The Atlanta Braves are no strangers to rookie phenoms, and when Cy Young Stephen Strasburg makes his first start against Atlanta at the Ted tonight, all eyes will be on him. The Braves prized rookie, Jason Heyward, will be watching from the bench, as his injured thumb will once again keep him out of the lineup. In fact, by game time we should know the results of an early morning MRI that will tell us the severity of the thumb injury.
But back to Strasburg... how might the Braves approach this hard-thrower:
About five Braves players huddled in front of a television at U.S. Cellular Field last Wednesday to watch a portion of what proved to be the first loss of the phenom's career.
After watching the hard-throwing right-hander allow the Royals three consecutive two-out singles and fall behind with a 1-0, fifth-inning deficit, an Atlanta position player stood up, smirked and said, "I got him."
It's obviously going to be harder than that. After all, the Braves have been no-hit this year, and Strasburg certainly has no-hit stuff. Those three consecutive singles mentioned above were all opposite field hits, and that could be one approach the Braves use to try and touch-up Stephen Strasburg. Everyone, expect Chipper Jones, who is currently used to hitting 100 mph fastballs out of the yard after taking a 100 mph heater from Joel Zumaya over the fence on Saturday.
It should be a fun series, and a fun crowd tonight. Go Braves!