Series 1: at Washington

March 31, 2011
Tim Hudson vs. Jordan Zimmerman

This was a battle of which bullpen wanted to fail in the most fantastic fashion. Huddy was Godlike for five innings before opening the sixth with a pair of walks. Both runners would score, tying up the game in which his offense unleashed their secret weapon to scrape two runs across. Heyward's sacrifice fly made it 1-0 in the fourth and Prado brought Freeman home with one of his own (that followed a sacrifice bunt so...that's cool) to make it 2-0.

After Huddy struggled to get through the sixth, McCann brought home Prado to make it 3-2, but sadly, the bullpen was in. Peter Moylan walked Danny Espinosa and gave up a two-run shot to Roger Bertandearnie to make it 4-3. An inning later, on an 0-2 pitch to Adam LaRoche, Jonny Venters gave up an RBI double. Down 5-3, most mortals give up. And we probably did. But the Nats wanted to lose so badly. Doug Slaten, closer extraordinaire gave up back-to-back singles to Prado and McLouth. After Chipper tried to once again give the game to the Nats with a double play, Slaten gave up an RBI single to McCann. Uggla hit a flyball to end it...but the center fielder dropped it. With runners on second-and-third, Jason Fucking Heyward singled in both runners.

Craig Kimbrel worked a 1-2-3 ninth with two K's to show that relievers can throw good innings. Hudson picked up 8 strikeouts and Prado, McLouth, and McCann all had two hits with McCann, Prado, and Freeman picking up doubles.

6-5 WIN (1-0)
W - T. Hudson (1-0)
L - D. Slaten (0-1)
SV - C. Kimbrel (1/1)

April 2, 2011
Tommy Hanson vs. Livan Hernandez

George Sherrill blows and the offense's last hit was a Brian McCann single to open the sixth. Livan Hernandez and Doug Slaten were Cy Young and Rollie Fingers from there on. Braves took the early lead behind a Martin Prado single, advancing on a hit-and-run groundout, and scoring on a McCann single. In the fourth, Jesus Flores homered off Tommy Hanson. That was it until the tenth when Sherrill gave up back-to-back doubles to the awesome duo of Jerry Hairston Jr. and Adam LaRoche, each sure-fire Hall of Famers.

Oh, and on Hanson's 79th pitch, in which he gave up a base hit, he left with an undisclosed injury and his diagnosis is pending an MRI. He had tied Huddy's season-high mark of 8 K's before he left. The pen, before Sherrill, was great.

McCann, Prado, and Freddie Freeman had all the hits, two a piece. Sad.

2-1 LOSS - 10 ING (1-1)
W - D. Slaten (1-1)
L - G. Sherrill (0-1)

April 3, 2011
Jair Jurrjens vs. Chad Gaudin

Martin Prado picked up Jonny Venters with an RBI double and Craig Kimbrel gave up two hits, but faced the minimum as the Braves take the rubber game of their opening series with the Nats, 4-2. Up 2-1 in the eighth, Venters gave up a single to Jayson Werth and allowed a deep double to Jesus Flores. The latter was thrown out trying to advance on the throw, but the damage was done. However, in the ninth, Freddie Freeman singled with one out. Matt Young, who entered on a double switch that brought Venters in, bunted Freeman to second and he scored easily on Prado's double. Nate McLouth followed a wild pitch with an RBI single to provide the two-run difference.

In his first start, Jair Jurrjens was solid. He allowed four hits, including Adam LaRoche's first homer as a National. He walked three and struck out five and went an Atlanta-best seven innings before giving way to Venters.

McLouth finished with three hits and is off to a .455 start. McCann added his first, and the team's first, homer. That made it 2-1 in the sixth. McCann had driven in McLouth with a double in the first. Alex Gonzalez and Dan Uggla remain hitless. Eric Hinske got his first start and had a double. Chipper Jones will get Sundays off as a normal thing and today was the first Sunday for him.

Kimbrel gave up a base hit, got a 3-6 double play with Gonzalez slapping the tag down, and gave up another single, but Roger Bernadina was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double by Jason Heyward. Despite giving up two hits, he threw a three-pitch ninth and secured his second save.

4-2 WIN (2-1)
W - Jonny Venters (2-0)
L - Drew Storen (0-1)
SV - Craig Kimbrel (2)