Atlanta Sports Weekend

I am going to try and keep it short and sweet this evening. My head hurts from all this learning stuff. My brain can only so much useful and useless information inside it at one time. The artist formerly known as "the stache," will be presenting his thoughts on this weekend Atlanta sports action and so on we go with that...

Atlanta Braves
Finished off the road trip in a somewhat positive note taking 2 out of 3 from the Cincinnati Reds. We finished the trip at 4-5 only 2 games back of the Florida Marlins who have lost 6 straight to bring them back to the pack. The Braves starting pitching continues to be real solid in the top few in the NL in ERA. Kawakami is proving to be a bit of a weak link so far this season. He gave up 8 runs in 4+ innings yesterday, and has been average in his other starts. Hopefully he can figure out this league a little more and make the necessary adjustments to be successful here in the States. The bullpen has been pitching well of late after getting off to a rough start to the season. The roles are starting to be determined and I think that shows in how they have pitched recently. The offense still needs some work and is inconsistent at best. Kelly Johnson is really struggling right now. Brian McCann and Garrett Anderson are on the DL, so there are some noticeable holes, but I think they can do better than what they have showed. David Ross, the backup catcher has been outstanding this year displaying power and defense that just were not there at the position last year. Tonight begins a series with the powerful St. Louis Cardinals who have had a torrid start to the season (13-6). So we will see if this last series means anything.

Atlanta Hawks
Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic performance in Game 3 on Saturday evening. The Heat crushed the Hawks 107-78. No heart and no passion from this team. Where is the defensive effort? Where is Joe Johnson? They need to shut down the Heat's other players, Jermaine O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, and company in order to win or just even be competitive tonight. Very puzzling from a team that has been clutch, and played tough when it matters to come up so small in big moments like these. They need to take this one tonight or they can forget advancing to this next round.

Atlanta Falcons
I liked what Thomas Dimitroff and the boys did this weekend in the Draft. Focused on defense with 7 out the 8 players being on that side of the ball. They heavily addressed the DLine with Peria Jerry, Lawrence Sidbury, and Vance Walker. Jerry should start from Day 1 alongside Jonathon Babineaux at DT. The team will be young on the defensive side of the ball but they will be faster than they were last year. They may struggle initially, but I feel like they will come together by seasons end and be a real force for this team. The offense has the potential to be top 5 next year if everything breaks right for them. The Offensive Lines ability to keep Matt Ryan off the ground will be key. Tony Gonzalez is a huge acquisition that could pay huge dividends for Ryan and be the threat in the read zone that we lacked last year.

Mb