Atlanta Braves April Review; One Man’s View
By Dan Horton
Apr 10, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher
Jason Grilli(39) celebrates after a strikeout to end the game against the New York Mets in the ninth inning at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Mets 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
NOTE: The following is my perception of how April went. It by no means is a reflection of anyone else’s opinion.
Pitching and Defense
April started out strong for the Atlanta Braves. For a team who was going through a tune-up, as I like to call it, it was well above expectations. Starting 5-1 is always nice! Unfortunately, the excitement would be short-lived.
The Braves would get top performances from a bullpen pegged by most to falter early and often. What happened was quite the opposite. For the first week of the season, the Braves bullpen and starting rotation were virtually unhittable.
Led by starters Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, and Shelby Miller, the starters weren’t backing down from challenges. A no-name-bullpen of rookie Brandon Cunniff, Cody Martin, Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson, and Jason Grilli, many were wondering if they would ever be scored upon … again, this too would change.
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As the bullpen and rotation were mowing down hitters, the Braves offense was struggling. With the exception of a 14 hit, 12 run showing in Miami on the second day of the season, the offense struggled to put runs on the board. In the first week, Atlanta scored 2, 12, 2, 5, 5, and 3. Not exactly reflective of a 5-1 first week.
Of course, we can’t just praise the pitching over the first week of the season. The defense committed only one error over the first 6 games. Led by Andrelton Simmons on the field, the defense was like a vacuum. They sucked everything up, caught everything hit to them, and made near perfect throws every time. I’m a sucker for great defense.
As long as the pitching would hold up and defense kept making plays, scoring 5 runs or less would be acceptable. Especially with the bullpen shutting out the opposition. As we all know, that didn’t happen. As the pitching started dozing off, the bats started waking up.