You’d have to go back nine years — when Mark Redman got battered for nine hits and five runs on an unseasonably frigid April night — to find a more uninspiring Braves home debut than Gordon Beckham. Not only did he fail to make contact at the plate, striking out twice, but he committed a crucial error with an Uggla-esque lob that missed Freddie’s glove by a good 10 feet.
Hawk Harrelson knows our pain.
There was some good news. Julio pitched well and Daniel Winkler and Arodys looked dynamite. On top of that, Fredi actually did something innovative, using Vizcaino, the team’s best reliever, in the 8th to face the heart of the Nats’ order: Rendon, Harper and Zimmerman.