"Nobody had to see the two scoreless innings Derek Lowe threw Monday to know that he returns to the mound with the same confidence he had last September.

It was what he didn't do in a 13-3 win over the Astros in his first outing of spring training that gave it away.

Lowe didn't throw a single breaking ball to the Astros, the pitch he says made the biggest difference in his turnaround late last season, when he went 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA in September.

On the suggestion of his trainer, Lowe decided to table his breaking ball for the first two weeks of camp, to help his stamina in the long run as he approaches his 37th birthday in June. But now he knows the breaking pitch will still be there.

"You feel like as long as you didn't make any changes, you should be able to pick up where you left off," Lowe said. "That in and of itself gives you confidence because you know you just did it four months ago."

Lowe said he threw some breaking pitches as he started to build up his arm strength in the offseason but when he arrived at Braves camp, he stopped, knowing he'd be throwing live batting practice every other day."