"We're Going Streaking"

"We won yesterday. If we win today, that’s two-in-a-row. If we win tomorrow, that’s called a winning streak; it has happened before." - These are the words of manager Lou Brown from the movie Major League.

Ol Lou had it right. It has happened before and we are now officially on a winning streak.

Thanks to great starting pitching and solid bullpen work the Braves have now one four in a row which includes a 3 game sweep over Joe Torre's Dodgers.

Jair Jurrjens looked impressive again today after he shut down LA over 7 innings. The Renteria trade is looking to be quite fruitful for the Bravos as Jurrjens appears to be even better than advertised . . . at least a few starts into his Brave career. Also of note during this 4 game stretch is Chucky James' five inning - one run- performance from Saturday.

The Braves are back to .500 and looking to keep it going when they take on divisional foes Washington and New York later this week. Here's what's currently on my mind -

5 positive signs shown over the weekend

1. Kelly Johnson has started to walk as of late. After only walking once in his first 52 plate appearances KJ has now walked 6 times in the last 5 games. This can only help the team as KJ MUST increase his OBP if he is going to stay in the leadoff position. It also helps that KJ is starting to hit the ball as well. This offense is going to go as Kelly goes.

2. Jorge Campillo continues his brilliance - I don't know what it is about the guy but he just keeps getting outs. We all know this won't last all season but we should enjoy the ride for what it is and appreciate Campillo's work of late. Campillo has only given up one hit so far in his 7 innings this season.

3. Gregor Blanco is seeing regular at bats. Blanco has started the past 3 games in LF and looks like he might be able to provide the 2nd half of the platoon that is needed to compensate for some of Matt Diaz's inabilities.

4. Tex goes the other way. Twice this weekend with runners in scoring position big Tex kept his weight back and shot a ball over the SS's head when earlier in the season he was pulling off of that pitch on the outside corner. Also, for all of the complaining about Tex's slow start, this is the 2nd BEST April of his young career. Tex has his avg up to .250 and he has hit 4 HR's with 12 RBI to date.

5. Chipper Jones is blazing hot. Chipper is clipping along at .458 with 18 RBI's in the first 18 games. Larry Wayne left the game early today with a slight quad injury. Early reports don't appear to be too serious.

5 things that still have me worried

1. Bobby refuses to treat Yunel like a #2 hitter. If he is not going to use him to move over the runner in front of him then flip Yunel and Kelly in the lineup. At least Kelly is starting to increase his OBP.

2. Tom Glavine hits the DL for the first time in his career. If Tommy can't get healthy and stay healthy then this could be quite a long year for the rotation.

3. Matty Diaz is not the full time guy most had hoped he would be. But, with the emergence of Blanco maybe Matt can once again get into a situation which increases his likelihood of success at the plate. Diaz is hitting .258 on the year but could easily raise his avg another 80 points by returning to the platoon. I guess this could fall into the above category as well.

4. Soriano's injury - Soriano will not be activated off of the DL on Tuesday as the Braves had previously planned. He is still experiencing discomfort and will not be activated until he is pain free. Let's hope this is sooner rather than later.

5. Mark Kotsay's death stare - After attending the game Saturday at Turner Field I now have a fear of Mark Kotsay. Kotday's photo on the giant HD screen is quite disturbing and haunts my dreams.