Odd Problem For Da Braves

Pitching. Yeah, they won 2-1 yesterday, but allowed 10 and 13 runs in the opening two games of the series with Arizona.

Veteran John Smoltz has thrown well of late. Tim Hudson threw great yesterday, but has been inconsistent thus far this season. John Thomsen had a 1-3 record with a 1.87 ERA until a few days ago, when he was hit hard. Jorge Sosa was 0-5 until he got his first victory in his last outing. Horacio Ramirez has been out with an injury and is currently in rehab. Mike Hampton is out for the season. Kyle Davies just had surgery after a groin tear and he'll be out for a while. The starters are anything but spectacular thus far, but they're the least of the problems. The set-up men have been decent. The big problem? A closer.

There were two areas I was especially concerned about entering the season: A lead-off man and a closer. Marcus Giles struggled early on, but has been hitting the ball better over the past couple weeks. But, the Braves have blown 11 of 20 save opportunities. Chris Reitsma is a solid 8th inning set-up man, but he's not a closer. Who else in the bullpen could be the closer, though? McBride got the save last night, but he doesn't seem to be closer material. Villareal isn't. Kenny Ray has great numbers, but doesn't seem to have closer stuff. Ray's numbers are much more impressive than McBride and Reitsma's, though. I think they should maybe give him a go-round in the 9th inning. It can't get any worse, right?

The Braves had this same problem a season ago with the newly-acquired Dan Kolb of Milwaukee. Dan Kolb couldn't do the job. Neither can Chris Reitsma. Atlanta has only converted on 9 of 20 (45%) save opportunities. It's time to put someone else on the mound in the 9th inning.