Lowe on the mound gives Braves high hopes
By Bud L. Ellis
budmansbravesbeat.com
ATLANTA — I’ve seen some pretty good pitching in my day.
I’m a Braves fan, after all, and throughout the 1990s and the first part of this decade, we were treated to some of the greatest pitching of this — or any other — generation.
Night after night after night, the Braves sent the likes of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz to the bump. Most nights, those three future Hall of Famers dominated in a way that we’ll wax poetic about for years to come.
Those days, as anybody who watched this team last season can attest, are over. Instead of nightly oohing and aahing, I spent most of last season writing on http://braves.today.com about yet another rotten pitching performance, another member of the starting rotation landing on the disabled list, another loss that eventually piled up to equal 90.
But Derek Lowe took us back to the heyday of Braves’ pitching dominance Sunday night, authoring a command performance on opening night. Beyond the numbers — and believe me, eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball with no walks, against a great offensive team in a hitter’s yard — it’s the way Lowe went about his business that struck me as ultra-impressive.
Folks everywhere moaned and groaned about the Braves’ lack of a pure ace. Perhaps it’s because for the first two months of the offseason, Atlanta seemed destined to land Jake Peavy, whose performance and persona personify ace in every sense of the word.
Lowe? Nowhere near the sexy, seductive pick like Peavy.
But who would you rather have out there at the top of the rotation every fifth day? Granted, Peavy is younger and throws harder. But Lowe knows how to pitch, folks, and the way he threw that heavy sinker on Sunday, it shows you that being smart and staying in control can go a long way toward success when you’re on the hill.
Lowe’s never been on the DL, annually generates double-digit wins and 200 innings, and showed Sunday night the cool calm at the helm that has helped him win six postseason games and post a career playoff ERA of 3.35.
More importantly, Lowe showed Sunday night that he can be the guy who helps lead this team back from last season’s unmitigated train wreck and back into contention. No, he won’t throw a two-hit shutout every time out. But more often than not, he’s going to give his team a chance to win. He’s going to pitch deep into games. He’s going to use that sinker, and his poise, to head off trouble at the pass.
After last season, that in and of itself is enough to make you feel good if you’re a Braves fan.
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