Behind another excellent start by Reynaldo Lopez and three runs scored and three stolen bases by Ronald Acuña, Jr., the Braves defeated the Mets 6-5. We’re now 7-3 on the season.

The best news in the game was the terrific outing by Lopez. He went six shutout innings, striking out six and yielding only three hits. He did walk three, so he was in occasional trouble and needed 94 pitches to get through those six innings, but you can’t complain about the results so far.  In two starts, he’s gone 12 innings, yielding just one run and striking out 12.  His ERA is a cool 0.75 and he leads the team in bWAR with 0.7.  Both his starts have come on Tuesdays (my recap day), so I’ve watched his games pretty closely.  My conclusion: he’s pretty good!

The Braves’ half of the first was a joy to watch. Ronald was hit by a pitch (no big drama here—it didn’t seem to be intentional).  The TV guys immediately noted that the Mets were 0-18 for the season in preventing stolen bases. Sure enough, Acuña promptly took off for second on the first pitch to Ozzie. The catcher’s throw sailed wildly into center field and Ronald scampered to third. Albies drove one high off the left center field wall, just missing a dinger by inches. The inning ended with just the one run scoring, as Riley struck out and Olson scorched a liner, 110 off the bat, but right at the second baseman who doubled off Ozzie.

In the bottom of the third, the Braves had six straight hits to begin the inning, but only plated three runs in the inning. I imagine if he has time and inclination, JonathanF could tell us how rare it is to manage to score only three runs when the first six batters reach on hits; I’d guess very rare.  This is how the Braves accomplished that feat: the hits were each singles; the first five yielded three runs; the sixth hit loaded the bases; then Arcia grounded into a force out at the plate, and TDA rapped into 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

But at that point it’s 4-0 after three innings, and Lopez is cruising. The Braves added another run in the 4th: RAJ walked, stole second and third (!), and scored on a Riley single.  The Braves made it 6-0 in the 6th, but once again wasted the opportunity to score more.  The first three batters in the inning singled, but they only managed one run.

I’ll admit I had that nagging feeling you get when our guys leave too many runners on, but I reminded myself this bullpen has been terrific—nothing to worry about.  I should have known; this is baseball, there’s always something to worry about.  Sure enough, in the 8th, Matzek allowed singles to the first two batters, and then with two outs grooved one to Alonso, who crushed it to cut the lead in half. It got more hairy. Ozzie made a throwing error to extend the inning, and Jimenez, who replaced Matzek, gave up a hit.  So McNeil comes to the plate as the tying run, but he only managed a routine flyout to right. Whew!

So in the 9th, it’s now a save opportunity for Iglesias. Single, double, groundout—and all of a sudden it’s 6-5. With two outs Lindor singles, bringing Alonso to the plate as the potential go ahead run. Give Raisel credit for keeping his nerve. After falling behind 2-0, he threw four straight change-ups, resulting in a strikeout to end the game.  Never in doubt!

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We’re ten games into the season.  Here are my reactions to what we’ve seen so far:

— Given the injury to Strider and the poor start by Fried, the additions of Lopez and Sale look pretty brilliant.

–I’m not really worried about Fried (yet).  He righted the ship pretty well in his last start after the horrific first inning. Given his mental toughness and intelligence, and his arsenal of four plus pitches to turn to, he’ll figure it out and be the Varsity Fried we all know and love.

–This offense, historically great last year, may turn out to be just as good as last year’s (hard to imagine they could be better).  Michael Harris II continues to improve, and the left field platoon of Kelenic/Duvall will be better than last year’s.

–The bullpen had a couple of rocky outings the last two nights, but they are going to be fine. In fact, it’s the strongest and deepest collection of arms I remember in a Braves pen.

–Given Strider’s injury, the rotation won‘t be as strong as it could have been, but the offense and bullpen continue to remind me of the Big Red Machine of the 1970’s. Their rotation was nothing special, but they dominated with offense and shut down relievers.

–What more can we say about the brilliance of Anthopoulos? Sale, Lopez, Kelenic.  Bringing back Duvall and Chavez. He’s not perfect, but I learned a while back it’s best to put our trust in AA. He (and his team of scouts, analysts, coaches, etc.) see things that we randos on the internet can’t perceive.

Ok, I’ll admit, none of these are brilliant insights, but you get what you pay for in this space.  Here’s what I do know for sure.  It’s a long season, with over 150 games to go.  Any projections, indeed any initial impressions, aren’t worth much.  But this team is a delight to watch, and I still like our chances better than any other team’s.