Braves.Today.Com

By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com

ATLANTA — That little touch of winter that swooped through the home of the Braves is nothing more than a fleeting memory this morning.

If you look really close in the shady spots, you might see a little bit of snow hanging on for dear life. In our front yard, the snowman my kids and I built during Sunday’s snowstorm – a 4-inch episode that was straight out of Currier and Ives – is nothing more than a small blob of ice.

Yep, winter made one appearance and now is gone. Back to pursuits of spring, and back to Lake Buena Vista. Six days into spring training for the Atlanta Braves, here are 10 takeaways from the action thus far:

Josh Anderson looks ready for opening day: The Braves’ center fielder of the present is hitting .400, half of his hits are for extra bases, and he’s stolen a base.

Jordan Schafer looks close, but needs a little more seasoning: The Braves’ center fielder of the future is hitting .273 with a homer, but has five strikeouts in 11 at-bats. (“close, but needs a little more seasoning.” … am I talking baseball, or cooking?)

Don’t be alarmed at this point about Jeff Francoeur: OK, he’s hitting .100 (1-for-10). But he has drawn two walks (including a five-pitch walk during which Jeff didn’t swing once) and has zero strikeouts. Yes, he’s left some runners on base, but give it a couple of weeks before we really start worrying.

That Tommy Hanson fellow is pretty good: The line from his first appearance wasn’t earth-shaking (two hits, two runs in two innings). But in watching him pitch on ESPN last Thursday, you could see the nasty assortment of pitches the 22-year-old phenom possesses. High-90s heater. Big breaking curve. Filthy slider. He toes the slab today against Panama’s World Baseball Classic team.

Speaking of which, the WBC stinks as far as timing: Several Braves now have left camp to play for their country, which is a noble thing to do. Yet, you have to wonder if the U.S. makes it all the way to the finals, will that have an impact on Chipper Jones and Brian McCann, both of whom figure to play a lot of innings for Team USA.

To this point, there is no clear-cut favorite for the left-handed specialist job: Eric O’Flaherty had a rough first outing, then bounced back with a solid inning Sunday. Boone Logan threw a perfect inning in his only appearance thus far.

We do know Jeff Ridgway probably isn’t in the mix for the left-handed specialist job: Dude made an absolute mess in his appearance Sunday. This is the same dude who hit a batter with the bases loaded in extra innings in Chicago to lose a game last June.

Derek Lowe was better than his line indicated: The Braves’ ace gave up five hits in two innings, including three in a row to start the second inning Saturday. But after he stopped throwing just fastballs and began mixing in offspeed stuff, he was fine. And, no walks with three strikeouts in two innings works just fine.

Kenshin Kawakami impressed: His fastball only tops out around 90, but the Japanese right-hander throws it with movement, and his offspeed pitches are really good.

Only five more weeks of this stuff: Man, spring training is long this season (thanks, WBC). Feels like we’re never going to get to opening day.

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