It was reported last night that the Braves will be without the services of John Thomson for the next two to three months, which is horrible news. He suffered some freak accident that saw a partial tear of his flexor tendon in his middle finger. Nasty stuff.
Thomson was 3-2 with a 3.42 ERA and a nice ratio (WHIP) of 1.26. He will be sorely missed, as Thomson was the best fourth starter in the league. This isn’t speculation either. I did my homework, which is unusual because usually I’ll say any damn thing that pops into my head. For example, now. But the Marlins officially list that freak Dontrelle Willis as their fourth starter, which if true, he is obviously doing better than Thomson this season. But Leiter, officially listed as number two, has a 6.06 ERA with more walks than strikeouts. So in taking a pure view of a team’s top four starters, Thomson gets the prize. Can Davies step in and pitch like Thomson this season? Doubtful, and the way Horacio looked at San Diego, I’m not champing at the bit to give him more looks, although that is obviously what will happen.
We will need to rely heavily on our offense as we start interleague play down two starters and a bullpen in tatters. It doesn’t help that while the Marlins get the juggernauts in the Devil Rays, we get the defending world champions.
Brave-O-Matic 
Depend on our offense? Will Chipper and Giles get to bat twice in the line-up? Furcal is killing us. Mondesi and Jordan? Ughhhh. It looks very bad unless a couple cold bats get really hot.