Ryan Langerhans was traded to the Oakland Athletics for a player to be named or cash. Langerhans batted .068 for Atlanta this season with 44 appearances and 3 runs. Langerhans has spent his major league career with the Braves, batting .241 last year with 46 RBI’s in 131 games. Oaklands’ interest in Langerhans was sparked by a series of injuries among their outfield, and Langerhans ability to play all three positions. Atlanta has called up Willie Harris from AAA Richmond to fill Langerhans’ place on the roster.

In his first 11 games, Bob Wickman gave up exactly 1 run. In the last two games against Colorado, Wickman has given up 5. Half of his walks this season were in those two games as well. So what’s the problem? Wickman has closed four straight games without rest. The last three games he has looked progressively worse culminating in last nights game in Denver when he walked three and gave up two runs in the ninth. Blowing the Braves’ 7–5 lead, Colorado went on to win 9–7 with a two-run homer in the 11th. With his latest outing, let’s hope Bobby finally sits Wickman out for a couple of games and Wickman can regain some of the precision control we saw just a few games ago.  

John Smoltz and the Braves beat Colorado 6-2 on Saturday to go up 2-0 in the three game series against the Rockies. With the win Atlanta holds on to a half game lead over the New York Mets in the NL East. The Mets are currently 1-1 in their series with the Nationals. Expect both teams to win their next games against two of the worst performing teams in the league – the Rockies and the Nationals. Now is a good time to take a quick look at these rivals and see who the better team is so far this season.  Statistically, the Mets look far better than then the Braves. Looking at the offense, the Met’s have a team batting average of .292 versus the Brave’s .258. Defensively the Braves fair no better. The Mets’ starting lineup has an ERA of 3.24 while their relievers have posted an ERA of 2.18. Compare that to Atlanta’s starting rotation ERA of 4.47 and bullpen ERA of 3.63. More telling is the Mets’ defensive efficiency rating of .735 which makes them 3rd best in the entire league. The Braves are almost at the bottom with a rating of .686, 26th out of 30 teams. So how in the world are these two teams neck and neck at the top of the NL East with Atlanta tied for first with the highest winning percentage in all of baseball? The answer to that question lies with a statistic I mentioned in my last post, expected wins versus actual wins.  This is one area where Atlanta is doing better than nearly every other team (only the Brewers’ have a higher expected vs. actual win ratio).  Atlanta is playing nearly two wins better than they should when you factor in opponent strength and team ratings. The Mets’ are on the opposite end of the spectrum, playing two games worse then expected. This points to the power of factors that can’t easily be quantified that are helping the Braves and hurting the Mets. Factor’s like clubhouse atmosphere, team expectation, and player motivation. All of those psychological wild cards that add up to the secret ingredient in a winning team’s recipe. As a Brave’s fan, would I like to see better stats? Sure. But I would never trade better stats for great team attitude. And it’s that attitude that’s propelling Atlanta to the top. The only question for Atlanta is whether they can maintain the current atmosphere as we move into summer and the inevitable losing streaks that are part of the game.

Despite battling for the NL East lead, statistically the Braves are in the middle of the pack. While Atlanta is batting better than most, their pitching has struggled. Atlanta ranks 21st out of 30 teams in defensive efficiency, which measures the rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs. If you crunch the numbers, at this point in the season, the Brave’s record should be 10 and 9 not 12 and 7. So why are the Braves playing better than they look on paper? The answer to that question is in the young trio of Kelly Johnson, Brian McCann, and Jeff Francoeur. These three players are all coming into their own and carrying the Braves right along with them. Among the Braves, only Chipper Jones has a better slugging percentage than these three. In the National League as a whole Francoeur leads the league in RBI’s, McCann has the ninth best batting average at .338, and Johnson’s .435 on-base-percentage is the eighth highest overall. These guys are turning enthusiasm of youth and the drive to prove themselves into runs on the scoreboard, and such factors can’t be quantified on a stats sheet. The question now is whether McCann, Johnson, and Francoeur are pushing themselves too hard this early in the season and are setting themselves up for mid-season burnout. I suspect team leader’s like Chipper Jones and manager Bobby Cox won’t let that happen. If the Braves can shore up their pitching and improve defensively, this should be an exciting season in Atlanta.

Tim Hudson continues to look like the unhittable A’s ace from ‘01. Last night Hudson threw eight shutout innings against the Mets in the fourth meeting this season between the two teams. The Braves now have a 3-1 record with the Mets and a return to the top of the NL East Divsion. On offense Chipper Jones improved on what has been a mediocre season by hitting a two-run homer and scoring three runs in the Braves’ 7-3 win. Rafael Soriano came in to close the game but unfortunately gave up 3 runs in the ninth to put the Mets on the board. The Braves and Mets will meet again Saturday to continue their battle for the top spot in the NL East.

Unfortunately, Atlanta’s winning streak ended Thursday night.  With John Smoltz starting against the struggling Nationals, a five game steak seemed a certainty against the struggling Nationals, but a slip by Smoltz meant the Braves dropped the third and final game in this series. Smoltz allowed only two hits through the 8th inning in a 0-0 game when the Nationals scored two runs off of two hits after Smoltz hit a batter and walked the next. In the ninth, Atlanta began a rally by putting two on base with only one out. Nationals’ closer Chad Cordero then struck out Brian McCann for the second out, but then walked right fielder Jeff Francoeur to load the bases. Rookie left fielder Scott Thorman came to the plate with a chance to win the game for the Braves. After two fouls, Thorman had a full count against Cordero, but on the sixth pitch Thorman’s attempted check-swing was called a strike and the Braves’ streak ended. Next, the Marlin’s come to Atlanta for a three game series. The Marlins’ are 5-4 in the NL East two games behind Atlanta.

Former A’s ace Tim Hudson starts tonight against the struggling Nationals. Hudson comes off of a great start against the Phillies on April 4th where he only gave up 2 hits and 1 earned run. Hudson has been something of a disappointment during his two seasons with the Braves, but after seeing him against the Phillies, he’s starting to look like the pitcher Atlanta hoped they were getting in ‘05. With the announcement that Mike Hampton will likely miss this season just like last, Atlanta needs Hudson to step up and fill the gap left by Hampton. Though the Nationals are anything but an offensive threat, it’ll still be an interesting night to judge just where Hudson’s pitching stands.

Sports writer John Donovan has released his week 1 MLB power rankings.  Coming in right behind the 5-2 Los Angeles Angels, the 5-1 Braves are just ahead of the NY Mets, who the Braves just took for 2 out 3 games in their just finished series. Standing out for Donovan is Atlanta catcher Brian McCann whose got eight hits and three runs with .364 batting average and a .417 on base percentage. After signing a six year deal, McCann is shaping up to be the future of the Braves.

Despite the Braves ranking, some caution may be in order. During the Braves 5-1 start the Braves batted .220 but their opponents hit .267. That means there’s been a lot of scrapping to pull together these wins. Of course anything but a sweep against the upcoming Nationals would be a surprise. Afterwards, we’ll see how long the Braves can keep up this pace. The Braves are going to have to get more production from players like Kelly Johnson (.150), Chipper Jones (.227), and Andruw Jones (.130).

The Atlanta Braves are in a familiar place six games into the season. After a record setting 3-0 start, the Braves are now at the top of NL East with a 5-1 record. The recent series with the Mets started abysmally when the Met’s obliterated the Braves at Turner Field 11-1. But when the Braves hit the road for the next two games against the Mets, they took both games, culminating with Sunday’s 3-2 win behind major league rookie Kyle Davies. The 23 year old right handed pitcher was called up from Triple-A Richmond to start in Sunday’s game. Pitching for 6 2/3 innings, Davies gave up only 4 hits and 2 runs for a very respectable 2.70 ERA. Trailing through the 7th inning, the Braves’ offense rallied with two runs in the 8th to clinch the game. With rookie starts like Davies’ and a powerful start to the season, let’s hope the Braves have a long post season.