Lang had a good comment in his SI.com article this week…”The Braves took 2 of 3 from the Mets this weekend, restoring order in the NL East.” He knows how biased the media is for the Mets and against the Braves, so he gets his shots in as often as he can.

Too bad about Hampton…at least they have insurance…and Davies, Redman, and Cormier. Could be worse…look at the Phillies. Someone suggested we send them Tyler Yates. SIkids picked the Braves to finish third behind the Mets and Phils.

Not bad, taking two of three. Hopefully JF can continue dumping outside pitches to RF. It’s frustrating when he gets down 0 – 2 and you know he’s swinging at the next pitch, no matter where it is.

Callers after the game Sunday thought we were overloaded with starting pitching, wondering if JS would make a trade. Hampton’s situation didn't look good, Cormier isn’t back yet, Davies had just one good outing, Redman will at best just keep us in the game, James is in his first full season, Hudson has to pitch more to prove he’s back to his AL form, and Smoltz is in his forties. I like our situation, just not enough to trade a starter.

Another caller thought Andruw should be dropped in the order. Chip and Lemke squashed that one. Why mess with a winning recipe? Andruw will come around…it’s hard to hit in the cold.

Good stuff from the CPA: I am tired of hearing about Hampton , so at least this can go away for a while.  I think we are in good shape with 6 quality MLB starters available… in addition, I believe Villareal showed last year that he could give you quality innings as a 5th starter if need be…I think they are in better shape than most…

Friday night’s play on the field was too reminiscent of last year, so the turnaround on Saturday and Sunday was great…

Smoltz and Davies came up big over the weekend… as much as been made over the big 3 in the bullpen, the key all season will be the starters giving us Quality Starts… I think we have 4 so far (I believe James only pitched 5 innings on Thursday and Redmond was bounced in the 6th on Friday)…

I think we are going to see a lot of games this season, similar to the first week, where the game is 2-2 going into the 7th and once we get into bullpens, Atlanta will win the game there…the blowout Friday when McBride, Villareal and Yates came into the game did not bother me too much… for whatever reason, McBride seems at his best as a LH 1-batter specialist… if Villareal and Yates are in the game, the game is probably a lost cause, anyway…

I agree with you on Kelly Johnson… I remember early in 2002 the team was struggling and the talk around town was everyone wanted to move Giles and Furcal to the OF… it is funny that Giles and Maddox have ended up on the same team together – I thought that Giles had issues with Glavine and Maddux (or maybe it was just one of the 2)… It had something to do with the pitchers getting frustrated with Giles defense early in his career…

If Thorman gets 400 AB’s vs. RHP, he will back into enough mistake pitches to hit 20+ HR’s… not too bad for a 7th place hitter… I don’t care how well he hits every spring, Langerhans is a 4th or 5th OF ( I say that, but he will save the game with a defensive play tonight)… the organization does not seem to have much confidence in Diaz… I would feel better by playoff time if Thorman was playing everyday at 1B and Wilson was the regular OF, but there is little chance of that happening…

By the time I got home, changed, got Charlotte dressed and talked for a few minutes with the inlaws, we did not leave until 6:00… traffic was as bad around the stadium as expected – at 7:15 we were in line for the Orange lot… parking was permit only, so everyone sitting in front of me did not have a permit and were just waiting to go straight… I noticed a few cars pull into the reverse traffic lane and shoot over into the orange lot, so I did the same… as soon as I pulled in, an Atlanta cop was there and had everyone pulled off to the side and requested drivers license… she let everyone off with warnings…we made it to our seats in time for the first pitch… the wind walking through the parking lots was the worse part of the cold… we sat for 3 innings and then walked around for 2 more… we then went to the clubhouse store for a while, eventually leaving in the 7th (as people were still coming in)…