The start of the new project is going smoothly.
It takes time for the system to start up.
pitcher's start; early-inning performance
Baseball term describing how well a pitcher performs in the early innings of a game, especially the first inning.
Today's starting pitcher was shaky in the early innings.
He held them down well in the first inning.
The new system started up quickly and we were able to use it right away.
That pitcher had a shaky first few innings today.
The project stumbled right at the start.
The starting pitcher got through a rough start to the game.
Uncommon variant; rarely used in modern writing.