Braves at Home in D.C.

After a miserable trip to Denver that saw the Braves lose three in a row before a merciful snow-out of the final game against the Rockies, Atlanta has looked terrific with back-to-back wins over the pathetic Washington Nationals.

It it premature to get overly excited about wins over the Nats (who have now lost 9 games in a row), but the bats seems to be waking up and the top of the Braves rotation is living up to expectations.

Jeff Franceouer had a monster day this afternoon with two homeruns. Brian McCann looks locked in at the plate. Mark Kotsay is swinging a hot bat and Matt Diaz continues to come up with timely hits. And that is the bottom of the order! The Braves are scoring runs without getting much of anything from Mark Teixeira thus far, but there is plenty of talent from 1-8 to plate some runs.

The big factor all year has been the inability to get a lead-off man on base. When the Braves open an inning with a runner, they score. When they don't, they don't. Much of the season so far has fallen in the "don't" category, but today the Braves had runners on base early and often to coast to an easy division win.

On the mound, Tim Hudson is off to a Cy Young season. He opened the season with a terrific start against the Nationals that ended with a loss, but Friday night he was spectacular in a 3-hit win.

The bottom half of the rotation is still a concern. Chuck James was sent to Richmond after serving up batting practice to the Colorado Rockies in Denver. It was clear from Bobby Cox's body language throughout that start that he was not comfortable with James on the mound. Without Hampton and with a youngster like Jurrjens, the bottom half of the rotation continues to cause Atlanta problems, wearing out the bullpen and forcing the line-up to press to keep up.

The Braves are also out their closer as Rafael Soriano is hurt. One of the concerns about giving the closing job to Soriano was his durability and that concern is proving apt as he watches Peter Moylan and Manny Acosta share the duties. It also looks like the Braves blundered by trading Tyler Yates who has been better in Pittsburgh than anyone Atlanta has in middle relief.

Finally, the Scott Spiezio story is over. The drunken veteran couldn't stay sober in Richmond (can you blame him?), so he won't be called up to Atlanta anytime soon.

The Braves look for a sweep tomorrow with Tom Glavine toeing the rubber for both Atlanta and my fantasy baseball team (the 8th place Joe Boo's Rum). First pitch is scheduled for 1:35.