The Young Guns, as the Braves pitchers were known, were struggling.

Mercker (1-1) struck out eight and walked two in the longest outing by a Braves pitcher this season.

Once upon a time, a Braves pitcher, Pascual Perez, could see the old baseball stadium from I-75, but couldn't get there.

After his 15th and final strikeout - the most for a Braves pitcher since the team relocated in 1966 - the fans rose to cheer.

Cox summed up the disappointing first week by saying that the Braves pitchers have had location trouble.

The Braves pitchers had a host of achievements: *They allowed only five runs in four games, two of which went into extra innings.

All of last season, against all Braves pitchers, the opposition scored in double figures five times.

But they also have to admit that the Braves pitchers didn't start the woes for their offense, but merely added to them.

The only Braves pitcher with more victories is Warren Spahn.

Before Glavine, the only other Braves pitcher to win the award had been Warren Spahn in 1957.