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Sports

Gwinnett Braves Open Season Thursday

Veteran pitcher Lopez to face Durham at Coolray Field.

With all the expectations going to 19-year old phenom Julio Teheran, Gwinnett Braves manager Dave Brundage has tabbed veteran right-hander Rodrigo Lopez as the starting pitcher for the season opener Thursday night. Teheran will pitch on Friday night.

Pitching coach Marty Reed feels this staff will be very good this year. Reed is in his first year with the G-Braves and third with the Braves organization. The rest of the rotation will be Todd Redmond, Jacob Thompson and Yohan Flande.

Reed worked with Teheran the last half of last season at Mississippi in AA and felt he was ready to make the jump to AAA. "He is a tremendous prospect, way beyond his years as far as maturity," said Reed. "He's ready to pitch at this level. I expect he'll throw well here. The way he handled himself in double-A and the way he handled himself in major league camp, there is no reason he couldn't stop here."

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Reed continued to praise Teheran. "When he is on top of his game he can pitch in the big leagues right now," Reed said. Reed also noted that he and Atlanta pitching coach Roger McDowell are very close, which makes it easy for transitioning pitchers back and forth to Atlanta.

"Roger and I have known each other a long time. He was with the Dodgers as a pitching coach when I was with the Dodgers as a pitching coach," Reed said. "Our relationship goes back 10-12 years and we've always got along extremely well so I see it being a real smooth transition."

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Lopez, on the other hand, was battling Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor for the fifth spot in the rotation with the Atlanta Braves, but Beachy won that spot, and Minor was called up to replace an injured Jair Jurrjens to make an emergency start.

So Lopez, who has pitched for Arizona, Colorado and other major-league teams, will be the opening day starter when the . "It's hard not to keep a guy who has pitched nine years in the big leagues out of the first spot in the rotation," Reed said. "He threw extremely well in the major league camp. It was a tough decision between him, Minor and Beachy for the fifth spot and Minor is up there making an emergency start so we're glad that Rodrigo is with us. It was a situation where all three of them deserved it (to be with the Atlanta Braves), but there is not enough spots. It's a pitching-rich tradition here. You're always a better pitching coach when you have good arms to work with."

Another prospect that Reed is high on is Stephen Marek, who the Braves got in the trade that sent Mark Texiera to the Anaheim Angels. "He's thrown the ball pretty well this spring," Reed said. "It's more of a numbers thing. In a lot of other organizations he'd probably be in the big leagues right now. If he continues to pitch the way he is he will get his opportunity."

Teheran is very excited to be moved up from double-A to Gwinnett. "I've always worked hard to get to this point," he said through a translator. "It's not so much the pressure but it's motivation for me to excel. Now that I know that everybody is watching me I am motivated to do my very best." Teheran also is happy that Reed has moved up to Gwinnett as well. "He's always been like a mentor to me," Teheran said. "I am very happy that we're both here."

Lopez also is motivated to get back to the big leagues. Although he has a positive attitude about being in the minors, he knows that it is a stopping point to get back to the big club.

"I think I threw well during spring training," Lopez said. "I think it's an honor to start the first game. I'll do my best to get a win for my team and do my best to get back to the big leagues. The first game is kind of special but I guess I'll take it like it's a regular game. I'll do my best like I do all the time and try to get a win. I'm just going to try to keep myself in shape, work on getting my pitches down and try to get better and better every time."

Lopez does have a positive attitude about the entire situation. "This is definitely not where I want to be after being in the big leagues you want to stay there" Lopez said. "But there is up and downs in baseball and what's keeping me in the game is being positive."

Brundage knows that his team is loaded with good pitchers but also praised the hitters like Jordan Shafer, Ed Lucas, Shawn Bowman, and Shawn McGill. "I look so forward to when the games start," Brundage said. "When the games start is probably the fun time for me because of all the preparation that leads up to that. The coaching, the tutoring, the mentoring, whatever it may be. When the games start, you want to make sure your team is prepared, and I think that is a reflection on myself and the rest of our staff."

Brundage says in minor league baseball you don't have goals like you would with the major league team. "I think first and foremost is to develop the young players," he said. "And develop all of our players whether they are old young or anything in between. I believe everytime we walk through that door there is something we can learn and that goes for myself as well. I challenge the players to learn something every day. Those aren't just words. They are something that I believe in."

Former Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox will throw out the first pitch at Thursday's game, which starts at 7:05 p.m

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