Braves Head West To Challenge Giants

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The Atlanta Braves aren’t off to an exceptional start this season, but they’ve got a reputation for rounding into form as the weather gets warmer. They’ll face a tough challenge this weekend as they make the long trip West to take on the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. The Giants are starting to look like a team that could repeat their championship run of a year ago—the pitching is solid as expected and they’re starting to hit the ball better than they did in the first few games of the year.

There were quite a few changes in Atlanta during the off season, the most significant the retirement of longtime manager Bobby Cox. Former Florida Marlins’ skipper Fredi Gonzalez is the new man in charge, and he’s got some areas of concern to deal with though is not without resources. The starting rotation looks solid, though the Braves are hoping for a more consistent effort throughout the year from all of their starters. The bullpen will be an area to watch—closer Billy Wagner’s retirement has forced a complete revamp and the new closer is rookie Craig Kimbrell. Fortunately, there is some continuity among the setup pitchers with right hander Peter Moylan and lefties Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty reprising their roles from last season. So far Kimbrell has looked pretty good in his new role so there’s optimism about the bullpen.

The mound corps has done a reasonably good job keeping the Braves’ opponents from scoring but they haven’t received much help from their teammates at the plate. As of midweek Atlanta ranks #26 in team batting average with a .229 mark and #26 in runs scored. No matter how solid your pitching is you’re not going to win many games if you don’t score runs.

Atlanta will go with righthander Tommy Hanson in Friday night’s game and that plays right into the offensive strengths of the Giants. San Francisco turned a solid profit at home against right handers last season going 37-20 +9.40 units. The Braves were one of the worst road investments in baseball a season ago losing -16.45 units away from Turner Field. It could be more of the same this year and the combination of San Fran’s profitability against right-handers with Atlanta’s road struggles will have us on the home team throughout this series.