According to Buster Olney of ESPN the Braves who already have a decent pitching staff are looking to improve their staff by adding more depth.

The Braves already have made moves to augment their rotation, calling up super prospect Tommy Hanson to make his major league debut on Sunday, after summoning Kris Medlenlast month. But Atlanta might not be done adding pitching.

Atlanta is one of the teams in conversation with the Boston Red Sox about veteran right-hander Brad Penny, according to sources, at a time when the Red Sox have been doing their own research on Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur.

As the Braves do their background work on Penny, this is part of what they have ascertained: The 31-year-old right-hander started horribly for the Red Sox, but he has pitched better in recent starts, allowing three earned runs or fewer in five of his past six starts

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It is a rather simple question, in what series does Ortiz hit his first homerun of the year?

I know I sure hope it is sooner rather than later. We may still be winning when Ortiz is struggling but we are a much better team when he is hitter. He improves the rest of our lineup because the pitchers are afraid to pitch to him. It would really improve the offense tenfold if he is hitting.

He is playing like a totally different man these playoffs. Making dumb plays, taking dumb shots, getting in foul trouble, pouting and missing clutch free throws?

He never did any of this last year and he just seems like a different player then the one we have been watching for 11 years here in Boston. He just hasn't looked the same ever since the end of the season. He isn't scoring as much and just hasn't performed the way he usually does.

So, I never want to hear about injuries but I have to speculate that Pierce has some kind of injury that none of us know about because I haven't seen him play like this in a long time.