Braves finally get word back on Sean Murphy injury, and it's good

The Atlanta Braves strung together an impressive win on Opening Day, rallying from 2-0 down to defeat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-3 thanks to Atlanta's potent offense taking advantage of a fairly weak Phillies bullpen.

The momentum that came from that huge win was immediately taken away thanks to an unfortunate injury to their catcher, Sean Murphy. Hitting in the top of the seventh inning, Murphy fouled off a pitch and immediately grabbed his left side. Phillies broadcaster John Kruk knew right away that it was an oblique injury.

Murphy was taken out of the game immediately with Travis d'Arnaud replacing him. The Braves placed him on the IL immediately after the game, and manager Brian Snitker said that he was going to be out for a while.

Snitker had said that before any official diagnosis was revealed. Now, we finally have word of a diagnosis, and it's best case scenario for Murphy and the Braves.

Sean Murphy won't miss as much time as initially anticipated

The way Snitker talked about the injury made it seem like Murphy was going to be out for a substantial amount of time. Turns out, it's just a a grade 1 left-oblique strain. There are no tears or anything. It could've been much worse.

With Murphy out, the Braves have d'Arnaud, a player who'd probably start on 60% of teams around the league, ready to fill in. A tremendous luxury.

Truth be told, Atlanta would be more than fine without Murphy even if he had to miss several months. Their offense is lethal even without the All-Star catcher, and d'Arnaud isn't much of a downgrade at all. However, losing an All-Star will always hurt.

While the Braves will be fine without him, it's still encouraging to see that Murphy won't be out for as long as many had anticipated. He'll be out several weeks as even minor oblique strains take time to heal, but a grade-one strain is nowhere near as bad as a higher grade or a tear.