Tommy Hanson

MLB’s second season gets underway Wednesday. 

While the Yankees, Twins and Phillies have been postseason mainstays recently, the Giants, Rangers and Reds are back for the first time in years; the Braves are making their first appearance since 2005 and the Rays are looking to complete some unfinished business from 2008.

On getaway day, the Braves concluded their first post All-Star break homestand with an 8-0 shutout of the San Diego Padres at Turner Field. With Tim Hudson leading the way on the mound, and Alex Gonzalez's four-hit day leading an offense that had six different players drive in runs—this was the epitome of a Braves quality win.

Atlanta currently owns a 7.0 game lead in the NL East, with an NL-best 56-39 record, as both Philadelphia and New York look up at the Braves with identical 49-46 records.

In the 2009-2010 season, Tommy Hanson looked to be the ace that Braves fans had desperately hoped he would be. With an 11-4 record and a miniscule 2.89 ERA, the flamethrowing young pitcher gave hope to the fan base that so desperately wanted another young stud in their rotation.

His sophomore season, as a result of the high standards that were created by his first year, has to be viewed as somewhat of a disappointment thus far. At least on the outside it must be.

Let’s dig a little bit deeper.

Hello, class. If you remember, last week we talked about the basics of Sabermetric principles and how they look at stats differently than most people and value lesser used stats over more traditionally viewed numbers like ERA and batting average.

The recent rash of perfect games and no hitters has many people scratching their heads. Some are calling it the “Year of the Pitcher,” while others think it’s due to the eradication of steroids in the sport.

When Braves phenom Tommy Hanson struggled in his last outing, the Braves hoped it was a fluke.  Lasting just 3.2 innings against a middle-of-the-road White Sox team, the Braves figured to see Hanson bouncing back against the Tigers.  They didn't get their wish.

Hanson, who again lasted just three and two thirds innings and gave up six runs (five of them earned), was chased from his second straight start.  I think Hanson will be thrilled to see interleague play end.

All indicators seem to be pointing toward Chipper Jones retiring at the end of the 2010 season, barring some sort of miracle turnaround at the plate.

I'm hoping that he'll right the ship and somehow manage to salvage the season, but I just don't see it happening. Though, this is one case where I hope I'm wrong.

Earlier this week, I asked a question on my twitter account: “Is there a better young pitcher/hitter combination in baseball than Tommy Hanson and Jason Heyward?”

Jordan from OriolesProspects.com, and @oriolesprospects on twitter, responded with Matt Wieters and Brian Matusz. The question and answer sparked both of our interests, so we decided to construct an article in which Jordan would make the argument for his Orioles, and I would make the argument for the Braves.

We both made our arguments a bit differently.

That was rough, wasn't it?

Count the layers of the L-sandwich: W-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-W.

After a stretch of futility of nonagonal proportions (bad geometry joke), the Atlanta Braves scratched out a win (and their first save in 20 games) Friday night in Atlanta as Billy Wagner induced a double-play to Houston clean-up hitter Carlos Lee.

Timely offense, superb pitching, and mostly clean fielding (we'll forgive J-Hey's boot in right field) netted the 'Bravos' what had so eluded them for over a week.