Two back - Braves poised for second half push

Having taken four out of seven from the top two teams out West - arguably the top two pitching staffs in the National League this year, the Braves find themselves just two games back at the break and ready to strike.

The Braves offense is starting to role and with 20 of the next 23 games against a sub .500 teams before visiting Shea on August 7th, Atlanta look poised to re-establish themselves as the team to beat in the NL East. Over the same period, New York must play series against San Diego, LA (4 games), Milwaukee and Chicago - all above .500 this season, and with there lead cut to two, the Mets know they'll need to step up their game in order to hold off the Braves over the next month.

It's got the make up for a fantastic next month - lets hope it doesn't dissapoint like the Penny-Hudson matchup!

Andruw AWOL? Not anymore!

After spending half a month battling with the Mendoza line, and ten days below it, July is now here, so is the real #25, and the Mendoza line is a distance memory (well, hopefully).

Andruw may be just hitting .259 in July so far, but it's 116 points higher than June! That's not all - his power stroke is looking like it has returned too. With 4 home runs in his last 43 at-bats, and triple last night - yes a triple - taking a pitch THE OTHER WAY to drive in two runs, Jones is starting to deliver - I've been waiting to say that for two months!

Over the last five games Andruw is hitting .268 (5 points above his career average) and a .344 OBP (2 points above) with 2 HRs and 7 - yes 7 - RBIs. This coming on the back of June, where Jones has a whopping 10 RBIs the whole month and .211 OBP. It could just be a blip on the radar of what has been a horrific year for Jones with the bat, or it could be a sign of things to come in the second half. The Atlanta faithful are all hoping that it's the latter - a much needed boost to what 'should be' a potent lineup.

In 2004, Chipper found himself batting .214 at the all star game. Come October, he had 30 HRs, 96 RBIs, raised his batting average 34 points to .248 and finished the second half with .278/18/62. Andruw currently stands at .204. If he, like Chipper, can turn it around over the next three months, then the Braves may well find themselves still in the hunt come September, or better still, as in 2004 - on top of the NL East.

Can Andruw produce in the second half? Well, over the past two years, he's got some huge numbers, smashing a total of 45 home runs and driving in 115 RBIs - 21 HRs and 54 RBIs [2006]/25 HRs and 61 RBIs [2005]. Also, being a potential FA this offseason, even Boras will have a hard time trying to put Jones in the same league as A-Rod - even with 10 golden gloves (9 so far). He needs to start hitting and what better time to turn it around than the All-Star break!

Rain could help Braves Wild Card chances

Yesterdays postponed game due to the terrible weather in Philadelphia, could be another thing that could turn out to help the Braves make a late push for the Wild Card.

If the game gets re-scheduled for September. 25th, the only date that both teams have off before the end of the season, it could help Atlanta's rotation get on track in the lead up to October.
The Braves, now, hopefully, won't have to start both Oscar Villarreal and Lance Cormier against the Phillies this series, and with Davies and Hudson pitching this weekend, they could move further up the Wild Card standings.
Davies, after pitching tonight, will likely join the rotation either on 3 days rest in New York, or on 9 days rest against the Cubs in Atlanta. Once he is fixed into the rotation behind Tim Hudson, Chuck James and John Smoltz, Atlanta could once again possess a dominant starting rotation. Which is just what they need to make a push in the Wild Card race.

The possible re-scheduled game on September 25th could end up being pitched by John Smoltz rather than Cormier, and after that, with a week left to postseason, the rotation could incredibly line itself up for postseason (with Hudson in game one, and either Smoltz or James in game two) - just what Bobby Cox has tried to fix for the past few years.

Could this be just the break that Atlanta needs this September? Well, with only one day off from here until October, it could be still a struggle, but maybe just maybe for the Braves. The hope is still there, now it's time to deliver, especially this weekend in Philadelphia and in New York.

NL Batting Title 2006

It's been almost a year since Derek Lee, in his second year with the Chicago Cubs, made the leap from being a productive power bat in the middle of a lineup to become one of the most feared hitters in the National league beating Albert Pujols to the 2005 NL batting title, and coming third in the MVP voting behind only Pujols and Andruw Jones.

In that year, we've seen a lot of changes at the top. Firstly, Lee has been hurt most of the season, missing almost a hundred games with a wrist injury, then Pujols missed 15 games in June (although you wouldn't notice by the rest of his numbers), which will probably cost him his second straight MVP award come October. Then of course, there's the emergence of lefty slugger Ryan Howard of the Phillies. After tearing it up in 2005, winning the ROY after hitting 22 home runs in only 88 games. He currently has a major league leading 49 home runs, and with David Ortiz not likely to be back this season, doesn't look likely to give up the lead there.
The most supprising change, however, is that this years NL batting title will likely not end up in the hands of an MVP candidate at all, but in the hands of gap hitter.

Throughout the year, seemingly out of nowhere, Freddy Sanchez has been tearing it up. He is at present hitting a league leading .344 with 44 doubles, but his six home runs stands a whopping forty short of last years winner Lee (46). If he wins the award, he will become the first Pirate to win the award in 23 years, when Bill Madlock won in a similar fashion (28 home runs less than Mike Schmidt (40) and 24 short of 1983's MVP Dale Murhpy (36)).
Sanchez, however, is no shoe in for the title. Marlins outstanding 23 year old third baseman Miguel Cabrera has been clipping at his heels for months now, and with the Marlins in the Wild Card race, could push his way past Sanchez, maybe even on the last day.
If you look at the league leaders board, then they are the only two really that can claim the title, but a year after taking Roger Clemens deep in post season, Brian McCann is stirring things up, hitting his way into contention, with a .340 batting average (.351 for the month of August). He doesn't qualify (as yet), for the batting title, needing an average of 3.60 plate appearances a game through to the end of the season to qualify, but that is definitely achievable for McCann especially hitting 5th in Atlanta's torrid offense as of late.

Whether Sanchez can hold off Cabrera and McCann remains to be seen, but if McCann, 22, can keep up his torrid pace on August, then he could, with 23 year old Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins, write their way into the history books as the first pair of catchers to win both batting titles in a single season. What an advert for catching that would make throughout baseball.

Braves answer critics

Being an Atlanta supporter this year, you've had to take the rough with the smooth, and the negative comments to boot, but today the Braves certainly showed some of their critics up.
After pounding the Nationals in the final two games of the last series, they made short work the Giants staff ace Jason Schmidt last night, scoring ten or more runs for the third straight game. Some people then voicing their opinions about the Braves living or dying this year with the long ball.
That was disproved tonight with a fully rounded performance by the Braves. They did all the little things right. Edgar Renteria almost beat out and hence was uncredited with a successful sac-bunt in the first inning, and Chipper Jones then picked up his 76th RBI of the season with a ground out to second. Renteria also seemingly having some bad luck tonight, was given out at second on a close but (on replay) possibly erratic call by the second base umpire. Ryan Langerhans then added an insurance run in the sixth with a successful (although poor attempt) at a sacrifice squeeze, which landed over the head of the charging pitcher, much to the amusement of some of the Braves players. Who's saying now that the Braves can't manufacture runs when they need to?

Also, in other news, Atlanta supporters, have been treated to, on countless days, lots of late inning herrorics. Most of which, sadly were for the other team. But this could all be about to change come September. And about time too.
Kyle Davies 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in his last three AAA starts will likely start against Philadelphia this weekend, which should move Oscar Villarreal back in to the bullpen giving the Braves at least one more able body there down the stretch. And as the roster expands, key contributors to the bullpen could be Will Startup and Joey Devine, both pitching impressively as of late.

Braves do the little things right in win over Giants

The Braves, behind future all-star Adam LaRoche, who went 4-4 with four extra base hits and three RBIs, defeated the Giants in what was an overall team effort in Atlanta.

After falling behind early, Atlanta never let the San Francisco get far ahead, tying the game up, in the bottom of the first on Chipper Jones' RBI ground out to second after Marcus Giles lead off with a double (taking third of a Renteria sac-bunt -although uncredited), and in fourth inning on LaRoche's second double of the game. The Braves, fuelled by James' strong outing, then took the lead in the sixth curtosy of LaRoche's triple scoring McCann and Francouer, and Langerhans added an insurance run delivering a misplaced, but successful, squeeze bunt single, which landed on the mound just out of reach of both outstretched pitcher Jack taschner (who had already charged on the play) and charging second baseman Ray Durham, who almost came up with it.
Chuck James looked impressive shutting down the Giants offense after the third inning, limiting them to two hits over the final four innings of his day, giving up just two runs (both coming on sacrifice flies) on six hits in seven innings (walking only two), to win his third straight decision giving him now five impressive starts in a row, and the Braves, a much needed reliable starting pitcher to accomplany Hudson and Smoltz in the rotation.
Chad Paronto then held the Giants scoreless in the top of the eight, but it wasn't nearly as convincing as the box score reads. Barry Bonds led off the inning with a base hit, and on a 2-2 count, next batter Ray Durham sent the pitch deep to straightaway centre field. Andruw Jones, however, vying for his ninth straight gold glove in centerfield, got a great jump on the ball, and in his own relaxed style, made a spectacular leaping grab over the wall to deny San Francisco from closing the gap to one run. The play will be definitely hitting a lot of highlight reels for not just tonight, but for years to come as Jones continues to show many people why he is being heralded as the best centerfielder in the game, and maybe of all time. Paronto settled down after the misplaced pitch to Durham, retiring the next two batters he faced to earn his seventh hold of the season.

Armando Benitez held the Braves scoreless in the bottom of the eight to set up the stage for the big man Bob Wickman, Atlanta's new shiny closer. Pitching with a three run lead, Wickman went right after the Giants hitters, but served up his first pitch of the evening to catcher Eliezer Alfonzo, which was placed over the right centerfield wall for a homerun, bringing the Giants back within two runs. He then retired the next two batters brining up veteran shortstop Omar Visquel, who after falling behind 0-2, singled on a line drive to left field bringing the tying run to the plate with Barry Bonds' spot on deck. Barry Bonds however, had already left the game an inning before via a pinch runner. Wickman then picked up the save as Shea Hillenbrand grounded out softly to Renteria to end the game. He is now 10 for 10 in saves as a Brave pitcher, with a 0.61 ERA over 14 1/3 innings.

Braves continue to pound Nats pitchers

A day after pounding the Nationals into oblivion with a 10-1 victory and win for John Smoltz, the Braves maintained their hot hitting recording sixteen hits, including nine extra base hits, crossing the plate thirteen times. Each starter (excluding the pitcher Oscar Villarreal) had at least one hit this afternoon with Marcus Giles continuing to spark the Atlanta offense going 3-5 and scoring twice, and 22 year old All-star catcher Brian McCann going 4-5 with a pair of doubles and a pair of runs taking his batting average up to .341 for the season, only four points behind Freddy Sanchez of Pittsburgh who leads the league in batting average. Of course, McCann still needs another 123 plate appearances in only 33 games (3.73 per game) to even qualify for the batting title, but he's quietly edging his way forward towards that target, whilst becoming a large part of this outstanding Atlanta offense.
Both Jones' homered today, and while Chipper remains hot, Andruw is finally showing signs of coming around from his 0-13 slump and a 12 game home run draught. First baseman Adam LaRoche is continuing to pound left handed hitters, with his third inning double off Nationals starter Billy Traber he is now hitting .276 against southpaws (including five doubles and five home runs in just 76 at-bats), proving he definitely deserves the extra playing time he is getting from Bobby Cox. Jeff Francoeur is also continuing his torrid sophomore season with three more RBIs this evening with his fourth inning home run off Saul Rivera (its a shame he couldn't come to the plate in the ninth inning of Friday's loss - he was stranded on deck at the end of the game with the braves down one run and two runners on base). He has now 24 HRs and 89 RBIs for the season. With Jeff, Adam and Andruw (who recorded his 30th home run this evening), the Braves have three legitimate contenders for 30HR-100RBI seasons. Chipper Jones is a long shot for a fourth with 21-72 so far.

Oscar Villarreal, the Braves starter, lasted only three innings in tonight's game, giving up four runs, but did just enough to keep the Atlanta in the game although he doesn't look promising to hold down the starting job for too much longer. With Kyle Davies throwing well in his rehab starts in AAA-Richmond (three hits over seven innings - 23/8) and will likely make just one more start down on the farm [CBS SportsLine], and Anthony Lerew looking for a long awaited call up to the rotation in September, Villarreal may find himself back in the bullpen sooner rather than later, but that could be just what the doctor ordered for Atlanta.
Tim Hudson and Chuck James are throwing consistently well, and John Smoltz is continuing to be dominant, couple that with the return of Davies and possible call up for Lerew in September, and the Braves rotation could be finally back at full strength for the series' against Philadelphia and New York at the start of the month.

The Braves however need to get off to a good start against the Giants on Tuesday, when Tim Hudson faces San Francisco's ace Jason Schmidt, and need to take at least two of the three game series to stay in contention for the wild card route to the playoffs, but with James and Smoltz following Hudson in the rotation, and the likelihood Atlanta will not have to face either of the two promising San Francisco young guns Matt Cain or Noah Lowry, this could be the break the Braves need to get on a role just at the right time.

NL Cy Young

Unlike the in the American League, where Johan Santana and Roy Halladay are dueling it out for the best pitcher in the league (with Justin Verlander slowing as of late and Jonathan Papelbon not getting many chances to close out games in Boston recently), the National League doesn't have a realistic front runner (or two).

Some people would argue that Carlos Zambrano is the front runner as he leads all NL pitchers with fourteen wins, 180 strikeouts combined with a moderate ERA of 3.31, the only downer being his 99 walks to go with the strikeouts. But you don't need to look far for a vast number of pitchers with similar stats over the season.

Unlike in 2003, when Eric Gagne won the Cy-young award (leading all , and this year in the AL, there are no jaw-dropping closers. Gagne finished with 55 saves from 55 opportunities in 2003, where as, this year, Trevor Hoffman leads the NL with 34 saves (with 33 games to go). This means that the likely winner of this prestigious award will be a starter, so lets see who's in contention.

We've already mentioned about Zambrano, but the NL Central also hosts contenders Aaron Harang, and Chris Carpenter (current Cy-young pitcher), with Bronson Arroyo and Chris Capuano closing in too. Then there's Brandon Webb of Arizona who's kept Arizona in the hunt throughout the season, and John Smoltz, who has lost just once in his past fourteen starts with twelve on the season, and ranks second in strikeouts in the national league, and unlike Zambrano has only walked 40 for the year so far. And then of course, don't count out Rookie Jason Johnson with his league leading 2.90 era. He may be slightly behind Zambrano in wins with eleven, but he's definitely worth a look-in for the award.

For now, Zambrano has the edge, but if any of these pitchers can continue to be dominant over their last 7 starts then they will likely move themselves to the front of the line in the Cy-young voting. With the Cubs way out of contention already, and Arizona, St. Louis and Cincinnati all in contention for post season, and Florida and Atlanta still with a glimmer of hope, Zambrano's hold on the top spot doesn't look too secure, but who's to know what the month of September has in store.

For the Braves however, Smoltz has once again proved to be the rock of stability needed to keep them in the playoff race, and now that Atlanta have addressed their bullpen needs, Smoltz seems to be set to make a push not just for the Cy-young award, but for a chance to extend his lead as the post season's all time winningest pitcher.

Reds take loss from Giants, gives Braves hope

With the Reds losing again to the Giants this evening the Braves are now only six games out of the wild card (yet again). If Villarreal can keep the Braves in the game tomorrow afternoon and the offense can produce like we know it can, then the Braves could jump right back into the thick of the Wild Card.

Maybe another quality start from John, coupled with a day off meaning that Smoltz, Hudson and James will all start against the Giants, is just what the Braves needed to start a winning streak to challenge for the wild card.

Braves, Smoltz, cruise to win

John Smoltz looked as good as ever this afternoon in Atlanta. Retiring the first thirteen batters he faces, Smoltz cruised through eight innings throwing only 95 pitches and giving up just one run coming on a sacrifice fly by Marlon Anderson in the seventh scoring Henry Mateo.

Unlike yesterday, after starting strong with another early bases loaded double, this time by Brian McCann in the first (missing a grand slam by two feet), the Braves continued to pound the ball all around the park picking up ten runs on eleven hits. Chipper Jones somewhat made up for his strikeout last night in the bottom of the ninth going 2-3 with two walks and a home run to straight away centre field in the bottom of the eighth, moving him past Chili Davis with 351 home runs for third place all time among switch hitters. Also, Andruw Jones, still not looking completely comfortable with a bat in his hands at the plate did draw three walks and scored twice in the game. All the hitters contributed tonight, including John Smoltz, and with Marcus back at second, the Braves seem to have got their catalyst back a the top of their lineup.

Bob Wickman came and struck out two in an impressive scoreless ninth to give John Smoltz his twelth win of the season, now only two off the NL's winningist pitcher Carlos Zambrano. With seven strikeouts today, John finds himself only four behind Zambrano for the National League lead in K's too. He certainly is keeping himself in contention for what would be his second Cy-Young season in the National League.

Overall the Braves looked again impressive behind Smoltz and Wickman and keep their playoff hopes alive with a much needed victory setting up the rubber game tomorrow afternoon where Villarreal looks to continue to throw up zeros across the board.

Lets hope the Giants, Mets (reluctantly) and the Rockies all turn up to play tonight so the Braves can gain some of the lost ground up in the Wild Card race.

Francouer being more patient at the plate??

I've started to notice a trend in a lot of Jeffs at-bats recently. Renown for his free swinging, especially on the first pitch, he seems to be taking a lot more pitches in games as of late.
Has anyone else noticed him take a lot of first pitches recently? If I am right, it seems to be beneficially resulting in a .333 OBP for Jeffy over the last 7 days. It's not great, but when you think about how bad his OBP has been the rest of the year, it seems encouraging at least!

Bullpen implodes, Braves rally but fall short

Two hours after I talked about the bullpen finally coming around, it not only blows a two run, but it does it in dramatic style giving up five runs over two innings.

Atlanta started well, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second inning, mainly curtorsy of Marcus Giles' bases clearing double with two outs, but struggled to increase their lead throughout the middle of the game, as the Braves were shut down from the third inning onwards recording just two hits through to the end of the eighth inning, since Renteria's RBI line drive in the bottom of second.

In the seventh inning, the big man Paronto gave up three runs without recording an out, but it was Tyler Yates that did the damage coming in with two men on and one out in the same inning. With a 1-1 count Austin Kearns took him deep hitting a three-run home run just inside the right field foul pole. Talk about crowd killing. Wayne Franklin then added misery to the Braves by giving up another run on Felipe Lopez's deep fly ball to Matt Diaz in left field.

Kevin Barry came in to pitch in the eight inning and looked impressive, holding the Nationals to one hit through one and a third innings. He stuck out Daryle Ward to end the top of the ninth after Alex Escobar looked to have dislocated his shoulder sliding back to first base on a fly ball out to Jeff Francouer. The Braves down to their last three outs.

Resting their closer Chad Cordero, the Nationals, brought in Saul Rivera instead to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a three run lead. Adam LaRoche struck out seemingly capping off a torturous night for Atlanta, but Matt Diaz didn't seem to read the script and was patient at the plate drawing a one out walk. Pinch hitting for Kevin Barry, Ryan Langerhans took a pitch deep to right field and into the stands bringing the Braves to within a run, pumping the crowd up. Marcus giles then walked, and Edgar Renteria singled to left field making the crowd go wild with the Jones brothers due up. Chipper Jones then struck out on three pitches and Andruw Jones with hot hitting McCann on deck, popped up on the third pitch of his at-bat and just like that, the ball game was over.

The Braves yet again struggled to capitalize on another late rally in a ball game failing to get that last RBI base knock to tie the game up. They now find themselves hoping that Cincinnati lose tonight to salvage any inkling of hope of making the playoffs, but it sure does look dim for Atlanta after tonights game.

Wild Card

The Atlanta Braves are currently seven games back and with only thirty six games left of the regular season, things don't look very optimistic, in fact they look very dismal.
People can talk all the want about the team not being good enough to compete with the Mets, but if we break down the team peace by peace, they look in good shape. A very different picture from their current record.

The rotation:Tim Hudson is beginning to throw like everyone knows he is capable, John Smoltz is, well, John Smoltz, and rookie southpaw Chuck James is beginning to look like a seasoned veteran on the mound, just ask Joe Maddon [Tampa Bay coach]! We're even getting some quality starts from the [win-] Vulture Oscar Villarreal. And with the starting rotation starting to go deeper in the game, the pressure on the bullpen should decrease soon.
The offense: Andruw Jones is continuing to be a huge bat in the lineup, Chipper Jones has come back with a bang (4HRs since his return from the DL, his last one gives him 350 HRs tied 3rd all time Switch hitters), Jeff Francouer is set for his first (of many) 30-100 season, Brian McCann, although a long shot for the batting average title, is Mr Clutch (batting around .500 for the season with 2-out RISP), Adam LaRoche has 13 HRs and a .325 average since the all star break and Edgar Renteria could be in line for the comeback player of the year. Put that all together and it looks very impressive, and a lot of fun to watch.
The Bullpen: has been slightly better of late especially the big guys Chad Paronta and Bob Wickman being consistent, and writing off Danys Baez's recent struggles to his appendix, they finally have seemed to have turned the corner on the year long torture known as the bullpen.

That all may be very encouraging if this were May, June or even July, but we're at the end of August and the fact still remains: the Braves are seven games out of the wild card with only thirty six games left, this seems a little too much, even for the Atlanta Braves. Don't write them off just yet, but if they come out of the three game series with Washington with anything less than a sweep, they can almost wave goodbye to their fourteen year playoff streak.