EXCITING RIDE FOR THE ATLANTA BRAVES

The Atlanta Braves have been on an exciting ride this baseball season. Long time Manager Bobby Cox announced that he was retiring at the end of this season. The players have played very hard trying to seed Cox out with another post season appearance. The Braves have not been to the post season since 2005. Braves fans were spoiled by the 14 straight Division Titles that ended in 2006.

The season started with the Braves losing 14 of their first 22 games in April. They started playing better in May and took over first place in the National League East by the end of May. Troy Glaus had a monster month of May with the bat to lead the offense. The Braves also introduced their young phenom and the new face of their franchise, Jason Heyward. The young Heyward would get off to a fast start, as he homered in his first game on opening day.

The Braves are a team of 25 good baseball players that know how to play the game. They have suffered through a lot of injuries and they have had people fill in and pick up the slack. Pitcher Jair Jurrgens missed several weeks, due to injury and Kris Medlin steps in and does a very good job in the rotation. They would eventually lose Medlin and veteran Chipper Jones for the season and they kept on getting good fill in play from Omar Infante and Brooks Conrad. The Braves bench has been very big to the teams success this season. Every one on the bench has come up big to help them win ball games. Brooks Conrad has hit 8 HR's this season and 7 of them has been from the 7th inning or later. He has had a lot of big hits to win ball games, especially a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Cincinnati Reds. Eric Hinske has also been big off the bench, as he has hit 3 pinch hit HR's and has had a lot of starts in the outfield and at first base. The Braves bullpen has been very good this season as it has been anchored by closer Billy Wagner. They have also had great seasons from rookie lefty Jonny Venters, veteran righthander Peter Moylan and others. The starting rotation has been pretty solid as well, led by 17 game winner Tim Hudson, 16 game winner Derek Lowe and 10 game winner Tommy Hanson.

The Braves have also made a lot of changes as the season has gone along. They traded controversial short stop Yunell Escobar to Toronto for veteran short stop Alex Gonzalez. They also acquired outfielder Rick Ankiel and reliever Kyle Farnsworth from Kansas City at the trade deadline. The Braves also got first baseman Derek Lee from the Chicago Cubs in August, after Chipper Jones season ending injury. The Braves have only right fielder Jason Heyward and catcher Brian McCann still starting on an everyday basis from their opening day line-up, since Martin Prado was lost for the season in late September.

It has been a long up and down season for the Atlanta Braves in 2010, but it has been very interesting and exciting. They were able to keep this ride going, as they clinched the National League wild card on Sunday, with their 8 to 7 victory over the Phillies. The Braves are limping into the post season with injuries and they haven't played well in September, but anything can happen once you get in the playoffs. Lets see if they can send Bobby Cox into retirement with another World Series Title. The 2010 season for the Atlanta Braves has been a heck of a ride.

Check out my Week 7 Football Picks on Thursday afternoon. Until Next Time.