Opinion

Article first found at Boston Sox Journalism .

Here we sit in the first week of 2010, and the Atlanta Braves still, seemingly, have a hole to fill in the outfield.

With a starting group currently composed of Cabrera-McLouth-Diaz (the Braves will probably end up taking the Hanson route with Heyward), you can kind of see why.

With that in mind, though, you have to think that the Braves aren't going to be looking to break the bank (sorry, no Matt Holliday ) since they could go to war with that group and be okay.

After spending his first seven seasons in the league across the bay with the Oakland Athletics, Barry Zito hit the jack pot with a seven-year $126 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.

When Zito signed what was then the richest contract of any starting pitcher in MLB history back in 2006, Giants fans were expecting to receive pitching worthy of top money. Unfortunately, they have yet to witness any long term consistency from Zito over the first three years.

Derek Norris, the Washington Nationals come-from-nowhere prospect, followed up an impressive rookie-league season in 2008 with a breakout year for the Hagerstown Suns and has won the “MiLBY” Award for being the best hitter in all of Class-A baseball.

Joseph Abstein was a Boston fan until his team moved to Milwaukee in 1953.

Joe still roots for the Braves, but he has a perspective on championships that most modern fans may never understand.

Lew Burdette Beat the Yankees

After the Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, I lost a little interest in the team, but only because it was so difficult to follow their daily fortunes.

As with the rest of the articles in this series, I started out intending to list the Top 10 games of the last decade; but then realized I would have to leave too many great games off the list if I limited it to just 10 games. So, as a result, I hereby present you with my Top 20 Sox games of the last 10 years.

This is Part II of the list, it contains Games 1-10:

Games No. 10, No. 9, No. 8, and No. 7 (Tie): No Problems in the 21st Century
Apr. 4, 2001; Apr. 27, 2002; Sept. 1, 2007; and May 19, 2008

When one thinks of the Giants' top prospects, he or she typically thinks of the promise of Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Thomas Neal, or perhaps the horrific downfall of Angel Villalona.

But the team's sixth-round pick in 2008, left-handed pitcher Eric Surkamp, deserves to be discussed as well.

Surkamp is a tall lefty out of NC State, standing 6'5". He was 21 years old during the 2009 season.

Surkamp isn't the hardest thrower out there, but he isn't Jamie Moyer either. His fastball ranges from 86-91 mph, and he has excellent command of the pitch.

While my bio claims that I know about 2000 players currently in affiliated baseball (and I stand by that claim), my knowledge begins to fracture as you get lower and lower in the minors.

I have a decent sense of almost everyone in Triple-A and a good amount of Double-A, but particularly when you get to Low-A and short-season leagues, all I know are top prospects, high draft picks, and A's players.

However, one player in the short-season Appalachian League caught my eye recently: Elizabethton Twins catcher Josmil Pinto.

Among the things that struck me with the arrival of 2010 last night (hmm...I start grad school in four days...) was a new found excitement for the opening of Target Field.

As a lifelong Twins fan, I spent many a night twisted half around in my seat to face home plate instead of somewhere between second base and the centerfielder, phenomenal seats for the Vikings game the next day, but not so great for a pitchers' duel.

In my excitement, I went looking for some press on the new stadium, and there's a lot of excitement around baseball about this new park.