Well Done Brandon!

A tip of the proverbial cap to Brandon Beachy for his stellar performance last night!  Brandon pitched his first complete game, a 7-0 victory over the Marlins.  It took Brandon 122 pitches and he was strong the entire outing.  So strong in fact, that there wasn't any bullpen activity until the 9th inning.  And that was 'just in case' activity.

We're definitely seeing a more mature and confident pitcher this season.  After the game Brandon said he has purpose in his pitches.  He went on to say that he's throwing right where he wants to, he's going deeper into games and he's getting batters out earlier in the count.  A knowing observation/compliment came from the one teammate who's seen countless players come through the Braves locker room.  Chipper Jones said, "It's fun watching young players going from wondering if they belong, to thinking they might belong, to knowing they belong.  Brandon is starting to know he belongs."

Brandon took his minuscule 1.60 ERA down to 1.33 by game's end and helped his own cause with an RBI single in the fifth.  That's his 4th RBI of the season.

There is one other stat from the game that makes me extremely happy.  Each of the Braves seven runs were knocked in by seven different batters.  That's what we need to see all season long.

Tonight the Braves face the Rays in their first interleague game of the season.  It's going to be a tough weekend.  The Rays are 14-3 at home.  However, the Braves are 14-8 on the road.  This should make for a very exciting series!