Derek Lowe

2010 was a moderate success for the Atlanta Braves. However, with retirement, free agency and trades, there's always the question of who will or will not be back playing for Atlanta in 2011.

We'll take a look at free agents, potential retirees and trade bait.

We expect that core players like Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson, Brian McCann, Jason Heyward and Chipper Jones will be back because there's no logical reason why they wouldn't be.

Hello everyone, and welcome to this game four live blog of the Giants vs. Braves. The first two games have been one-run thrillers and tonight could very well be the same. Should the Braves lose this will be Braves manager Bobby Cox's last game!

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Three of this year's division series seem all but over. 

The Yankees, Phillies, and Rangers lead their best of five division series by two games to none.  Only a late inning rally by the Atlanta Braves prevented all four baseball series from being two games to none affairs and feeling all but over.

Baseball has been playing five game series since 1969.  In that year baseball added four new teams and expanded each league to two divisions. 

The 2010 MLB Playoffs are only just underway—each NLDS series is only one game old—and we've got both drama and storylines. Rarely has the first six games of a baseball playoff season been so eventful.

As we head into this weekend's games, here's a look at the storylines that have begun to develop. Some teams are doing the opposite of what we expected, while Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees are doing exactly what we expected.

Let's have a look.

On the surface, it sounds like a silly question: Does Derek Lowe or Tim Lincecum have the edge in Game 1 of the NLDS Series between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants?

On one hand, you have the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner in Lincecum, and on the other, is the Braves “15 million dollar mistake” in Lowe. Yet when you look deeper, Lowe might be better suited to pitch in this game than you would think. 

I was watching ESPN's "30 for 30" on the 2004 Boston Red Sox miracle comeback against the New York Yankees in the ALCS earlier tonight, and I realized something about our San Francisco Giants and their overpaid, but ironically worthless pitcher Barry Zito.

To say that Atlanta Braves fans have been disappointed in him over his first two years would be somewhat of an understatement.

As far as I can remember, the only time we had been completely satisfied with his performance was after his first start with the Braves, when he shut out the Philadelphia Phillies for eight innings on Opening Night last season.

What happened to Derek Lowe?

In the offseason of 2009, the Atlanta Braves signed Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million dollar contract. Lowe was one of the most accomplished pitchers in baseball. He was the man who broke the curse of the Bambino, he threw the first no-no in Fenway since 1965, and in his four previous years, his ERA never climbed above four.

Since 2005, the only National League pitcher to win more games than Lowe is Roy Oswalt.

That was the old Derek Lowe.

On getaway day, the Braves concluded their first post All-Star break homestand with an 8-0 shutout of the San Diego Padres at Turner Field. With Tim Hudson leading the way on the mound, and Alex Gonzalez's four-hit day leading an offense that had six different players drive in runs—this was the epitome of a Braves quality win.

Atlanta currently owns a 7.0 game lead in the NL East, with an NL-best 56-39 record, as both Philadelphia and New York look up at the Braves with identical 49-46 records.

Following the 2008 season, Braves GM Frank Wren made it clear that he was looking to acquire at least two starting pitchers to bolster the rotation and lead the Braves back into the playoffs.

While Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami eventually made their way to Atlanta, the Braves wanted an ace, and targeted a couple big name pitchers.