Jason Heyward

The Atlanta Braves (16-9) have all but wrapped up the first month of the 2013 season.

Highs include a 10-game winning streak and a sweep of the National League East preseason favorite, Washington Nationals. The low point came over the weekend as the Detroit Tigers swept the Braves.The tough series with the Tigers knocked a few players' grades down a letter.

Braves right fielder Jason Heyward underwent appendectomy surgery on Monday night, and as a result the Braves will need to find a short-term replacement in their lineup.

They were taken in the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft. Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman consider themselves best friends on and off the field. They are expected to do big things again for the Atlanta Braves in 2013.

Jason Heyward came to the big leagues in 2010 with a great deal of hype surrounding him. Many people were expecting greatness from a kid who had not even turned 21 years old at the start of his first major league season. When he had a historically great rookie campaign for his age, the hype just continued even though there were some concern about his injury history.

The Atlanta Braves completed a sweep of the defending champion San Francisco Giants today behind a solid outing from rookie Brandon Beachy. Craig Kimbel closed out the three-game series in which Braves starters have only allowed five runs.

The sweep was particularly sweet for the Braves who fell to the Giants in the 2010 NLDS. In that series, every game came down to one run. But the Braves eventually shot themselves in the foot, committing seven errors.

What's wrong with Jason Heyward?  He hasn't reached base in his last four games.  Wednesday night against the Dodgers he struck out three times.  However, the short answer is that nothing's wrong.

We all knew coming into this season that the Braves' pitching was going to be solid. But we also felt like that the offense was going to improve. With this combination, the Braves were thought to be one of the best teams in the NL. Well, at the moment, only one of those beliefs has come true.

A few weeks tardy, but here are my thoughts and analysis on the season that lies ahead. Thus far in the young season, there have been some big surprises. The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals are a combined 23-11, while the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets trail their respective divisions. Okay, the Mets' early woes aren't much of a shock.

The Braves enter their mid-week series with division rival Florida Marlins 4-6, a record that most in the baseball world would call a mild fiasco for a team that garnered such praise out of March.

What an interesting opening series this has been!

The first game of the series was well played by both sides. The pitching was phenomenal and the defense was solid. 

However, some fans, including myself, were slightly uncomfortable with the offensive performance by the Braves. The lineup had only five hits and two runs, both of which are below expectations. Thankfully, Derek Lowe and the bullpen were there to bail the offense out and shut out the Nats.