The Atlanta Braves bullpen has been dominant all season long. It contains arguably the best three young arms in all of baseball in Eric O'Flaherty, Jonny Venters, and Craig Kimbrel. However, they have been exposed and have had so many appearances that it has to be a concern to Braves Country. As of this morning, the Braves' three armed monster rank in the top 5 in all of MLB in appearances. Venters has 82, Kimbrel has 77, and O'Flaherty has 75. For the fans out there that don't know that is a lot, Mariano Rivera (the all-time saves leader and soon to be Hall-of-Famer) has never had more that 74 and Trevor Hoffman (another soon to be Hall-of-Fame pitcher) has never had more than 70.
Here are some quick statistics. In Kimbrel's first 96 appearances in the majors, he allowed one home run. Now he's allowed two homers in his last two games, both devastating. In Venters' last 11.1 innings, dating back to Aug. 26, he has allowed 12 hits, nine walks and seven runs. O'Flaherty hasn't allowed any runs in 10.2 innings this month.
With only 8 games left in the regular season and a 2.5 game lead in the NL Wild Card race, the Braves do not have time to worry about this right now. With the surging St Louis Cardinal right behind them, the Braves just want to make it to the playoffs. The Braves are definately in the better position right now because all they have to do is take care of business and win. If they can do that, then that will put all the pressure on the Cardinals.
The Braves next game is tonight in Miami against the Florida Marlins at 7:10 pm ET. The Braves' Randall Delgado will be up against the Marlins' Jonathan Sanchez. The Braves lost a heartbreaker in game 1 of the series last night to a score of 6-5. Let's Go Braves!!!
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