Section 435 An Atlanta Braves blog. From the upper deck at Turner Field.

Quick Hits on Home Opening Day

• The lineup was stale this weekend against the Indians and that continued into the heartbreaking opening day loss at Nationals Park. With a lineup as stacked as the Braves this year, you can’t be too worried about this continuing through the season, but it would be nice to come out of the gate strong.
• ESPN calls it early for the Bravos. Talking Chop weighs in. I’d be really hesitant to call anything in the NL East this year. I think the Mets are the team to beat IF Santana’s transition to the NL is smoother than those of, say, Pedro, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson and if Pedro returns to form. The Braves have more depth in the rotation than anyone else in the NL, but they’re relying on Smoltz and Glavine not to get Alzheimer’s and forget to how to pitch and on Mike Hampton not to shatter into tiny little pieces. We may have four more guys in the minors who have proven they can pitch in the bigs, but none of those guys have top of the rotation stuff.
• Oh my god, shut up about the new road uniforms already.
• I’m still a little upset that they opted to play the game last night in D.C., thus turning my opening day tickets into home opening day tickets, devaluing the experience by exactly 9.6%.