Last night’s loss hurts….a lot.  Yes, being the doubter that I am at times, I had pretty much written off the game and the season heading into the 8th, down by 5.  Two runs in the 8th and two runs in the ninth and I found myself in that hopeful spot that, by now, I should know better than to do with the Braves.  Two outs, down by 1, bases loaded………I’m sure everyone knows the rest of the story by now.  So I’m just not going to make myself angry with it again.  I’ll leave it to braves.com to tell that story if you haven’t already heard it.

So let me just put this out there that, out of anyone on the team, I’m probably the most okay with the fact that this happened to MattyD.  Diaz consistently goes out on the field and puts everything he has into the game.  He never complains about playing in platoon situations; he just does his job and does it well.  Yes, he made a mistake.  He pretty much made the most decisively costly mistake at the most important time in the season, but, you know what, he has a lot more desire to win than most of the guys on the roster.

I’m not going to deny it.  When the game ended last night, I launched into a profanity-laden tirade around my house (maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t make it out to the game for once) that I’m just waiting to hear from at least one of my neighbors today about how they don’t think they should have their children living in the same neighborhood as me.  But it’s okay, Matty, I still appreciate your value to the team.  Rue and I sat down and discussed this over lunch today.  Had Kelly Johnson been the one ending our hopes for the playoffs last night, there’s a good chance that I would have made it to the stadium before he left for a little face-to-face discussion.

There’s still a slight chance, Braves fans, but either way, let’s try to enjoy our last series of the season.  Get out to the Ted and cheer on the Braves and get ready for a season of sending Bobby Cox off in style next year.  We’ll be here in the offseason helping recap the season and getting ready for 2010.

Down 4-1 in the 6th, the Braves’ chances were lifted with a 3-run Matt Diaz home run, but the high from this didn’t last long, as Kawakami allowed a run for the Marlins in the top of the 7th.  This would go on to be the difference-maker as the Braves fell to the Marlins 5-4.

At that point, eyes turned to the scoreboard to watch the Rockies vs. Brewers game.  There was a little hope when the Brewers scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to tie the game at 5, but the Rockies ended the game on a 2-run Chris Iannetta pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 11th.

So five games to go and the Braves are three games back in the Wild Card standings.  We have one more against the Marlins and finish up the season with four against the Nationals at the Ted.  There’s still a chance, we just need to put together some wins.  What do you think?  Is there still hope for the Braves this season?

However, the second half of this season has been exceptional for the Braves.  Since the All-Star break, the Braves have played .603 baseball (38-25); a good enough winning percentage to be leading any division in baseball right now, save the AL East.  Unfortunately, the games before the break (in which the Braves compiled a 43-45 record) count as well.  And while our current 81-70 record is nothing to be disappointed over, it’s just tough to once again miss the playoffs after playing such great baseball.  Either way, the team we have seen in the second half of the season is getting closer to the playoff-bound Braves teams of the past.

Since the All-Star break, the team hasn’t really let up.  I’ll even go as far back to the beginning of July:

So back to the beginning of July, the Braves are 45-30 and haven’t come close to having a losing month.  Equate that out over an entire season and the Braves would win 97 or 98 games.  The real question is however, can the Braves make that a reality in 2010?  Some things will have to change.  The bullpen will need to stop wasting leads.  The offense will need to come to life when our pitchers need the run support……..and we can’t get swept by the Reds when fighting for a playoff spot.  I think starting pitching is locked up decently for the first time in awhile however.

What else needs to change or stay the same for a playoff run in 2010?  Let’s go out and enjoy these last 11 games of the season.  Who knows, anything can happen.  Just ask the Mets.

He’s worn a cast on it for the last month in hopes that it will heal without surgery, but that’s a no-go. He can hit off a tee now without pain but once the ball has any momentum behind it he feels a fairly decent amount of pain. To that end, Schafer will undergo surgery on his left wrist and sit the rest of the season out.

I’m glad to hear there’s an issue, because frankly Schafer’s performance this year was somewhat disappointing and this at least explains why he may have struggled. Wrist issues are going to mean it’s difficult to drive the ball – resulting in little power after the initial injury. He’s going to get a new look next year in spring training to win a spot in the Braves’ outfield and that’s OK by me. We’re going to need a youth movement going forward to be competitive offensively and we could certainly use some young speed and good defense that comes with the Schafer package.

Best of luck to Jordan – heal up soon.

But Kenshin Kawakami is still a VERY good pitcher and deserves to be in ANY rotation in the majors. Why? Let’s take a look. He’s allowed 3 runs or less in 17 of his last 19 starts. He’s averaging 5.5 innings per game. At 3 runs or less, the Braves should be in it every night when he’s on the mound.

But he’s not getting much run support. While Kawakami is on the mound, the Braves only score 3.0 runs, on average. That’s compared to 6.2 for Tommy Hanson, 5.4 for Jurrjens, 5.0 for Lowe, and 4.9 for Vazquez. With a 2 run disparity, on average, every game this year, I’d argue it’s not Kenshin’s fault that he doesn’t have a, say, 9-5 record.

With a little more run support from the offense, look for Kawakami to put up a better record in the second half of the season. He’s a mighty fine pitcher to have in the rotation’s four hole. And before someone suggests it, I don’t want Hudson in the rotation instead of Kawakami. Hudson should pitch out of the ‘pen and give the Braves even more depth in an already ridiculously stacked pitching staff. We should be more proud of Kawakami.

Maybe we should even start a group – Kawakami’s… ok I can’t come up with anything that rhymes. A little help?

Smoltz signed with the Red Sox this spring hoping to make a comeback from shoulder surgery and the Braves got some serious flack for not matching his contract from a lot of people (including myself). In the end, it looks like Frank Wren went the right direction as Smoltz had a disappointing sting with the Sox, going 2-5 with an 8.32 ERA in 8 games started. There was some banter for the Braves to bring him back in the bullpen, but with the Braves anticipating the return of Tim Hudson from the DL, they passed on Smoltz.

Smoltz will join the Cardinals’ rotation – and I’m sure he hopes to not post an 8.32 ERA in additional outings. We’ll hope he can return and perform – and that he’s not just doing the Brett Favre “I will not retire” dance.

In other injury news, Martin Prado was taken to Piedmont Hospital yesterday after experiencing a sharp pain in his head while swinging in the batting cages.  He first felt this during Saturday’s game, which he left prior to the completion.  CT scan results were negative and it’s currently unknown on a timeframe for his return to the lineup.

These are two particularly big injuries for the Braves as McLouth and Prado are a large portion of what has spurred recent success for the team.  Is this something to be concerned about in the coming weeks or can the Braves fill in the gaps?

The Braves are back.

Do you remember the days when the Braves threw top-of-rotation starters at opponents just about every single night? Those days are back. Remember the days when Atlanta combined timely hitting and superior defense with that pitching to down opponents with regularity? Those days are back.

The Atlanta Braves now hold the best record of any team in the National League since the all-star break (17-9). Since the break, the Braves are 3rd in the league in runs scored, 2nd in homeruns, and 4th in team batting average. Atlanta also leads in the league in “second half” team ERA (3.03).

In fact, Atlanta holds the best record of any team in the NL since June 28th (26-14). That’s a .650 win percentage. To put that in perspective, a .650 clip over a 162 games would translate to 105 wins. That’s how well the Braves have played over the last 40 games. And we’re not talking about an insignificant sample size. As a friend pointed out to me Tuesday night as we sat at “The Ted” and watched the Braves bang around the Nats… 40 games is a full quarter of a season.

Yet, as of August 13th, the ESPN Power Rankings say there are 13 MLB teams better than Atlanta. Really? I’ll take that bet.

The Braves have substantially upgraded fully HALF of their lineup, and baseball’s top prospect, Jason Heyward, might make his big league debut in September. Also, to what is already the league’s best pitching staff, the Braves will soon add Tim Hudson, who is slated to return from his “Tommy John” rehab later this month.

So while the Baseball Tonight folks yap endlessly about the Yankees, Red Sox, and Pedro’s return to the mound, the Braves will look to continue taking care of business. Though, another series win against the Phillies this weekend would certainly make the Braves harder to ignore. And I’m confident that another series win is the only thing on the minds of these resurgent Atlanta Braves.

Braves fans, are you excited yet?

I understand his sentiment, but my opinion is based on more than giddy optimism or wishful thinking, though I couldn’t explain my reasoning very well under the constraints of 140 characters. To explain my position, let’s look at what this Atlanta lineup has done lately.

The offense scuffled a bit recently for about a week in Florida, and in Atlanta against the Dodgers, averaging 3 runs per game over that period. Against tough pitching, and without their RBI leader, Yunel Escobar, for most of that stretch, Braves bats responded poorly. But both before and after that quiet week, the Bravos have gone a long way to prove that their offensive woes are in the past. Over their last 4 games, Atlanta has touched up Padres and Dodgers pitching for a total of 28 runs.

And before that one-week offensive slump?

For the month of July, only two National League teams scored more than the Braves’ 139 runs: The Cubs (141), and the Phillies (153). Atlanta was also 2nd in team batting average (.284), and 3rd in homeruns (32). It’s also worth noting that both Chicago and Phili play in far more hitter-friendly ballparks than do the Atlanta Braves.

“OK, sure… they had a good month of July, and they’ve scored big in their past few games, but you’re forgetting about the first three months of the season.”

No, I haven’t forgotten. But if you’re going to reference Atlanta’s early season offense, you might as well be talking about last year’s team. This lineup has changed more from the one we saw through the first 2-3 months of the season than many teams change over a full winter of off-season adjustments. The mid-season extreme makeover of this Atlanta lineup is worthy of its own cable television show. They have replaced Jordan Schafer, Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, and Casey Kotchman… with Nate McClouth, Martin Prado, and Matt Diaz/Ryan Church, and Adam LaRoche. They have literally upgraded no less than HALF of the lineup, in-flight.

In short, this isn’t the same team we saw in April or May, or even in June. Not even close. Since the all-star Break, the Braves are 2nd in team average and homeruns, and 3rd in runs scored.

To put the ability of the present Braves offense in perspective… the following numbers are the current statistics of each member of Atlanta’s lineup, projected over 550 at-bats. The one exception is Adam LaRoche. Rather than project his season totals, I used his average post-all-star break performance as point of reference. I have also taken special considerations into account where Anderson and Diaz/Church are concerned, which are explained below.

These numbers aren’t ’09 season totals predictions. They are simply intended to put each player’s performance in perspective.

Every single hitter in this lineup, with the exception of Ryan Church, is a threat to go deep. But even more impressive… take another look at those batting averages, on-base percentages, and doubles/triples numbers.

What’s more, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann are clearly capable of better than what they’ve done so far in 2009. Also, it didn’t go without notice that Braves’ GM, Frank Wren, has spent the last few days observing the Mississippi Braves in person. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why. Jason Heyward, arguably the top prospect in all of baseball and current member of the Miss. Braves, may make his big league debut this month or next.

To what was one of the top three lineups in the NL in July, the Braves have added notorious second-half assassin, Adam LaRoche. And the lineup may become better still with the possible 2009 arrival of Heyward.

Don’t look now, but the Atlanta Braves are no longer offensively challenged. They may have dug too deep a hole to earn a postseason berth. We’ll just have to wait and see. But if the wheels don’t fall off other areas of strength this season (such as holding the lead in the 9th), the Braves could at least make things interesting before it’s all over.

What do you think? Do you like what you’re seeing from this offense?

*Garrett Anderson: After missing most of the spring and the first month of the season, May was an adjustment period for Anderson. His projected numbers are based on his performance since June 1. *Adam LaRoche: LaRoche’s numbers were based on his average post-all-star break performance. *Diaz/Church: The numbers for the Diaz Church platoon are based on Diaz’s performance vs. left-handed pitching, combined with Church’s performance vs. right-handed pitching.

That said, the Braves want power. They want a little more pop in their lineup and LaRoche gives them that. He has to work on keeping the strikeouts down (he’s whiffed 83 times already this year, compared to Kotchman’s 28). LaRoche does walk a bit more, too.

The bottom line is that the Braves think LaRoche is a better fit and jumped on the opportunity to bring him back home. When he was with us before, he struck out less. He now gets to play with his old buds and hopefully provide some punch to the back of our lineup, which isn’t looking shabby now. Here’s a guestimated lineup, assuming everyone is healthy:

McLouth, Prado/Johnson, Chipper, McCann, Anderson, Escobar, Church/Diaz, LaRoche. Having someone on pace to hit around 20 homeruns is not a bad person to have in the 8 hole – especially if the guys before him are on base enough to give him RBI opportunities. Sure, he’s only hitting .248, but I’m choosing to stay on the positive side of this trade. I’ll leave the negative to someone else.

Kudos to Wren and Cox for going out and making a move that they believe makes this team better. They’ve been right so many times in the past when it looks like a wash – why should now be any different?

Update: Yahoo’s Gordon Edes (and MLBTradeRumors) reports that the Braves have acquired Adam LaRoche from the Boston Red Sox. There are a few confirmations that this is at least in the works, very close, if not confirmed. Monitoring…

SI’s Jon Heyman reports that now that the Red Sox have acquired Victor Martinez from the Indians, they’re looking to move Adam LaRoche. The Braves are reported to be interested.

LaRoche is hitting .248 this season but that’s with 13 homers, 43 RBIs, and far too many strikeouts. He’d be a bit of power for the Braves (who wouldn’t be able to unload Kotchman onto the Sox) but isn’t quite a high average hitter. That said, he’s probably a better fit for the Braves than Nick Johnson, as I suggested this morning.

Glad to hear the Braves may be looking to upgrade their first base slot at the deadline. Now Braves: make a smart deal, upgrade us a bit, and don’t mortgage the future.

Personal note: I’m not sure that LaRoche is that much of an upgrade over Kotchman. Too many strikeouts and not high enough OBP. What are your thoughts? Good idea or no?

The Braves need to move. They need a bat. Standing pat will, mark my words, leave us at home and out of the playoffs. Pitching alone wins – but not enough for the Braves – as far back as we are and as upgraded as the contenders look to be – we need a bat to augment our pitching staff.

Here’s the deal: Braves trade for Nick Johnson. Offer Jo-Jo Reyes. Kris Medlen. Hell, give ‘em Casey Kotchman. Johnson plays for a few months, propels the Braves to the postseason, and splits in free agency (bound to happen). Braves play Barbaro Canizares and Martin Prado at 1B next season, give youth their chance to shine, and bring up Freddie Freeman either late next year or the 2011 season. That’s the plan to get to Freeman, who is one of the Braves’ top prospects.

But we want to win. We’re so close. We just need to win a LOT really FAST. And we need a bat to do it.

Nick Johnson is the man. Let’s rent a first base slugger for a few months. Let’s do it. I want to play postseason ball in Atlanta again. With a staff like this, we’re hard to beat in the postseason, but we have to get there first.

The Braves figure to stay where they’re at – maybe trade for a reliever to solidify the bullpen. And while that’s fine, and leaves them with a chance to win the Wild Card (they can pitch, and they do get Hudson back – who at the very least is a very bad-ass long reliever – which is why recent stories have the Braves backing away from trading for a reliever), but I really want to see us pull a 1993 – we need another bat. Where do we add someone? First base. Casey Kotchman is average. He’s good enough to play in the big leagues, but not good enough to wow anybody every night. Maybe, if Kelly Johnson is not going to suck, the answer is to play Martin Prado at first instead of Kotchman – Prado has been on fire – but what about some true pop? Why not go for it and make a trade designed to take on the Phillies? It doesn’t have to mortgage our whole future – we don’t need a modern day McGriff – we just need to upgrade. We don’t need a long-term fix – trade Kotchman away in exchange for another first baseman – with Freddie Freeman waiting in the wings in a year or two, we just need someone through the end of 2010. Maybe Prado’s that guy?

Note: I don’t mean to pick on Kotchman – I like the guy – but where else do we upgrade our offense? It’s been pretty awesome recently.

Hell, don’t trade anybody and give Barbaro Canizares a chance to bring the big bat to the majors. Let Kotchman sub defensively and give Canizares a chance to bring some of his pop to the lineup.

I want to see October baseball this year. Maybe this team does that. Maybe. But seriously, do something to take it over the top.

It’s been too long since we’ve seen October baseball in Atlanta.

Alright, Kent, your turn to write an article on how the Braves don’t need to make a move…

If all goes well with his next starts in Triple-A, we should fully expect to see Hudson heading back to Turner Field.  This leaves the question, however, who is the odd-man-out in the rotation?  Lowe, Jurrjens, Vazquez, Hanson, Kawakami and then Hudson would all be looking at starting pitcher spots.  Lowe, Jurrjens and Vazquez all are undeniably safe in their starting jobs.  As far as I see it, Kawakami would be the 6th man when the situation arises, barring a complete breakdown by Tommy Hanson.

It’s not a bad situation to have, with 6 capable starters on a squad.  Any injuries to a starter will be a much less scary prospect if we are carrying an extra starter as a long reliever.  It’s not an easy situation for a lot of starters when it comes to switching to the bullpen, but the front office is going to have to make a choice.  What do you think should happen?  My vote is for Kawakami to head to the bullpen if all stays as it is right now.

It had to happen sometime. It was still a great start, and the Braves ocassionally (or not so ocassionally) have a tendancy to provide no run support. What a start by Hanson, though. Not striking out as many batters as we initially thought, no, but he’s doing well for a rookie and showing the maturity that we expected from such a hyped prospect.

In other news, the Braves bounced back from a shutout on Saturday and scored 10 more runs yesterday. The bats are still going – good to see Kelly Johnson hit a homer – even if I still secretly wish Prado were getting the starts.

What do you think about the Braves’ chances of winning the wild card? What about the NL East? Will the Phillies land Halladay? Could the Nationals possibly suck any more than they already do?

If you’re one of the many fans or national sports media types who still aren’t taking the Braves seriously, there is something you need to know… You are mistaken.

You observe that the Braves have little more thunder in their lineup than they had through the first 3 months of the season, and you see no reason why they’re offensive woes won’t extend into the figurative “second half”. The trouble is… your premise is flawed.

You think the Braves have failed to score runs consistently for most of the year because they have lacked “impact power”. But the truth is that a lack of power was not the primary source of their offensive impotency in the first half. The REAL problem was having not one, not two, but THREE near-automatic outs in the lineup.

You can score plenty of runs without a single 30-homerun hitter. Just ask the ’98 Yankees. If you don’t have 2 or 3 huge bats in the middle of the order, that’s just fine, but you need to have a well balanced lineup full of quality hitters. The problem was… the Braves didn’t have either. There were three “Shaq”-sized holes in their lineup.

For the first 2-3 months of the season Jordan Schafer, Kelly Johnson, and Jeff Francoeur formed an axis-of-feeble. Like a black hole, they sucked the life out of this Atlanta offense. This underachieving trio killed rally after rally, and prevented many others from ever being sparked in the first place. It even managed to turn two of the league’s best starters, Jair Jurrjens and Javier Vazquez, into losing pitchers for a time.

While Atlanta now has more homerun power than many think, and will likely top their first half homerun total by a wide margin, the Braves don’t have multiple mashers in the middle of their lineup. That means that, to some extent, walks, singles, and doubles have to come together in combination in order to score sufficiently and reliably. But when you have THREE members of your lineup who are virtually guaranteed to pull the plug on any potentially productive inning… how can you ever score runs consistently?

You can’t. And they didn’t.

But the Braves plugged one of those holes when they replaced Schafer with all-star Center Fielder, Nate McLouth, in June. And now, in July, they have plugged the other two holes as well. Martin Prado ripped the starting second-base job out of Kelly Johnson’s hands with his recent all-star caliber play. Then, Frank Wren and Co. replaced the floundering Francoeur with the capable right-field platoon of Matt Diaz and Ryan Church (for whom the Braves dealt “Frenchy” to the Mets).

Atlanta’s offense isn’t likely to be among the game’s very best from now until the end of the season. However, I believe this Braves lineup will surprise the naysayers in the second half. Their detractors have failed to recognize the TRUE problem. Therefore, they have yet to notice that it has been fixed. But they will be forced to take note if the Braves continue to climb the ladder in key offensive categories. Atlanta recently jumped from 11th to 8th (out of 16 teams) in the National League in runs scored, and now has the 4th best team batting average in the NL. In my view, smart money says they’ll finish higher than 8th in runs scored by season’s end.

Every single position in the Braves batting order is likely to hit for a solid average, and is capable of delivering 15 homeruns or better. Three positions can deliver 25 or more homeruns. And six of the eight positions are manned by players capable of thumping 40 doubles in a season.

Frank Wren and Bobby Cox now have the lineup they envisioned at the start of spring. There are no 30 homerun bombers… but solid hitters with pop throughout the lineup, 1-8. And more often than not, that will be enough to win behind this Atlanta pitching.

The axis-of-feeble is gone, and better days are ahead.

We’re used to seeing the pitching we’ve seen over the last week, but we’re not so used to the bats waking up, getting clutch hits and putting us on top of the scoreboard. And how about Tommy Hanson? 3 earned runs over 7 innings pitched, but he punched out 11 batters! He’s getting his legs under him and our fifth starter is quickly becoming as dangerous as another #2 starter. There’s no real weak spot in the rotation either – Kawakami may be viewed as the weakest link, but he’s received, on average, over 1 run less run support than the team average.

We’re looking good – time to take more from the Giants and make some headway in the Wild Card race. Oh, and by the way, we’re in posession of a winning record, our shortstop was named NL Player of the Week (Yunel seemingly has made a conscious effort to eliminate the mental mistakes – and I think he’s a very valuable part of the team), and we’re in sole posession of second place in the NL East. Things are looking up.

The only question is: Who are you, and what have you done with the Braves?

Few seem to have noticed, but since June 18th, the Braves are 15-10. Good, but nothing you would call “impressive”, right? Yeah, ok… winning at a .600 clip for 25 games is not likely to be remembered someday as a great franchise accomplishment. The Braves have also won 10 of their last 15 (for a .666 win%), though it’s easy to dismiss success in such a small sample size. But if you’re looking for some indication of what this team is capable of in the second half… take a closer look at the most recent month or so of Braves baseball.

These last 25 games have included series’ against the Yankees, Red Sox (TWICE!), Phillies, Nats, Cubs, and a white hot Rockies ball club before kicking off the second half against the Mets Thursday night. So when you size up the level of competition over that span, 15-10 looks a little better. But if you dig further still, you might notice that Atlanta could – and probably SHOULD – have gone 18-7 over that decidedly challenging stretch.

Consider the fact that the Braves lost the first series against the Red Sox at Fenway in the 9th inning of the final game. And they would likely have overcome the first inning Jair Jurrjens error that ultimately cost them the game, if not for a horribly blown, what-the-hell-game-was-he-watching, call by the home plate umpire, Bill Hohn, in the 7th inning.

Fast-forward to game-2 of the 3-game set against the Yankees at The Ted. Kenshin Kawakami was in total command early. He did not allow a single base runner through 3 innings, and was flashing the same form he displayed when he famously out-dueled Toronto ace, Roy Halliday, earlier in the season. But then a line drive to Kawakami’s neck forced the Braves to turn to the bullpen to start the 4th inning, and Atlanta eventually surrendered 8 runs in a losing effort. The way Kawakami was dealing before the injury, the 4 runs the Braves plated off Yankees pitching that day would likely have held up.

Then there was the gut wrenching loss to close the first half of the season, when the Rockies rallied to win a game that the Braves led by 4 runs in the 7th inning. That game was supposed to be started by Javier Vazquez, who has been Atlanta’s ace this season. However, he had to be scratched from the start due to a lower abdominal strain, forcing the Braves into a “bullpen start”. To make matters worse, neither Mike Gonzalez nor closer, Rafael Soriano, were available to hold Atlanta’s late lead.

Of course, there were a couple of other close games over this stretch that the Braves probably should have put in the win column, but let the game get away. No excuse can be made for those losses. Their bullpen was intact, and holding a lead is part of playing winning baseball. There were also a number of days over this 24-game stretch on which they had to go to battle without one or more their best players. Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Nate McLouth, and Yunel Escobar all missed time over the last month, and those injuries may well have been the difference between a win or a loss on any given day. However, injuries are part of the game, and compensating for the absence of a particular player in the lineup is also part of playing winning baseball.

BUT, in my humble opinion, a game-altering blown call… losing a locked-in starting pitcher in the 3rd inning… or a game in which your scheduled starter AND two best relievers are all unable to pitch… are hardly losses anyone can hold against them. Those are 3 games that fall in the win column if not for a bit of especially rotten luck.

I’m not playing the “would’ve/could’ve/should’ve” game here. My point is simply to say that, while the Braves have played well over the last month, they’ve actually played better baseball than their record over that period would indicate. As any hitter who has every recorded an out on a screaming line drive to the warning track would attest… you don’t always get what you deserve in the game of baseball.

Many national baseball writers and commentators continue to dismiss the Braves due to their lack of “impact power”. But if the last 25 games are any indication – the last 15 in particular – expect Atlanta to be a legitimate threat in the NL East.

What do you think? Are you bullish or bearish on these Braves as they kick off the second half of the season?

Go Braves!

Don’t get me wrong – I like the guy – but I am glad he’s not hacking away for our team as we’re trying to take a crucial series from the Mets. This first few series after the All-Star Break are important. This one, particularly so. After a polite and well-deserved ovation, Francoeur hit into a double play on the first pitch – vintage Francoeur. There’s a microcosm of his career with the Braves – we love him, but he hacks and gets out. He went 0-4 on the night.

The real story is Chipper’s continued dominance of the Mets – he poked a go-ahead RBI single through the infield to give the Braves a lead they wouldn’t give back. Lowe pitched an excellent game, the bullpen was great, and the Braves took home the first game of the series.

Now it’s time to do it again – we need to take this series!