Here’s how the Braves emptied Citizens Bank Park as they blew out Phillies

Can you believe the Braves once trailed by two runs? That was a long time ago.

Here are five observations on the Braves’ opening-day win:

1. In the eighth inning, the Philadelphia crowd booed. But it did not boo the visitors.

No, these were for the home nine.

In front of a once-raucous crowd, the Braves dismantled the Phillies – and specifically, the Phillies’ bullpen. The Braves batted around and hung seven runs in the inning to stomp out the Phillies.

“Obviously, we knew coming into it what we were gonna get,” Michael Harris II said. “Didn’t really let it affect us. We just executed at the end and came through.”

In that inning, Olson, the birthday boy, doubled twice. The first led off the inning, and the second cleared the bases and gave his team a seven-run lead.

In between, Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. drove in runs. The Braves scored another on a wild pitch and one more on Austin Riley’s bases-loaded walk. The Phillies used two relievers in the frame.

Apparently, this was the key for the Braves’ offense: Zack Wheeler exiting the game.

The Braves had no trouble with Philadelphia’s bullpen after Wheeler started the game with six shutout innings.

The Braves in the two innings that followed: Nine runs on seven hits.

2. On Friday, Olson turned 30 years old.

“I was really hoping that I could say I started the season at 29, but the rain messed that up for me,” Olson joked. “I guess it’s my age-30 season.”

It began with a bang: He doubled on three consecutive plate appearances.

Nice start to 2024 after an MVP-caliber 2023, huh?

“He’s a guy that shows up to play every day,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s consistent in his work, his preparation. He maintains an even keel, good, bad or whatever. I think he’s just one of those guys that he lets the results speak for themselves.”

This marked the second three-double game of his career (he also did it in 2022 against the Cubs.) He also became the first big leaguer with three doubles on his birthday since Toronto’s Gregg Zaun, who turned 35 years old in 2006.

Another standout individual performance belonged to Harris, who collected three hits.

3. In the game’s early stages, Adam Duvall went back and forth between the dugout and the batting cage in the tunnel. He was trying to follow the rhythm of the game and, on a windy, sub-60-degree day, stay warm.

“I felt like I was getting my body ready to be able to go in and play a major league baseball game,” Duvall said.

On a TV in the tunnel, Duvall saw that lefty Matt Strahm was warming for the seventh inning. He tried to create a plan he could execute.

In the seventh inning, Snitker called on Duvall to pinch-hit for Jarred Kelenic and face Strahm. Duvall hit a two-run double that tied the score.

“That’s why we got him,” Snitker said.

4. In the seventh inning, Sean Murphy departed with left oblique tightness that he felt on a swing.

He’s headed to the injured list. He’ll receive imaging on Saturday….