Hampy was supposed to be a front of the rotation mauler for the Braves in 2003. But, after five long, frustratingly injured seasons, the once again viable Mike Hampton will pitch in Atlanta for the the Astros. He will kick off the series against the Bravos facing Sinker-baller Derek Lowe and a Braves team that beat our Bros 3 out of 6 last year (2 of 3 in ATL) and have a current record of 10 wins and 11 losses.
Hampy does have some experience pitching against the Braves. If you remember back to the days of yore, when the Killer Bees were flailing away at the Big 3 of Maddox, Glavine and Smoltz, he compiled a 4-9 career mark with a ho-hum 4.22 ERA. While my fathers Astros were no match for them then, we have at least a fighting chance against this Braves staff which will feature Lowe (2-1 2.15), Jair Jurrjens (2-2 1.72), and JoJo Reyes (0-1 4.26).
Atlanta fans will surely bust Hampy's balls tonight as they remind him of the large chunk of $60M he stole over the last three years with the team. While the fans will surely boo their tomahawking hearts out, the dudes in the Braves dugout will not be so surly. Mgr. Bobby Cox and RF Jeff Francoeur both had kind words about him yesterday as a teammate, but are ready to "put it on him". I don't know what "It" is, but I don't want them putting anything on my Bro tonight.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
