Well, mixed in with Jason Heyward's great start and a few late-inning heroics by others, the overall start to the Braves season has hinted at more of the same rather than that extra push we need to get back into the playoffs this year. Yes, yes, yes, I know its early, but as Braves fans we have seen this sort of thing quite a bit in recent seasons:  the starting pitching has been adequate, if not still downright good, the bullpen has performed reasonably well, but we just dont score enough friggin runs to compete with the big boys aka the Phillies. So, while not panicking, I do believe we have the right to get that slightly uneasy "here we go again" feelings in our stomachs about the lack of offense.

In past years(or back when we were winning the division), we would often start out so-so until mid-May or early June, then all of a sudden find that extra gear, drink some Bobby Cox kool-aid, and go off on a two-month tear to put us over the top of everyone else in the division. And it wasn't just the Hall-of-Fame pitching from the 90s that did it: we managed to come together as a team and pull off some mid-summer magic earlier in the decade long after Maddux and Glavine were past their primes. Bobby Cox really DID do some amazing smoke-and-mirror jobs for us to continue winning the NL East for so many consecutive years.

I just worry that that much-needed second gear we need to kick it into may not materialize again this year, as it has been several seasons since it has. We got a whiff of it at the very very end of last season but it was a  bit too little, too late to make a difference. The question remains: Do we currently have enough offense to give the Phils a serious run for their money this year and/or win the wild card?  I sure hope so. I used to have a lot of faith and confidence in Bobby Cox's ability to squeeze wins out of a club; here's to hoping it can happen one more time for us.