Braves Have Optimism for This Season

The Braves walked away from spring training with something they haven't had for awhile -- lots of optimism about the upcoming season.

At 3:57 Saturday afternoon, the Atlanta Braves' spring training officially ended with 8-4 loss to tigers at Turner Field. Wins and losses don't count against the record in exhibition season.

Derek Lowe loves it that his new team has enough confidence in him to give him the ball on Sunday. Lowe admits there is something about opening day that makes even the most seasoned veteran get weak in the knees.

"You're going to have every emotion -- good and bad -- going through your body, which is OK to speak about. You're going to be nervous no matter where start in the rotation," said Lowe.

The Braves went 21-12 in the exhibition season giving the team a really good feeling about what about what the rest of season may bring.

"It's different than it was last year. The energy in the clubhouse is really good right now. Obviously, with the new farmers we have this year, who can't be excited about that?," said Braves pitcher Mike Gonzalez.

The Braves will catch a break Sunday night. Phillies ace pitcher Cole Hamels will not be starting. The World Series MVP experienced tightness in elbow throughout spring training. So as a precaution, Phillies shuffled the rotation and Brett Myers will pitch instead.

"They're still the world series champs," said Braves third baseman Chipper Jones.

Jones said even though it's just the first game of the season, it's never too soon to get a leg up on a division opponent.

"We're going to have to beat Philadelphia Phillies a number of times this year in order to stay competitive in this division. We're going to have to beat them more than we did last year," said Jones.