As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Blog:

In Hud we trust
By David O'Brien Tuesday, May 2, 2006, 02:43 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, well, well, what have we here? Bruce Springsteen playing great folk music like a latter-day Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan touring with Merle Haggard, Kobe Bryant deciding that maybe his team is better without him taking 40 shots a game … and current Braves starting pitchers pitching like Braves starting pitchers of old.
OK, so Dylan touring with Hag isn’t so shocking, considering Bob and Johnny Cash also had a strong bond back in the day, and Hag may well be the Greatest Living Country Artist now that Cash is dead, and one of Bob’s few colleagues in the genius-songwriter category… but Kobe and Braves pitchers is seriously going against the recent grain.
(Stay with me folks, this is just a blog and I like to let this stuff out somewhere….)
If and when Jorge Sosa ever decides to join the party or Horacio Ramirez’s hamstring heals, the Braves might have the vaunted rotation many of us thought they’d have.
And who’d have thunk that 2-1/2 weeks ago, when the starters had a majors-worst 8.17 ERA and .352 opponents’ average after 11 games?
After Tim Hudson’s one-hit gem Monday against a hot-hitting Colorado team, Braves starters have a 2.27 ERA and four complete games in the last 14 games. They’ve whittled their starters ERA to 4.32, which is now sixth in the NL, and the team ERA to 4.37 (eighth in NL). (On a side note, a certain team in Baltimore has a 5.67 ERA that ranks ahead of only one AL team, Minnesota, or two teams if you consider Kansas City an actual AL team).
Now, if the Braves can get any consistent offensive production out of two supposed-to-be power positions, first base and right field, and something close to a .350 OBP out of their leadoff hitter, they might be able to reel in the Mets by the All-Star break. Or not. Adam LaRoche looks so lost at the plate right now, and Francoeur so inconsistent (will he get a walk by the break?) that the Braves may have no choice but to make a move to acquire a bat this summer, and perhaps sooner than that. (Reggie Sanders, Tony Clark, Jeff Conine — someone.)
But anyway, Hudson. Plenty of you are skeptics and not convinced he’s turned a corner. I was one of you, until last night. Now I’m convinced he’s figured out this mechanical flaw and corrected it, the one that Roger McDowell noticed watching side-by-side video and comparing Hudson’s form early this season to his great seasons in Oakland. He’s got him staying taller on the mound now, and the result is more of a downward plane, which gives his pitches more bite, more movement downward, making that sinker the devastating weapon it was when he was the winningest AL pitcher over a five-year run.
Since they made the adjustment, Hudson is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and .157 opponents’ average in three starts, with as many complete games in that span (two) as any other NL team has this season. He’s allowed 13 hits and four walks with 15 strikeouts in 25 innings in those three games, including a three-hitter at New York.
Folks, if that ain’t convincing, then we’re a hardened bunch. But I’ll understand if some want to hold out for a couple more starts, see if he can keep it up. Me, I’m sold.
But Sosa … well, let’s just say it’ll be good if Horacio Ramirez’s beloved Lakers can inspire him to a quicker recovery and get Ho back in the rotation soon. Because I’m not holding my breath waiting for the Sosa of 2005 to return.