Opening day started the same way the last 2 seasons have ended for Brave fans... with a crushing blow to the Ego to the team of the 90's. I do not see this first game as reason for concern but i am worried that Hudson is in for the same type of season he had last year where he can keep a team to 1 or 2 runs and still lose or get a no decision. Tim should be a 20 game winner easily each year and showed that after the first inning in which it was his error and a timely broken bat double that allowed the Nats to feel confident the rest of the game. It did look like the game was going to turn in the favor of the Braves when Lo Duca allowed a passed ball and the Braves tied it up in the bottom of the 9th. This hope was short lived though seeing as the next half inning with 2 out and no1 on Zim hit a walk-off home run to deflate the hopes of the Braves to ruin the opening on the new stadium. Instead it played out with a story book ending the new face of the franchise ( and the only player on the Nationals i like) hits the walk off and will forever be remembered.
I still like the Braves this year to win the East but it looks like the teams that once were considered jokes will no longer lay down for the teams ahead of them in prestige. This whole debacule would have been avoided had it been later in the year b/c with a healthy bullpen for the Braves you would have been looking at either Gonzalez or Soriano in that position and well with one of them on the mound i'd be bold enough to predict extra innings. If the Braves can keep up there in the standings until mid way through the season i see them competing without a problem.
Now that the true opening has come and gone i can only hope that the rest of the season will be as entertaining as the first day.
