Atlanta Braves/2006/April

Recap and Highlights
Opening Day. The Braves traveled to play the Los Angeles Dodgers. The starting pitchers were Tim Hudson (0-0) and Derek Lowe(0-0). Newcomer Nomar Garciaparra was scratched from the lineup with a strained rib muscle.

The top of the first inning was promising in a number of ways for Braves fans. Atlanta started off hot with leadoff hitter Marcus Giles singling. Edgar Renteria roped a potential extra base hit linedrive that was caught by 3B Bill Mueller. An error by Jeff Kent allowed Chipper Jones to reach and then Andruw Jones singled to bring in the first run of the year for Atlanta. Adam LaRoche followed suit with a three run homerun to put Atlanta up 4-0.

Hudson took the mound in the bottom of the first with a career record of 87-4 with 4 or more runs of support.

The game progressed quietly for the next few innings, outside of a run-scoring single by Jeff Kent. A hit that scored Atlanta product and new LA SS Rafael Furcal.

In the top of the 5th, Atlanta struck big again. Hudson led off the inning with a single and Marcus Giles sacrificed him over. Furcal's replacement, Edgar Renteria, single to put men on the corners, setting up Chipper Jones. Jones earned his first run batted-in by deftly poking an outside pitch into center field for a single. Last year's HR-champion, Andruw Jones hit a three-run homer into the leftfield bleachers, stretching the Atlanta lead to seven runs.

Los Angeles fired back in the bottom half of the inning consecutive singles from Furcal, Cruz, and Drew. A wild pitch followed by a two-run double ended Hudson's day. Lance Cormier relieved and let up a single to Mueller, scoring Kent.

Atlanta rebounded with a two-run double off of the glove of CF Jason Repko by Renteria in the top of the 6th.

In the meantime Mike Remlinger and Oscar Villarreal held the Dodgers scoreless for the sixth and seventh innings. Villarreal recorded four outs and only allowed one hit

The score remained 10-5 until the top of the 8th when Ryan Langerhans hit a solo shot to rightfield.

Again, the Dodgers responded to a Braves score. Blaine Boyer, questionable throughout the spring with a sore right shoulder, entered the game and allowed singles to Cruz and Drew. Andruw Jones made a rare error on a routine play to allow the runners to move up to 2nd and 3rd. After Olmedo Saenz mistakenly ran to first on ball three, he returned to the batter's box and hit a single up the middle to score the runners. Short on relievers, Bobby Cox had starter John Thomson enter the game. Thomson allowed Repko to rip a liner down the leftfield line for a run-scoring double, making the game 11-8.

The Braves entered the bottom of the ninth up 11-8 but the Dodgers did not go away without a fight. Furcal bunted an infield single past Chipper and Cruz followed with a double. The next two batters grounded out, each bringing home a run to make the game 11-10. Saenz hit a sharp grounder to Jones at third, which he snagged, spun, and threw high to LaRoche. LaRoche jumped and landed back on the bag a split second before Saenz reached the bag for the final out.

Although the team hung on to win, this was the sort of game that will have doubters of the Braves' bullpen saying, "I told you so."

Seeing Renteria get a couple hits and drive in some runs was a great sign. If he can bounce back to his St. Louis days after last year's dreadful showing in Boston, then Furcal will not be missed.

Hudson's location appeared to be slightly off as he delivered below the strike zone most of the time. Overall he threw 83 pitches for 46 strikes. His pitch count remained high for this reason.

Record
1-0 1st place(tie)

April 4
John Smoltz(0-0) Brad Penny(0-0)

Braves looking for first 2-0 start since 1996.