The Braves' First Quarter: Even better than last year! (Technically.)

Indeed, Braves fans (and any other reader). This year's team is a full game better than the start they got off to last year. So certainly this means they should at least be able to force a deciding fifth game in the Division Series this year—once those Marlins cool off, of course.

While it's hard for me to read too much into how the season has started for some clubs (The Indians are 11 games over .500? Tampa Bay is leading the American League East?), the standings in the National League East look pretty much like what most people expected. There were some who felt the Braves could be surprise contenders for the division this year, and while Atlanta isn't out of the race by any means, the season so far has seen the team hovering around .500 most of the year.

However, the Braves began May by winning the first six games they played to start the month and there's plenty of reason to believe the Fredi Gonzalez era can begin can go into October.

RECORD FOR THE QUARTER: 22-19 (22-19 OVERALL) — The Braves have won six of the series they've played and dropped six as well. For what it's worth, they swept four from the Brewers and three from the Giants without ever being swept themselves. They took four of the six series they played on the road, but have surprisingly dropped four of the six they've had at home. That's reversal of their success and struggles last year when they boasted one of the best home records and were decidedly underwhelming on the road.

BEST WIN: April 24 (Braves 9, Giants 6) — It was a decidedly meaningful win for two reasons: First, it completed a three-game sweep of the defending World Champions in their own ballpark; secondly, it felt like a certain measure of revenge for the bitter taste that last postseason's series had left me with. But it's the Giants, and perhaps the hatred still rings true from the old-school NL West days (keep that in mind when we visit the Worst Loss in a moment ...). Keeping in mind that this series was the middle of a west coast swing for the Braves and things had gotten off to a discouraging start by dropping three of four in Los Angeles, all was forgiven when Atlanta capped off the sweep of a series in which their bullpen struck out 21 Giants and only walked two. The finale was the sort of gut-wrenching turns of back and forth that you look back on fondly when you're able to be comforted by the fact that you came out on the winning end. The exhilaration from Jason Heyward's three-run bomb that came with two outs in the seventh gave way to the Giants rallying to answer with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Dan Uggla's solo shot in the eighth (and his only hit of the series, unfortunately) tied things back up, and it was Nate McLouth who got the game-winning two-run single off Brian Wilson, of all people. The Braves went on to take two of three from San Diego and walk away from their road trip with a winning record, which sort of made up for ...

WORST LOSS: April 21 (Dodgers 5, Braves 3) — As though the sight of the numerous empty seats in Los Angeles aren't enough to irritate me, the Braves completed a genuinely painful series to watch by going through the aforementioned back and forth with momentum or whatever. This time isn't as fun to look back on because Atlanta lost. Both Jair Jurrjens and Clayton Kershaw had impressive starts, the Dodgers even trotting their starter out for the ninth and having a 2-1 lead. The Braves quickly earned two outs, but then loaded the bases for David Ross to single in two runs after falling behind 0-2 in the count. Casey Blake faced the same count before he tied the game with a single off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth, but it wasn't until the 12th when Matt Kemp followed up Andre Ethier's double with a walk-off homer to left field. The decision to bring Cristhian Martinez back out for the 12th—and to even pitch to Kemp with first base open—created some frustrated feelings for first-year Fredi's managerial decisions. Oh, and J-Hey ended up going 0-for-14 during the series. Ugh.

MVP: Brian McCann — There's been so much good about that pitching staff (Jurrjens winning four of his first five starts and having just a 1.50 ERA; Kimbrel having only allowed two measly runs in more than 21 innings of work), and you could make a case for other, more everyday players (Chipper Jones has bounced back from last year's season-ending injury to lead the team with 27 RBI, not to mention an OPS of .831; Martín Prado is inching closer to hitting .300 while still being able to play just about anywhere [although he's been terrible at swiping bases, having been caught four times in five attempts]). But in the end, Brian McCann is the only starter hitting .300. More importantly, he's hitting at the right times as with runners in scoring position, his average is .467. Better yet, RISP and two outs? Then his average climbs to .571. In addition to Chipper and Prado, Heap's the only other Brave with a WAR of one. Furthermore, designating McCann to this spot could only score points with my lady, who's rather fond of the team's catcher.

LVP: Dan Uggla — Count me among those who couldn't shake Uggla's series of unfortunate errors in one particular game a few years ago and making me a little bit panicky when considering how fielding issues had haunted the Braves in their postseason series with the Giants. I was led to believe that Uggla's bat would more than make up for the misleading reputation I'd created based upon one bad night, but now more than 40 games into this season, he's still struggling to keep his batting average above .200. What's more, Uggla is striking out nearly three times as much as he walks. Hopefully, he can get into a groove and start reforming toward his career averages. And for the record, he currently leads the team in errors with three.

THREE THINGS I'VE LIKED SO FAR:

1. WE'LL SEE YOUR ARMS, PHILLY — With so much attention on the starting four the Phillies entered this season with, there's tremendous comfort to be taken in not only the Braves' starting rotation, but the depth of their bullpen as well. And the team numbers place Atlanta near the top of the league in ERA (3.01, second to Oakland), walks issued (107, second to Philadelphia) and strikeouts (323, second to San Francisco). The team WHIP of 1.10 is the best in the majors.
2. A WINNING RECORD IS A WINNING RECORD — Better yet, winning records at home and on the road too. Can't complain too much about that.
3. BRINGIN' 'EM HOME WHEN THEY GET 'EM ON — The team's hitting .305 with RISP, second best average in the league.

THREE THINGS I HAVEN'T:

1. TO CATCH A THIEF — The Braves are dead last in stolen bases with a less-than-grand total of six. Jason Heyward leads the team with two.
2. SMALL NATIONAL MOMENT OF EMBARRASSMENT — The only upside to the regrettable incident would be the number the Daily Show did on Gloria Allred.
3. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE — Injuries are inevitable, I suppose. Julio Teherán and Cory Gearrin have helped cope with the loss of Peter Moylan, but there's questions about early bumps and bruises to J-Hey and Alex Gonzalez.

25 WORDS OR LESS:

If good pitching always beats good hitting, then the Braves could be in for a very good year.

[THIS PHOTO WAS USED FOR THAT QUARTERLY GRAPHIC]