The Armstrong Files

This was after that one out he managed to salvage in the first inning...

For an inning by inning recap of opening day......

Ummm, .....as a Number one starter for a franchise looking for their 13th consecutive division championship I must admit that Russ Ortiz makes one helluva 2nd string softball guy....

2nd inning

Ortiz continues to impress......a fastball that insn't fast, a curve ball that doesn't curve, and a sinker that stays above the letters....he is all over it!!! I have a good feeling about 2004'. If our offense can score 1,200 or more runs this season I have all the confidence in the world....

3rd inning

Ortiz continues his mastery of the opposition and makes it just slightly harder to hit the ball than if it was placed on a tee as evidenced by Mike Piazza's homerun...it only went 430 feet!!! Ortiz, however, is missing a few pitches but luckily, when he misses it's only from the letters up....Braves new catcher Johnny Estrada finally went to the mound to offer words of encouragement and told Ortiz "Don't worry, when they hit it, it's only going to the warning track."...which made a huge difference....One other note of interest, Ortiz is cutting down on his base on balls total as everything he throws is being hit!!! Ortiz also shows the competition a thing or two about his mettle by refusing to give in to the hitters with the bases loaded.....and proves this by walking in a run! You go boy!!!

Unfortunately Bobby Cox lift's our starting pitcher before he makes it out of the 3rd inning. Now, we must wait until the next Ortiz start for him to have the opportunity to get his ERA below the respectable level of 9.0.

4th inning

Cruz strikes out Piazza...and without the benefit of a tee...No Bout Adout it!!! The Braves show their pitching depth by only allowing one run in the 4th inning. You keep on throwing that shit boy!!!

5th inning

Tom Glavine's performance is artificially inflated by a mediocre 5 run lead....no gamesmanship there!!! (btw, why is Maddux the only one with enough hair to throw 2 changeups in a row??...just a thought.). So far we have proved our American prowess to our Japanese counterparts and have held MLB newcomer Matsui to a 2 for 2 average, 1 double, a homerun, and a walk, ...oops, shit, he got another double...OK, now he is 3 for 3 with 2 doubles, a homer, and a walk....I'll bet he wishes he was back in the friendly confines of his native Japan....what a sucker!!!

6th inning

O.K., the Bravo's send in Nitkowski to pitch and ....nobody dies.....it's a one, two, three inning???? Hell, I must be watching the wrong channel!!!

7th inning

Bobby Cox, in his infinite wisdom, calls for Alfonseca to come in and pitch.....these damn umpires..., doesn't "in the area" count anymore??? There are no cheap hit's off of this pitcher, ...ALL are hit solidly!! ...Somehow I feel that the umpires are getting cheap on me,... yes..., I understand that they should expand the strike zone in a little league game but let's keep it under the chin....k, ...C'ept of course when we are pitching...

8th inning

Now we see the real Bobby Cox in action, ...evaluating who can handle the pressure of taking the mound and allowing the opposition no more than a 5 run lead. "What the hell is this white round ball?? What am I supossed to do with it?" Our Brave Brave's are attempting to keep us right in the thick of a 7 to 2 ballgame...you go boys!!!

9th inning

The Braves failed to let the opposition score....shit, will try harder next time!

Bottom of the 9th...

The Braves offense held tough and absolutely refused to let the Mets allow them to score even a single run in the 9th inning.!!! ...I absolutely cannot wait for the other 161 games to be played....I am absolutely pumped!! Go Braves!!!