makes his first regular season start since returning to the Braves against Ian Snell for Pittsburgh.  Snell is coming off of a 9-12 season in 2007 with a 3.76 ERA.  It looks to be a great night for baseball with temperatures slated to be in the mid to high 50s and the rain should hold off until the overnight hours.

We’ll be heading down  to enjoy the Turner Field atmosphere since it has been a good while since we’ve been around there for a regular season game.  The game starts at 7:10 ET and I’ll be doing my best to keep up with the comments and game updates on this thread from at the game.  Baseball’s back in Atlanta for the season.  Go Braves!