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!