“Barring a sweep at the hands of Albert Pujols and the Cardinals (who are 7.5 back in the wild card chase), the Braves will all but wrap up their formal invitation to the post-season dance this year.” -Marcus Young, 09/09/11

That’s what I said before the Cardinals series and the rest is history. Oops. Because as we know by now, the Braves DID in fact get swept by Pujols and the red-hot Cardinals - and have been struggling to win games ever since.

Losing crucial series’ to teams that are already planning Fall vacations such as the Dodgers, Mets, and Marlins this month (along with getting swept by Philadelphia and St. Louis) have caused the Braves to cough up a seemingly insurmountable double digit wild card lead. Should the Cards polish off yet another sweep of the Mets today (up 6-2 in the 9th), the wild card lead for the Bravos will be down to 1 skinny game.

As I said before, this isn’t the same Braves team that built that big lead, and what’s left of it is hanging on by their fingernails. I don’t care what O’Flaherty, Venters or Kimbrel have been saying, they have been overused and must be fatigued. Giving up runs, and especially home-runs in Kimbrel’s case, at a rapid pace all of a sudden just isn’t their style. They’re gonna need the offense to pick them up down the stretch, no question.

Seeing announcements on the Braves website such as “Postseason Tickets ON SALE NOW!” and “Jair Jurrjens Could Be Ready To Go in the Second Round” just makes things even more painful. Don’t  tell me about Atlanta’s starting rotation injuries. The Cardinals lost Cy Young favorite Adam Wainwright for the entire season, and traded away their stud five-tool centerfielder (Colby Rasmus) at the deadline because of managerial disputes, but they fought through it. Now, of course you could say, “well they had time to prepare for those absences and replace those guys”, but it’s not like the Braves have been going up against the Yankees and Tigers this month. The Gwinnett Braves should be enough to dispose of the Marlins (without Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez) and the Mets (without Johan Santana for the year).

All of the Braves starting lineup, including the oft-injured Chipper Jones, have been playing for weeks now. We know Derek Lowe stinks and the rookie starters have been doing a formidable job so there are really no excuses other than good old fashioned choking. It’s time for everyone on the roster, from starters to position players, to bullpen guys, to coaches, to mascots, to step it up and play with some reckless abandon. We don’t want to see the excellent Michael Bourn trade, Freddie Freeman and Craig Kimbrel’s rookie of the year campaigns, Dan Uggla’s historic hit streak, and Chipper’s bounceback from an ACL tear go by the wayside in 2011.

If you ask anyone outside of Atlanta, they would probably rather see the likes of Pujols, Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman and Chris Carpenter battling the Phillies in the first round (featuring arguably the 2 best fan bases in the National League) with the Brewers and Diamondbacks in the other side of the bracket, than a down-on-their-luck Braves team lacking confidence and energy. But forget what everyone else wants to see!

As my colleague John Morgo pointed out, the remaining schedule for the Cardinals might as well been produced in a bakery because it’s cream puff city (Cubs and Astros). The Braves on the other hand face a Nationals team they can never seem to figure out (starting with young phenom Stephen Strasburg) and close out with a Phillies team that would certainly take pleasure in burying their main rival’s postseason hopes on their home field, even while resting some starters (just like they almost did last season).

Anything can happen once the season restarts in October. Hopefully “Huddy” will be up for the challenge tomorrow night to outduel Strasburg (who may still be on a limited pitch count after returning from Tommy John surgery late in the season). Hopefully the offense will give him more than the 1 run of support he got last time out when he eked out a 1-0 victory. Hopefully that 1991 magic dust will be swirling in the air next week! Hmmm, that’s a lot of hope.

Rally caps on Braves fans, it’s desperation time!

This just in: the Atlanta Braves are going to win the 2011 NL Wild Card.

After taking care of business in a double-header against the Mets making up for the hurricane postponements, the Braves travel to St. Louis for the weekend. Barring a sweep at the hands of Albert Pujols and the Cardinals (who are 7.5 back in the wild card chase), the Braves will all but wrap up their formal invitation to the post-season dance this year.

That’s not really news. The bigger headline to me is the juxtaposition from the Braves team that built up this seemingly insurmountable wild card lead and the Braves team currently on the field. When taking a closer look, it should be more than a little worrisome to Braves fans.

THEN: Brian McCann was a legitimate NL MVP candidate.

NOW: After an oblique injury forced Big Mac to the DL, he lost some time - and some of his timing. McCann is finally rounding back into form, evidenced by a mini power surge, but he’s come back to the pack in terms of his productivity. He’s still invaluable to this Braves team both as a leader and a force behind and at the plate. It would be nice to get this wild card wrapped up sooner rather than later to get McCann and his ailing knees as much rest as possible going into October.

THEN: Martin Prado was a hit machine.

NOW: Reminiscent of when Chipper Jones moved to left field to make room for Vinny Castilla years ago, Martin’s transition from the infield to the outfield allowed Dan Uggla to come aboard. Ironically, adding Uggla’s bat  has yielded a much lower batting average. While Prado started the year like the Prado of old, a bout with an ugly staph infection in his knee in June and July slowed him down significantly. After the Michael Bourn trade, Prado moved from the leadoff spot back to his natural #2 spot in the batting order.

We always talk about what a luxury it is having a multi-positional talent like Martin on the team, but I wonder if all this role-changing has finally caught up to him. Something is affecting his productivity at the plate as his average is down to .260. If not all the shifting and missed time then what and they’d better figure it out soon! Atlanta will need Prado and Bourne on base and scoring runs in the playoffs in order to make a deep run, especially with the fall-off of sophmore Jason Heyward and inexplicable ineptitude of Alex Gonzalez at the plate this year.

THEN: Jair Jurrjens was a NL Cy Young award contender and Tommy Hanson was among the league leaders in strikeouts.

NOW: Both promising young righties have been much less effective since the All-Star break and are on the shelf - JJ with a sore knee and Tommy with a small tear in his throwing shoulder. The timetable on Jair’s return is unknown, while there has been some promising talk recently about Tommy’s recovery in time for the end of September and the playoffs. The health and experience (or lack thereof) of the starting rotation is probably the biggest concern for the Braves heading into the postseason. If neither of these guys can make it back, you’re going to be asking possibly two or three rookie starters to battle experienced offenses like the Brewers, D-Backs, and Phillies. That’s a tall task for guys like Beachy, Minor and Delgado or Teheran.

THEN: O’Flenbrel (O’Flaherty, Venters, and Kimbrel) were lights out in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

NOW: Well, we’re really picking nits here – Kimbrel was the NL Rookie of the Month in August, is up to 43 saves, and has the longest scoreless streak of the season - passing Cliff Lee and approaching 40 innings. But O’Flaherty and Venters have looked mortal in the last few outings. Venters gave up the tying run in the last Phillies game (which the Braves would go on to lose in the bottom of the ninth) and surrendered another run in his last outing. He hadn’t given up a run in back-to-back outings all season.

While “O’Flenbrel” is still plenty dominant and trustworthy, they could benefit from some extra rest down the stretch. In October, the onus will really be on the Braves starters and offense to get to these guys with a lead. When John Smoltz was the closer, there was nothing more frustrating than having a 55 save stud in the bullpen and not being able to use him in the playoffs. Atlanta does not want to be in that situation.

Now don’t get me wrong, everything is not worse off than it was earlier in the season. Since the Braves pulled away with this wild card lead they have added Michael Bourn. The Braves needed speed, an upgrade in center field and a true leadoff man – and they addressed all those shortcomings in the form of one player by trading for Bourn.

Jose “Georgie” Constanza has also provided a spark since coming up from the minors and displacing the struggling Jason Heyward in right field. Constanza has come back down to Earth in the last couple weeks. Besides, despite his baffling sophomore slump, I think most Braves fans would rather take their chances with the upside of Heyward in the starting lineup in the postseason, even if he’s in the 7 or 8 hole. Chipper Jones is back healthy and mashing hoping for one more postseason run. The well-documented 33 game hit streak of Dan Uggla got his average to a somewhat respectable number (over .230) while leading the team and 2nd in the league with 33 HR.

Because Hurricane Irene forced them out of New York, the Braves are in the middle of a rough 15 games in 14 days stretch. There will be no rest for the weary Bravos this month, so ideally their best bet is to take care of business in St. Louis this weekend and head back home. If we can lock down the wildcard it would provide a chance to rest Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman and the bullpen. Get back one or two of the injured starters would be Priority Two and getting Heyward and the bench guys some extra swings would come next.

Don’t let that sweep in Philly this week fool you, we’ve played those guys tough all season long and the overall record head-to-head is about even. Plus, there will be a little extra October magic in the Atlanta air this Fall on the 20th year anniversary of that resilient ’91 World Series team. Four of the heroes from that memorable squad: Terry Pendleton, Tom Glavine, Mark Lemke, and Ron Gant are still around working with the team. That can’t hurt, right?

This will be a big week for the 2011 Atlanta Braves. They will have 7 home games against the Pirates and Marlins, they will most likely get Chipper Jones back from the DL and GM Frank Wren gets one final opportunity to improve this year’s club for a post-season push before the July 31 trade deadline.

One reason the Braves haven’t had to rush to make a move is the return of Martin Prado and the steadily improving play of the long-lost Dan Uggla. When Uggla missed a couple games last week with a calf strain, it was actually a noticeable loss, which certainly wouldn’t have been the case a few weeks ago. He’s currently riding a career-high 14-game hitting streak that’s seen him hit at a .347 clip (17-for-49) with 6 HRs, to UP his average to a whopping .196 on the season. Watch out Mendoza Line, here comes Thunder Dan!! Prado wasted no time getting back to form, homering in his first game back. The guy could fall out of bed and rip a double to the gap. However, the offense (fresh off an 11-2 dismantling in Cincinnati yesterday) is still inconsistent and the Braves want to do whatever they can to get Chipper another ring. 

Chipper is the key to what kind of player the Braves pursue. If he can come back strong this week, Prado moves from 3B back out to left field, thus limiting the need for a right handed hitting left fielder with some pop. So then what? Well, then the Braves have to try to improve upon the two weakest spots in the lineup: center field and shortstop. Because slick-fielding shortstop Alex Gonzalez has been a marvel in the field this season - and since there isn’t a surplus of shortstops on the open market other than Rafael Furcal (been there, done that, no thank you), I don’t see the team making any changes there (despite Gonzo’s dismal .226 batting average). Nate McLouth has had plenty of chances to lock down centerfield and hasn’t got it done enough offensively. Jordan Schafer has provided a spark at the top of the lineup, dropping down some bunts and stealing some bases, but his on-base-percentage leaves much to be desired for a lead-off man. When it comes to matching up with the rotations of the Giants, Brewers, Cardinals, Phillies, and even the (gasp!) Pirates down the stretch and in the post-season, you need that guy on base and scoring runs. 

So what’s the answer? The trade rumor mill has been churning, and the same names keep surfacing:

Carlos Beltran: The fact that the Mets are reportedly willing to consume most of the remaining salary owed to Beltran this season makes him a lot more intriguing. And wouldn’t things come full circle if Beltran had a big postseason for the Braves at the tail end of his mega-contract that he earned by almost single-handedly destroying the Braves with Houston in the 2004 playoffs? But the Braves haven’t had much luck with midseason rent-a-players (J.D. Drew and Mark Teixeira come to mind). I’m not saying Mike Minor is the next Adam Wainwright (who Atlanta served up to St. Louis in the Drew trade), but I’d hate to see them lose some quality young talent for an injury-prone guy like Beltran who doesn’t really have the wheels to play CF everyday and has struggled mightily from the right side of the plate this season. It wasn’t too much fun watching Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz running around wreaking havoc in the All-Star Game and the World Series last year for Texas (part of the king’s ransom the Rangers collected for Tex). Granted Beltran would improve this offense, but at what cost? My guess is the Braves and Phillies bow out and he ends up in San Francisco.

Jonny Gomes: Started the season on fire out of the gate. But lately? Not so much. The 11 HRs are respectable, but the .214 average is not. Wouldn’t cost the Braves as much to get him, but his lack of production probably isn’t worth disturbing the chemistry of a team closing in on 60 wins.

Hunter Pence: Almost as ugly of a swing as Charles Barkley, but the guy brings it every day of the week and has been getting the job done on a lousy Astros team for a couple years now. Can play any position in the outfield and has a cannon for an arm, which he got to show off in the All-Star Game earlier this month when he gunned down Jose Bautista at the plate by 3 steps. The fact that he’s already driven in 60 runs this year is remarkable considering nobody is ever on base in front of him, except for Michael Bourn. Pence is the face of the Astros and they aren’t likely to give him up without getting a healthy package back. I’m not sure Jordan Schafer, Mike Minor, and another B+ arm would be enough to get Pence and any more than that may be pushing it. His spirited play and positive attitude would be a huge boost for any contender, so if the Braves don’t snag him I hope he stays put. Word is the Phillies are lurking. Yikes…that’s a scary thought. But speaking of Michael Bourn…

Michael Bourn: This is who the Braves should be targeting. True lead-off man, true center fielder and itching to play for a winning team. He’s been hitting right around .300 all year, and most importantly his 37 stolen bases lead the NL. Fills one of the Braves desperate needs immediately: speed. He also allows Martin Prado – a protypical 2 hole hitter who loves to hit-and-run, go the other way, and hit behind runners - to bat 2nd every day. I think a package of Mike Minor and Jordan Schafer might be just about enough to get him. Make it happen Frank Wren!

The other glaring need for the Bravos is middle relief, but get in line. Every contender in both leagues is looking for bridge guys to get to the late inning studs. Atlanta is lucky enough to have the most effective 8th inning-9th inning combo in the league in All-Stars Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel plus 5 starters that can all go deep into games. In the dog days of summer when the temperatures and pitch counts go up, the depth of the bullpen has to shine. Eric O’Flaherty has been solid for the most part, but he and Venters are going to need some rest, and the likes of Scott Proctor, George Sherrill, Scott Linebrink, Cory Gearrin, and Cristhian Martinez have left a lot to be desired. Kris Medlen, still recovering from Tommy John surgery late last year, has been shut down. Peter Moylan is supposed to be coming back sometime in August, but the Braves can’t simply count on that as a cure-all. I’m not sure what exactly is available out there, but I’m sure Frank Wren and his scouting team have been scouring bullpens league wide.

The Braves (59-42, 5.5 GB) play the rubber game against the Reds tonight on ESPN. Look for a lot of trade talk in the pre-game. The Phillies are winners of 5 straight and are showing no signs of slowing down. But the Braves are still 5 games up in the Wild Card chase. The week before the trade deadline is always fun when your team is a buyer and not a seller. It’ll be interesting to see what the Braves look like this time next week. Hopefully they’ll have added a quality bat and a solid reliever in order to make one more valiant attempt at tracking down Philadelphia. But if the Phillies get Hunter Pence and/or Heath Bell, I will not be a happy camper.

Is there anything sweeter in the baseball regular season than a 4-game sweep in front of the home folk? I think not. Tim Hudson and the Braves accomplished that feat when they polished off a 4-game sweep of the short-handed Colorado Rockies on Thursday afternoon. Gotta tip your cap to a bunch of guys here: Hudson battled the 95+ degree heat to pitch into the 8th inning, Rookie of the Year candidate Freddie Freeman belted his 4th homer of the series to give Hudson the lead, Jason Heyward posted the kind of balanced line we’re hoping to see more of in the 2nd half: 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, a HR, and a stolen base, magician Jonny Venters struck out the only batter he faced as he escaped an inherited bases loaded jam in the 8th with the tying runs on base, and Rookie of the Year candidate #2 Craig Kimbrel collected his record (for a rookie) 27th save before the All-Star break, passing Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon. It’s tough sledding for the Rockies right now (get it, sledding?). Already without star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, they lost All-Everything shortstop Troy Tulowitzki early in the first game on Monday due to a muscle strain. And the Braves pounced on ‘em early and often this week pounding out 8 homers and outscoring Colorado 24-8 in the series. Dan Uggla even showed some signs of life with a couple soaring homers (up to 14 now), a couple patient walks, and a couple more base knocks (average in the .180′s now, look out!). Now Atlanta will want the Rockies to get healthy over the break next week as they will play a series with Philadelphia shortly afterwards. So feel free to come back rested and strong CarGo and Tulo!!

Speaking of the idle Phillies, they finally lost a game late last night in extras to the Marlins. So the Braves (53-36) moved from 4 GB to 2.5 GB since start of play yesterday. The Braves are 9-1 in their last 10 games, sweeping 2 of their last 3 opponents, but the Phillies are 7-3 themselves so it’s been tough to get closer in the standings. That doesn’t really matter right now though. Fredi Gonzalez preaches the ol’ Bobby Cox staple: just keep winning series’ and there’s a great chance you’ll end up where you want to be- which is a part of postseason baseball in October. Can’t say enough about the much maligned Braves offense and how they’ve stepped it up big time in the last 2 weeks to back up this outstanding pitching staff since I posted up that virtual “Missing” flier. Couldn’t have come at a better time because wouldn’t you know it, the Braves close out the first half in Philadelphia this weekend, with a chance to send a message that they’re here to stay this season. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick and tired of the ESPN talking heads fawning over the Phillies and basically handing them the NL East crown already. I’m not gonna go all Rodney Dangerfield on you and say the Braves are getting no respect, but for a team that’s now 17 games over .500 and has 2 more wins than the holier-than-thou Yankees and Red Sox, and features legitimate MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year candidates, I wouldn’t mind getting some national props. Although, come to think of it, maybe it’s better this way. When the Falcons stormed their way to 14 regular season wins and the #1 seed last year without much coverage or fanfare, they crumpled under the pressure and hype as soon as they finally had the spotlight in the playoffs. So you know what, the national media should keep focusing on Albert Pujols’ injury and contract, Jose Reyes and Prince Fielder’s trade equity, Derek Jeter’s historic quest for 3,000 hits (worthy of the hype) while batting in the .250′s (enough already), Adrian Gonzalez’s MVP campaign in his 1st year in Boston, Yankees All-Star snubs, and penciling the Phillies in the World Series – cause it’s obviously working for the go-about-your-business Braves.

The Braves have played the Phillies well so far this season, but this weekend will be a unique challenge. While the Phillies have their 3 best lined up for battle (Halladay, Lee, and Hamels) the Braves will be without the services of Jair Jurrjens and Tim Hudson because of the timing, and instead will have to counter with Beachy, Hanson, and Lowe. That still ain’t too shabby. Should be a playoff atmosphere in front of 3 sell-out crowds and the best 2 teams in the National League going at it right before the All-Star break. I know one thing, the Phillies are lucky they swooped in to grab Cliff Lee out from under the Yankees and Rangers noses at the last minute in the offseason and that a couple young arms from the minors have filled in very strong for Roy Oswalt, because without having all those aces stockpiled, Atlanta would be in 1st place. If the Braves can somehow scrap together enough runs to win this series, without Martin Prado and 2 of their best starters available, that might go a long way towards showing Fredi Gonzalez and GM Frank Wren that this team can contend without dealing for another bat at the trade deadline. If they struggle, some trade rumors may start rumbling. The Braves and Phillies have become legitimate, competitive rivals, so it should be a fun weekend series.

The Good: What else can you say about Jair Jurrjens? Picked up his 12th win (NL leader) on Wednesday night, giving up 1 run in 6 innings, dropping his E.R.A to 1.87 (NL leader). He’s now in the 1st half clubhouse as one of 4 guys in the last 20 seasons to have 12 wins and a sub-2.00 E.R.A at the All-Star break (along with Randy Johnson ’00, Greg Maddux ’98, and Roger Clemens ’97). All but the Mad-Dog went on to win the Cy Young that year. Wouldn’t it be cool to have teammates AND battery mates (Jurrjens and McCann) start the All-Star game together? No chemistry issues there! That’s up to Bruce Bochy, but looks like it’s gonna either be JJ or Halladay…Freddie Freeman got it going in Seattle and rocked the house during the 7 game homestand. That average is climbing towards .300 (.279 right now) and his bat in the middle of the lineup is proving to be just as valuable as his glove at 1B. Keep swinging it Freddie.

The Bad: You can see Chipper grimacing after certain swings and pivots. His knee is obviously bothering him. I’m guessing this is one All-Star game he wouldn’t have minded missing while chilling at the ranch, but he’ll certainly appreciate the honor and hopefully still get a good bit of rest while in Arizona. His presence will be big in the 2nd half if he can avoid surgery.

The Ugly: Martin Prado’s staph infection was certainly scary, but he’s in Gwinnett this weekend for some rehab work, and hopefully will be back in the lineup next week. If there’s anyone who can get his timing back with a quickness, it’s hit machine Prado.

As Derek Lowe and the Braves try to polish off a sweep of King Felix and the Mariners (up 5-3 in the top of the 9th), one thing has become crystal clear to me during this interleague series: Brian McCann will not only start his first All-Star Game this season, but he’s also a bonafide NL MVP candidate. He was the only offense for the Braves in Game 1 for the first 6 innings, keeping Brandon Beachy and the Braves in the game until Freddie Freeman came through with a big 2-run blast to center in the 7th that proved to be the game winner. In Game 2, all he did was go 4-for-5 at the plate with 2 RBI and delivered a bullet to second base to gun down the trailing baserunner and thwart a double steal attempt by the Mariners late in the game, preserving the Braves’ 1 run lead and eventual 1 run win. And with the series being played in an AL park, he got the chance to rest the knees but keep his scorching hot bat in the lineup as the DH today, and as I’m writing this he just delivered an insurance RBI single to try to salt this series away. Tommy Hanson said it best after a gutsy up-and-down effort fresh off the DL in Game 2 when asked about his return to the rotation. “You want me to talk about how great Brian McCann is?” Hanson responded. “He’s unbelievable.” So let’s take a look at the tale of the tape on B-Mac so far, shall we?

His offense? .316 average, 14 homers, 47 RBI, .389 OBP, .529 SLG

His defense? Better than ever, moving and sacrificing his body like a hockey goalie as he is constantly blocking balls in the dirt from all the wicked sinker ballers on the Braves pitching staff (such as Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, and Jonny Venters). He’s also improved his throwing to nail more baserunners this season.

His leadership? Well he’s played in more games than any other catcher in the NL, he’s guiding a starting rotation who have been in the top 2 all season in E.R.A. (including the current #1 and #2 ranked E.R.A.’s in the league right now, Jair Jurrjens and Hanson), and the young bullpen might get two spots in the All-Star game (8th inning man Venters had a sub 1.00 E.R.A. until that disaster in San Diego on Sunday, and is still only at 1.20 with 4 wins and more strikeouts than innings pitched, and rookie closer Craig Kimbrel is amongst the league leaders with 22 saves).

His consistency? Next month will mark his 6th consecutive All-Star Game and he’s the reigning All-Star Game MVP (you’re welcome Giants fans).

Matt Kemp has been phenomenal, already a 20-20 man for the 2011 season and in the Top 3 in every triple crown category, but the Dodgers stink and their management is in total disarray. Jose Reyes has been a nightmare on the basepaths for opposing teams and his energy alone has kept the Mets afloat with serious injuries to David Wright, Ike Davis, and Johan Santana, but he might not even finish the season in New York. Troy Tulowitzki started the season on a tear but has cooled off considerably in the last month as the Rockies plummeted in the standings. Albert Pujols was surging before his wrist injury, but he’ll be on the shelf for a couple more weeks. Ryan Braun from the 1st place Milwaukee Brewers is probably McCann’s biggest competition right now. I know it’s early, but the McVP buzz needs to start now!!

If the Braves can hold on today they’ll be at a stellar 47-35. That’s 1 more win than the Yankees and 2 more than the Red Sox folks. Considering the offense has barely scratched the surface of it’s full potential, that’s pretty darn good. A lot of credit must be given to not only McCann and the pitching staff, but Fredi Gonzalez as well. He’s guided the team through a plethora of injuries and slumps. He’s also given GM Frank Wren a good look at the entire roster, including some of the prized minor league arms, helping him decide whether or not he needs to make a move for more offense before the trade deadline at the end of next month. Right now, I’m leaning towards standing pat. Heyward has been more of a force since his shoulder healed and Martin Prado will provide a huge boost when he returns. The Phillies have the best record in baseball and are the first team to 50 wins (50-30). But the Braves are only 4 GB and are keeping them in their sights. Bravo to the Bravos for hanging tough. Atlanta will get a well deserved off day tomorrow before returning home to open up a set with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. I circled this crucial stretch in June a little while ago that featured 2 long road trips, and the Braves came out of it still standing. Now with 17 of 27 July games at the Ted, hopefully they can deliver some haymakers to the Phillies and the other wild card contenders going into and coming out of the All-Star Break.

The Good: McVP! McVP! McVP!

The Bad: Met Martin Prado at a local restaurant last weekend, huge thrill for me, and nice guy. But he was still limping noticeably. Staph infections are tricky. Team has said they hope to get him back around the All-Star Break.

The Ugly: Dan Uggla is still struggling to hit his weight (.178), but he does have 12 homers now, so um, there’s that.

It may be time to tack up some “MISSING” fliers on neighborhood trees and on milk cartons around Turner Field like when pets run away. Or do they still mail out those sad “Have you seen me?” cards when people disappear? Because the Atlanta Braves offense is definitely missing in action. After dropping 2 of 3 to the lowly Mets last weekend (a team battling serious injuries of their own while playing without David Wright, Ike Davis, and Johan Santana), there are essentially only three reasons the Braves just swept the Florida Marlins: Tommy Hanson, Derek Lowe, and Jair Jurrjens. Two holds and a save by All-World set-up man Jonny Venters, now sporting a ridiculous 0.47 ERA and 0.72 WHIP, also proved crucial. An Alex Gonzalez solo homer and a Martin Prado single are all the backing Hanson had to work with. D-Lowe didn’t lose his no-hit bid until the 7th inning but still had to sweat out the rest of the game in the dugout with only 2 runs on the scoreboard in support of him. Unfortunately for D-Lowe, closer Craig Kimbrel coughed up the 2-run lead in the bottom of the ninth 1 strike away from finishing the game, but Brian McCann and Freddie Freeman (the only two Braves starters hitting consistently as of late) picked him up in the 10th. And J.J. had to help himself with the winning RBI single to prevent another extra innings game. The Braves scored 7 runs TOTAL in the 3 game sweep. Luckily for the Braves, Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez were inactive, or things would’ve been much more difficult to navigate in Miami.

Look, there have been a lot of low scoring games around the major leagues this season. The last year and a half have produced a renaissance of pitching, with a couple of no-hitters being flirted with seemingly every night. For the Braves though, the biggest concern is the guy who is supposed to provide a huge boost to this offense, 2nd year phenom Jason Heyward, is still at least a week away from returning. And it’s not like he was exactly ripping the cover off the ball when he went down with a shoulder injury, he was only hitting .214. Some of that can be attributed to the bum shoulder I’m sure. Chipper Jones was in the national headlines this week with a controversial statement that got blown waaaay out of proportion about Heyward needing to play through some pain because just his presence alone, even at say 80%, is a force in the lineup. Young players tend to be more sensitive, so I hope J-Hey doesn’t take offense to Chipper’s comments. This was a seasoned veteran who had to learn himself how to play with pain (remember, Chipper used to play around 155 games a year for about 10 seasons until the last 4 or 5 years when he started battling numerous nagging injuries) telling his young star that making a statement like “I’m not playing again until I’m 100%” isn’t necessarily what you want floating around out there. Heyward is already getting a reputation for being injury prone. I’m with Chipper on this one. Nobody in baseball is 100% during the dog days of summer. A lot of the guys on the Braves are playing through pain right now. McCann’s logged more innings behind the plate than any other catcher in the National League. Jordan Schafer took a ball off the face in New York and only missed one game. Now, you can’t speak for anyone else’s threshold for pain, or condemn someone for being hurt, but if you try to wait until you’re totally pain-free before returning to the lineup, the season may totally slip away.

As for making a move before the July trade deadline to get some more pop and/or speed in the lineup, the Braves don’t really have any openings in the field once Heyward returns, except maybe in center. But there’s not really a big market for slugging center fielders who can run, and it’s not like the Dodgers are gonna give up Matt Kemp. Braves fans may fantasize about moving Prado back to second base and going to get a power hitting left fielder, but the Atlanta brass is probably going to be more patient with Dan Uggla than the fans, and nobody is taking his 5 year, $62 million contract extension off your hands anyway. He’s hitting a major league worst .170 amongst regulars. So this is probably going to have to be fixed from the inside. Get Heyward back out there, get McLouth healthy, and send Uggla to a hypnotist or something to get him to lay off the outside slider tailing off the plate. He’s striking out on the off-speed stuff more than Pedro Cerrano lately. Unless…I see one potential swap that the Braves should be considering…

Derek Lowe to the Yankees for Curtis Granderson

The Yankees just got beat down by the rival Red Sox, in New York. Phil Hughes has a dead arm, they’re relying on blasts from the past like Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. Their starting rotation consists of C.C. Sabathia and a pu pu platter of waiver wire arms. They need proven starting pitching, the Braves need a center fielder who can run and hit for power. The Braves have proved in the past they are willing to make bold deadline moves to improve the offense if they are confident it will get the club over the top in the second half (i.e. Fred McGriff and Mark Teixeira). Think about it Frank Wren.

The Braves (35-28, 2 GB) open up a weekend set with the sorry Houston Astros on Friday night. The Cubbies helped out the Braves by taking down the Phillies a couple times this week. This excellent pitching staff desperately needs some run support. The studs in the bullpen need some rest from all these tight games. O’Flaherty, Venters, and Kimbrel are having to log too many innings for this point in the season. We need them healthy and sharp in the Fall. To make things even tougher, offensive catalyst Martin Prado just went on the 15-day DL after being hit squarely on the knee by a throw to second base in the series with the Marlins. That’s the last thing this club needed. Let’s hope the other bats wake up! Fredi Gonzalez is reportedly moving Dan Uggla up to second in the batting order for a few games to try to get him some better pitches to hit in front of Chipper and McCann. If that doesn’t work, it may be time to reach out to Jobu.

They may be the two most dreaded words in baseball: home sweep. It may have taken 3 jerseys and 3 hats while toiling in the 95 degree Atlanta heat, but “Big Red” Tommy Hanson prevented the Braves from that demoralizing embarassment at the hands of the San Diego Padres on the first day of June. After issuing a 2-run homer to new Braves killer Kyle Phillips in the 2nd inning, Hanson shut down the Friars through 6, only allowing 3 hits total on a brutally hot summer day. Phillips, the rookie who hit the 10th inning go ahead solo homer off Braves reliever George Sherrill in the seriers opener on Memorial Day Monday, proved to be a thorn in the Braves’ side the entire series. Fortunately for the Braves, ”Mr. Clutch” Martin Prado would belt a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th for a much needed insurance run, and Jordan Schafer would make a Web Gem-worthy running catch against the center field wall for the final out with a man on (preventing Craig Kimbrel from tallying his 5th blown save) as the Braves would go on to win the final game in the series by a skinny run, 4-3. In fact, all three of these games were hotly contested, fitting for the high temperatures, each game being decided by a run. The Pads took the first 2 games in the series by final scores of 3-2 and 5-4.

It was great to see Tim Hudson back on the mound after missing just one start with a sore back, and he was sharp in the first game on Monday, lasting 6 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs (only 1 of them earned) with no walks and 7 strikeouts. Unfortunately there wasn’t much offense to back him up, and he wouldn’t factor in the decision. Mike Minor kept the Braves in the game on Tuesday in another tight contest but the Padres bats would eventually tack on a couple late runs against the bullpen and despite threatening against All-Star closer Heath Bell in the bottom of the 9th, Atlanta could only scratch out one of the two runs needed to prolong the game. Minor will now head back to AAA Gwinnett to get some more seasoning. This is the kind of series the Braves will need to win going forward- at home, playing a lesser team, with 2 of your aces taking the mound- if they are going to contend this season. Granted, injuries are still a factor, but Jason Heyward, Brandon Beachy, and Nate McLouth don’t appear to be coming back anytime soon, so the Braves (and Chipper Jones’ bad knees) are just going to have to tough it out.

The Braves (31-26, 3.5 GB) got the day off on Thursday. Friday night kicks off a 3-city, 11-day, 10-game road trip in New York against the Mets, followed by the Marlins and the Astros. A glance at the calendar finds the Braves on the road for 16 of their 26 games in June, so this will be a key stretch heading towards the All-Star break. Bravos were 17-11 in May, that’s pretty solid, especially considering they didn’t get much of anything from Dan Uggla or Jason Heyward. The Mets are dealing with some injury woes of their own, 3B David Wright is on the shelf with a back injury, and hot-hitting 1B Ike Davis is also out. SS Jose Reyes is playing very well for them, he leads the league in stolen bases, so the key will be to keep him off the basepaths where he’s been a terror all season. OF Carlos Beltran pretty much wrote the terms for his big contract against the Braves in the playoffs a few years ago while he was with the Astros, so it’d be nice to get some retribution and shut him down. One programming note, Braves are back on ESPN Primetime on Sunday Night Baseball at 8pm in the final game of the Mets series (June 5th).

The Good: Brian McCann is coming off an outstanding 12-for-20 homestand at the plate against the Reds and Padres that rose his average from .274 to .309. He has four multi-hit games in his last five total. He’s been getting hosed out of starting the last couple All-Star Games by the fan voting so make sure to vote him in this year…Freddie Freeman is on a tear, finally displaying his ability to drive the ball to the opposite field into the left field gap, rising his average up into the .270′s, and is still providing a steady glove at first base…After 2 more games in which the Braves pitching staff gave up 3 or less runs, they are now leading the Majors in that category.

The Bad: Jason Heyward will not travel with the team to New York, instead he will go to Orlando for more treatment on his sore shoulder. He said after this most recent homestand there is no change yet and he won’t start hitting until it feels right.

The Ugly: After an extra day off, Dan Uggla (.175) was dropped to 7th in the batting order for the first time on Wednesday. He went 0-for-4 including a bases loaded infield pop-up on the first pitch, ending a big scoring threat in the 1st inning. The natives are getting restless.

Holiday weekend so this will be short and sweet.  After a road trip salvaging 2 game mini-sweep of the Pirates, the Braves returned home off a 3-4 road tilt looking to get things going at home.  Despite a still underperforming offense, the Braves were able to take 2 of 3 against the Cincinnati Reds over the Memorial Day weekend in front of some solid Turner Field crowds.  Only 1 run scored by the home team on Friday, as Tommy Hanson and the Bravos went down 5-1. Derek Lowe couldn’t hold an early 5-0 lead on Saturday, leading to yet another extra innings game, but thankfully Chipper Jones delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the 12th scoring the speedy Jordan Schafer from 2nd for the 7-6 win. Even with all the offense coming from Martin Prado’s 2-run homer in the 6th (he also gunned down the potential tying run at the plate from left field) on Sunday Night’s ESPN Game of the Week, luckily that’s all Jair Jurrjens would need, only issuing an early solo homer to league leader Jay Bruce, as he outdueled Reds starter Johnny Cueto through 8 strong and the Braves eeked out a 2-1 win in the rubber match.

The Braves (30-24, 3.5 GB) have a quick turnaround after the Sunday Night game and open a 3 game set with the San Diego Padres on Monday afternoon. Tim Hudson has apparently recovered from his sore back and will get the start. Braves handled the Padres nicely in San Diego, hope to see more of that this week.

The Good: Jair Jurrjens is leading the NL in ERA (1.51) and is pitching not just like he could make the All-Star game in Arizona, but start it…Craig Kimbrel is looking to right the ship, and picked up 2 clutch 1-run saves in the Reds series…Jordan Schafer has done a worthy job filling in for the injured Nate McLouth and has provided a nice speed element at the top of the lineup…Brian McCann’s power is coming around, 2 multi-homer games in the last 10 days.

The Bad: Offense needs to get it going. Maybe the 2 off days last week will help.

The Ugly: What else? Dan Uggla still isn’t hitting. But his BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) is second worst in the league, so he’s been getting a bit unlucky. He’s at least cut back on the strikeouts and eventually some of the hard hit balls should start falling. There is a glimmer of hope!

Happy Memorial Day!

The first interleague series for the Braves against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, or whatever they’re calling themselves these days, was a pretty big stinker. After only scoring 1 run over the last 30 innings of their 1-6 road trip, the struggling Angels offense suddenly woke up at home and pounded Braves ace Tim Hudson on Friday night en route to a 9-0 blowout. Ervin Santana tossed a 4-hit shutout with 7 strikeouts as the Braves’ bats were once again silenced. After the game Santana said the Braves hitters were “pretty much swinging at everything”. Not what you want to hear in the post-Francouer era when your team is already having trouble scoring runs. Hudson only lasted 3 2/3 innings as he gave up 8 runs, walked 3 batters, and even hit 3 dudes. Ouch. That’s reminiscent of a Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn start before he got his glasses. Making matters worse, the Braves announced yesterday that Hudson will miss his next start with an ailing back. Young lefty Mike Minor will take his spot in the rotation. Yet another injury this team will have to battle through. Hope it’s nothing serious, the Braves need Hudson for the long haul.

Game 2 on Saturday night also got off to a rough start when Big Red, Tommy Hanson gave up a 2-run homer to Bobby Abreu on an 0-2 pitch in the 2nd inning. The Braves were shut down through 6, but it was the fiery call-up Joe Mather to the rescue in the 7th, picking up Hanson and the team with a huge 3-run shot to finally give Atlanta something to celebrate. Brian McCann’s RBI double later in the inning would tie the game at 4, and the Braves would go on to steal the game 5-4 in 12, as Mather came through once again with the game winning RBI double. Up-and-down closer Craig Kimbrel was up for the challenge this time around, as he held the 1 run lead (thank God) for his 12th save. Timely hitting is still a bit of a concern right now, but the Bravos ended up with a whopping 17 hits and 0 errors in yet another extra innings contest, and the Angels only had 5 hits and 2 errors. With that kind of offensive and defensive disparity, would’ve been extra frustrating to drop this one. The rubber match was pretty much a yawn. Derek Lowe was wild (5 walks in only 6 innings) and the offense was stagnant (1 run, 6 hits). Angels closed out the series with a 4-1 win.

I know interleague play is controversial, I still go back and forth on the merits of it myself, but I must say it’s pretty fun seeing the Braves mix it up with some of these American League teams. Not as fun when you don’t win the series, but still. After an off day on Monday, the Braves (26-23, 4 GB) continue their road trip in Pittsburgh. It’s been a tough one so far (1-4), but the Pirates could be just the team to turn things around against. Then again, I thought the same thing about the D-Backs and the Angels! Need to put up some early runs to back these starting pitchers so they can relax a little bit. Promising third baseman Pedro Alvarez is on the DL for the Fighting Jack Sparrows, so let’s keep CF Andrew McCutchen off the basepaths and take it to these guys for a big series win. Former Brave Charlie Morton faces off against Jair Jurrjens in the opener on Tuesday night. Morton’s been one of the lone bright spots for the Pirates (22-24) this year. The young right-hander is 5-1 with a 2.62 ERA. Jair’s been even better, 5-1 with a 1.80 ERA. I’ve got both of these young guns going for my fantasy squad, so I should at least get a win from someone right?? Hopefully it’s JJ.

The Good: Joe Mather has shown some pop and some hustle, and has proven to be an adequate fill in while Heyward rests that bum shoulder…Chipper Jones didn’t have to get another knee surgery (yet) and has avoided the DL in the first couple months of the season. I know it’s gotta be effecting his swing a little bit, as his average has dipped down to the .260′s, but just his presence in the lineup is key, especially on the road.

The Bad: Nate McLouth injured his oblique on a check swing over the weekend (sigh) so that’s another starter on the DL now. Former top prospect Jordan Schafer was recalled from Triple-A and may get the start in center as soon as Tuesday… Chase Utley is back for the Phillies, so that grace period appears to be over unless he has some complications. It’s gut check time for the Bravos.

The Ugly: The Dan Uggla batting average watch: .185. He’s 2-21 on the road trip and his hitting .173 in May with 2 HRs and 6 RBI. Only 1 RBI against left handed pitching so far. As the guy brought in to be the big bat from the right side, that ain’t good. Word on the street is Fredi is giving him a day off on Tuesday (following the team off day Monday) to gather himself. Brooks Conrad (gulp) will reportedly get the start at second (double gulp). Not trying to pile on Dan, you can tell he wants to win and he wants to contribute, but with all the key injuries, he’s got to be the guy we’ve seen in the past in order for this team to ride things out and stay in contention until the other guys heal.

Chipper Jones said it best, Arizona is a house of horrors for the Braves. Funky things just seem to happen there. After a 2 game mini-sweep of the Astros that included the dramatic flair of 2 late homers by Brian McCann off the bench, the Braves got their second west coast road trip of the season off to a shaky start, dropping 2 one run games to the Diamondbacks. In the first game the story should have been how the resilient Braves kept battling back to pick up young starter Julio Teheran (forced into duty with Brandon Beachy on the shelf with an oblique strain), but, unfortunately, the headline was closer Craig Kimbrel once again failing to hold a 1 run lead, suffering his 4th blown save of the season as the Braves fell in 11 by a final of 5-4. Teheran was only able to get through 4 innings in his second major league start, falling victim to a high pitch count. It looks to me like the kid is trying to be a little too fine, and needs to trust his stuff a bit more. He’s got what it takes to get major league hitters out, and should have a bright future in Atlanta. The big league experience he’s banking now will be good for him in the long run. Just gotta fine tune a couple things when he gets back to Gwinnett, but he’s certainly not lacking in the talent category. 

The second game was all about offense, or the lack thereof, as Jair Jurrjens turned in yet another quality start but with only 1 unearned run in the 9th to support his effort, he posted his first loss of the year as the Braves went down 2-1. I’d like to see the Braves’ “dangerous on paper” offense put some runs on the board earlier in games and establish some separation so that O’Flaherty, Venters, and Kimbrel can get some rest. Too many tight ones, forcing the studs at the back end of the bullpen into action almost every night. I’m looking at you Mr. Heyward and Mr. Uggla. Hopefully the treatment Heyward received on his sore shoulder last week will help him get his timing back at the plate. Uggla seems to still be pressing trying to make a big impact on his new team and justify the big contract extension. He’s really grinding that bat in the box, dude just needs to relax and start going the other way with those outside pitches. Can’t complain about the starting pitching, it’s tops in the league right now. And the defense has been sound. Vote Prado for All-Star!!

Interleague play gets kicked off this weekend. The Braves (25-21, 2.5 GB) will be in Anaheim to take on the struggling Angels, which means more late starts for us East Coast folks. Chipper Jones should get a chance to DH a couple games and rest the knees while staying in the lineup. That’ll most likely move Prado to 3rd and give the red hot Hin-Dogg (Eric Hinske) or Mather some at-bats in left. Need to take advantage of a team while they’re not playing well and win this series.

The Good: I like the competitiveness and chemistry of this team. They’ve played 46 games, that’s 3 more than the Phillies and 4 more than the Marlins, and have been in a lot of extra inning games already. But they get fired up in the dugout and on the field when someone gets the job done late in a game. And after the disappointing D-Backs series, Jair Jurrjens said something along the lines of – no disrespect to them, but this is a team we should beat if we want to get to where we want to be. I like that attitude. The Marlins are in 2nd place with Hanley Ramirez batting .200, so imagine what they can do once he starts hitting. And we all know the Phillies aren’t going away. So the Braves are going to have to keep grinding out wins and series wins, especially against the lesser teams.

The Bad: With another blown save from Kimbrel, fans are starting to call for the switch to Jonny Venters as closer. Not sure how Fredi is going to handle that situation. Don’t want to shatter Kimbrel’s confidence, but right now the fastball is just too straight and control problems continue to be an issue. Could just be growing pains. As of today, Fredi says he’s not making any changes. Pretty deflating to see the Braves pitchers hold Arizona to 3 runs over 10 innings and then watch Kimbrel give up 2 runs in less than an inning. In his defense, a potential game ending double play ball was ticketed for Uggla at second but deflected off of Kimbrel’s glove into no man’s land as he tried to make the play. See what Chipper meant by house of horrors?

The UGG-ly: .193. That’s Dan Uggla’s batting average. And J-Hey’s is .214. Yikes.