Who's Hot, Who's Not- Philly/Atlanta Road Trip

Well that was an interesting 1st road trip. We almost swept the Phillies but instead the bullpen falls completely apart, and then it looked like the momentum from the first Atlanta series was carrying over but Santana had a rare poor start and the rain robbed Dickey of his knuckler. All in all a respectable 3 for 6 in the win column was earned and with the off day today the team will have a chance to come home, re-group, and hopefully come out firing against San Francisco.

Who's Caliente?

• David Wright- .455 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB
• Man. Everyone needs to start huddling around Wright in hopes of catching his flames. The guy continue to rake even with only 9 of his fingers!!! Forget about the fact that Wright is batting .500 on the year. The most important thing that stands out in my mind is his 1:1 K to BB ratio. He's Garmin GPS Locked In.

• Kirk Nieuwenheis- .450 AVG, 1 RBI, 2 2B's, 2 BB's, 1 SB
•  Say what you want about the kid, but he looks like he belongs here. He's holding his own in CF and he was a spark plug in that leadoff spot during that last Braves game going 3 for 4 with 2 doubles. The longer Torres is out, the longer you have to wonder what the team should if Captain Kirk continues to produce.

• Johnathan Niese- 1 W, 6.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 K, .231 OBA
•  #BlameBeltran. Looks like the new nose  is paying dividends. After another solid start for the young lefty, Niese is really looking like this could be his breakout year. He'll get two starts this homestand against the Giants and the Fish so lets see if he can lock up two more wins. BTW, Sandy Alderson is a freaking genius for locking him up.

Who's Frio?

• Ruben Tejeda- .190 AVG, 4 K's, 0 BB's
• Oh how quickly things can turn in one week. The once red-hot Tejeda went frigid during this road trip. While he maintained his league lead in doubles (6), Tejeda looked silly against the Phillies which carried over into the Braves series. TC smartly gave him Wednesday off so he'll have 2 days to re-group. NOTE: Michael Cuddyer is now the league leader in doubles (7).

• Justin Turner/Ronny Cedeno- 0 for 10, 4 K's
•  Hairston and Baxter are doing pretty good, but the other half of the bench, aka these guys, are off to a rough start. They are 0 for 10 to start the season and even though Cedeno is drawing BB's his error in game 3 against the Braves was ugly. It looks like TC is losing faith in Turner who didnt get an at bat in any of 3 games against the Braves.

• Ramon Ramirez- 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 12.00 ERA
•  Well that Pagan for Ramirez and Torres doesn't seem to be working out. While Pagan already has 5 Extra Base Hits (2 doubles, 3 triples), Torres continues to sit on the shelf and Ramirez is stinking it up in the bullpen. He now has a 7.11 ERA and a WHIP of 2.05 in the 5 games he's pitched so far.