Cubs 2, Braves 3 on Thursday, 4/7

I went to the game tonight with several really good friends and a couple of guys I've never met. The half that I traveled with showed up a little later than we meant to after leaving Mighty Joe Espresso on our fourth try. The five of us climbed into Nick Slater's car and headed toward the field. As we got onto the high way we decided to roll down the windows because the air conditioning wasn't quite enough for the three of us piled in the back seat. My hat flew off of my head and out of the window before I even realized what was happening. Less than an hour later we parked in our strategic Orange Lot location that my Dad has been so proud of over the last few years. After way too long we bought tickets, met up with the Columbus State University half of our group, and went into the park.

Jurrjens took the mound and looked fantastic over the first two innings, giving up only one base hit. The hit came off of Alfonso Soriano's bat on a check swing and dropped thirty feet behind Troy Glaus as I booed. Jurrjens came out after the fifth. He threw 94 pitches and looked very good except for one big inning, but neither of the two runs the Cubs scored off him were earned as they came after a Troy Glaus error on a very routine ground ball to first. Overall I'd say Jurrjens looked good but not great.

Dempster, on the other hand, had an excellent start. He went six innings, struck out nine, and gave up one earned run on a Jason Heyward double into the right field corner. He seemed even more dominant than the numbers suggest, leaving the Braves looking clueless at the plate.

The Braves other runs came off of veteran lefty John Grabow in the eighth. Martin Prado doubled (get used to hearing that, Braves fans) and Chipper Jones worked Grabow to a 3-1 count. At this point, my friend Josh Warren had been telling me and another one of the guys that the Braves were down because we were being negative. As Chipper got in the box for the fifth pitch of the at bat, Ethan Morrison and I agreed that he'd probably hit it out of the park. Josh must have been on to something, because just seconds after Ethan and I finished the conversation Chipper put a ball in about the fifteenth row of the center field stands.

In my opinion, the real story of the night was Atlanta's bullpen. Twenty-four year old Kris Medlen looked brilliant in two innings of work and Peter Moylan got the victory after a solid inning of work. Billy Wagner then earned his first save of the year, striking out three and surrendering a single in the ninth. I can't begin to tell you how good he looked. He hit 98 on the gun throughout the inning and, if my memory serves me correctly, only threw two balls in the inning. He looked like a true closer, and Braves fans haven't seen that for several years.

Some other points of interest:

Troy Glaus went 0-4 with 4 strikeouts.
Chipper's homerun was his 427th.
My fantasy team is being absolutely demolished by Josh's.
My intramural softball team won by forfeit and will be advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

Overall, Braves fans, I think we're in for an exciting season. I haven't been this excited about a team for a long time. The combination of excellent starting pitching, a much improved lineup, a promising bullpen, and Bobby Cox's impending retirement looks like a recipe for success to me.