The Atlanta Braves announced that for the third consecutive season, they’ll give the ball to Derek Lowe on Opening Day. The Braves will travel from sunny Florida up to Washington to take on the Nationals in one of this year’s untraditional March 31 kickoff games. Even at the ripe age of 37, Lowe still has enough gas left in his tank for a 15th season as a major league pitcher. At least that’s what the Braves organization is hoping for.

Lowe is 2-0 as the Opening Day starter for the Braves, first making the then-defending World Series Champion Phillies look silly, two-hitting them through eight innings in 2008, and then benefiting from a plethora of runs in a 16-5 romp over the Cubs last season. However, he had three Opening Day starts as a pitcher for the Dodgers from 2005-07 when he went 0-3. He’ll looks to even his record against the Nationals in two weeks.

In his first couple of years with the Braves, Lowe has recorded a 31-22 record, a 4.33 ERA, 388.1 innings, 247 strikeouts and 124 walks. However, he also gave up a career-high 232 hits in 2009. As the ace of the staff, he’ll be expected to turn back the clock a little this season and help the Braves clinch another division title – something they haven’t done in five-straight seasons. That doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you consider the fact they won 14 out of 15 from 1991 to 2005, with the strike-shortened 1994 season being the exception, winning isn’t just hoped for in Atlanta, it’s demanded.

Lowe wasn’t an unexpected decision to be anointed as the number one. Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens will follow in the rotation. All of them have said it doesn’t matter where they pitch. They all support each other and all have the same goal in mind: to win games. At this point, new manager Fredi Gonzalez has yet to pick a fifth starter, but with the off-day following the opening day, he may not need a fifth-man right away.