"If someone said in April the Braves would lose both closer Billy Wagner and backup closer Takashi Saito to injuries, I think most of us would've thought that meant serious problems come the ninth inning of a close, crucial game.

But that's because we could never have expected Craig Kimbrel to be this good. Or Jonny Venters, for that matter.

Bit the kids have been more than alright, and I'm here to say that the Braves, if they've lost Wagner for the rest of the division series (surely they have, even if it's not official yet), and if Saito's not ready to pitch in consecutive games, or pitch at all, are still going to be OK at closer.

Kimbrel's been that good.

For me, he passed the last test, erased the last concern, when he struck out four batters while pitching perfect eighth and ninth innings of Friday's Game 2 division-series win at San Francisco, before charged-up crowd that was the largest to ever attend a game at AT