| Douglas Benton. 26th July, 2005 - 3:20 pm
 During the last two postseasons, the Atlanta Braves have been stopped in their tracks by aces who took control of the series. Two years ago, it was Kerry Wood and Mark Prior for the Cubs, and last year it was Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt for the Astros. This off-season, the Braves? brain trust decided they were tired of getting beat by their own strategy and made two major moves to ensure that is never happened again. Those two moves were moving one of the game?s best closers in John Smoltz back to the rotation and trading away three good young players for ace Tim Hudson.
So far this season, Smoltz has been the unquestioned leader of a staff that has been ravished by injuries and underperformance. Presently, Smoltz is 11-5 with a 2.64 ERA, while racking up innings that have him on pace to pitch 237 this season. Hudson on the other hand has been a little mystifying this season, part of which is due to an injury that cost him a month of the season. When he was on the hill, he always seemed to be a little off, giving up four or more runs in six of his 16 starts this season and serving up eight home runs, matching his total from a year ago.
While Smoltz has exceeded his expectations and Hudson has just missed his, it is time to start a clean slate. The reason being is the Braves start a three game series today against the Nationals, who they are currently tied with for the division lead. Smoltz is scheduled to go today with Hudson penciled in for Wednesday. With so much at stake in the next three days, I believe it also provides the first proving ground for the two aces. The Braves failed to move past the first round because good pitching always beats good hitting. Throw in a short series, and a team?s good pitching turns great.
Now is the time for the Braves to turn the table and get back to winning the way they did in the early 90?s. No game is a must win unless it can knock you out of the playoffs, but I think this is an exception. Smoltz and Hudson were brought here to win games like these. To win the games when a division can be won or lost and when the season can end or be extended. 48 hours is all it will take to see if the Braves can make a run at a second World Series crown or be another flameout come postseason time.
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