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Happy Memorial Day, folks: and thoughts to those serving in our armed forces, at home and abroad. Hate the war, love the warriors is pretty much my sentiments there. Today, we see our ace, no longer burdened by the longest winning streak since Randy Johnson was a pre-schooler. We know pretty much what to expect from Webb: a quality start, at the very least, with his trademark sinker now complemented by an equally-vicious changeup, which can make opposing hitters look very, very silly.
I have this overwhelming desire to call the opposing starter Jar-Jar Jurrjens; what is it with the Braves' rotation and the letter J? As well as Jair Jurrjens, there's also Jo-Jo Reyes and John Smoltz. Must be similar to the way we used to be stockpiling Brandons: not so much these days, of course. Facing him is an almost completely-unknown prospect for our hitters. He made seven starts last season, and has ten more under his belt in 2008. What he seems to be doing particularly well this year is keeping the ball in the yard, with only one homer in 60.1 innings to date. Is this a statistical aberration (c.f. Brandon Lyon), which is due to be corrected any day now? And hopefully today.
I also note that he made the leap straight from Double-A to the majors, which is kinda like Johnny Cueto [who had all of four AAA games]. I think this will be another game where our hitters could struggle, but with Webb on the mound, I always tend to feel even a couple of runs gives us a good shot.