Yes, it is way early in the season. Yes, they have only played four games. Yes, they still have not really faced a true ace. But who would have thought that the Atlanta Braves would have a 4-0 record after their first four games of the season?
The Braves celebrated their home opener today at Turner Field and once again showed a lot of heart and hustle to squeeze out another “W”. Newly acquired center fielder Cameron Maybin started the game with a lead-off home run giving the Braves a quick lead. The Braves had a 3-0 lead after the third inning, but in the top of the fourth inning the New York Mets hit back-to-back home runs courtesy of David Wright and John Mayberry to tie the game up 3-3.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the eighth inning when Braves second baseman Philip Gosselin was faced with the bases loaded and a 3-2 count with 2 outs in the inning when he came up with a huge base hit that scored two runs, giving the Braves a 5-3 lead.
For the first time in a long time we did not see Craig Kimbrel come out of the bullpen to pitch the ninth, in came new Braves closer Jason Grilli who demonstrated much emotion and joy after notching his third save of the season, striking out Lucas Duda on a filthy breaking ball.
The new attitude the Braves are showing us is what has some of their fans hoping and believing that they can continue this run and have a great season in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Another great point to take notice of is that the Braves traded Kimbrel a day before Opening Day, making it a tough hurdle to overcome as the trade was made at a very unexpected moment.
The Braves have a reason to be excited as they have found some new life and we can only expect this team to get better in upcoming years.
Oh and Andrelton Simmons did this!