All spring, the talk has been about how the Atlanta Braves want Bobby Cox's last season in the dugout to be a big one, hopefully leading to a World Series.
Monday's game against the Chicago Cubs showed they mean business.
The Braves smashed a few offensive Opening Day records en route to a 16-5 pummeling of the Cubbies, who some expect to contend for the NL Central, or at least the Wild Card.
Inside the numbers:
16 runs: the most ever scored by the Braves on Opening Day. Also, this was the first time the Braves have scored 16 in a game since Sept. 2, 2008.
Five RBI: Yunel Escobar became only the second Brave to ever get five RBI on Opening Day (Fred McGriff, 1995).
Two: Two players had at least four RBIs each—Escobar (five) and rookie Jason Heyward (four). This has never happened on Opening Day for Atlanta.
Eight: Eight different Braves players had at least one hit on Monday. This is only the sixth time since the Braves moved to Atlanta the Opening Day barrage has been that widespread, and the first time since nine different men reached on Opening Day 2006.
Admittedly, the news wasn't ALL good—Derek Lowe was merely adequate and without so much offensive help would have been in a lot of trouble, giving up five earned runs over six innings. Also, Melky Cabrera didn't exactly sparkle as the leadoff man, as he went 0-for-5 on the day, leaving five men on base.
In all, however, it was a bombastic start to the new season for the Braves, but there are 161 more games to play—plenty of time for Heyward to develop into the next Henry Aaron...or this year's Jordan Schafer.
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