Sports Page Atlanta

Georgia Bulldog’s starting defensive tackle Jeff Owens dislocated his shoulder in a scrimmage on Saturday and will miss the rest of spring practice. Owens started all 13 games last season and had 27 tackles and 22 QB hurries.

Owens is expected to recover fully within 2 months.

Even though the Atlanta Braves did not win last night, Chipper Jones added another home run to his total. He has 387 career home runs and is in 49th place all-time. That might not be a super-impressive number, but if he hits 29 like he did last season, he will move to 41st. On the way to the #41 spot he will pass some hall of famers and some former Atlanta Braves… here is the list 40-49…

40 Billy Williams - 426

41 Darrell Evans - 414 (in ATL from 1969-76 and 1989)

42 Duke Snider - 407

43 Andres Galarraga - 399 (in ATL from 1998-2000)

Al Kaline - 399

45 Dale Murphy - 398 (in ATL from 1976-1990)

46 Joe Carter - 396

47 Graig Nettles - 390 (in ATL in 1987)

48 Johnny Bench - 389

49 Chipper Jones - 387

Last night the Atlanta Braves were surprised when they were handed new away uniforms for the season opener against the Washington Nationals.

The Blue-on-blue jerseys were a total surprise to the players. They will continue to wear these from time-to-time during their road schedule.

This was the first time the Braves have had new away uniforms since 1987.

These uniforms will be available to buy in the Braves catalog and at the clubhouse stores at Turner Field and the CNN Center.

Hopefully the Hawks are not counting their chickens yet, but they are signing people up for pre-sale tickets for the playoffs this season. This will begin on Tuesday (it is no April Fool’s joke). Go to the Atlanta Hawks website for more details.

Currently the Hawks are up by 2 1/2 games for the 8th and final playoff spot over the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference. The have 9 games remaining in the regular season.

The Atlanta Thrashers just signed their 2007 3rd round pick forward Spencer Machacek. This season, the 19-year old scored 33 goals and added 45 assists in 70 games for Vancouver Giants of the WHL.

Terms were not disclosed.

The Atlanta Braves open their 2008 regular season campaign in our nation’s capital tonight.

The Braves share the record for most wins to start a season. Back in 1982, Atlanta started the season 13-0 and would eventually win the NL West title. The Braves finished 89-73 that season and would lose to the Cardinals in the playoffs.

The Braves were led by Joe Torre in his first season with Atlanta and as they took the field they looked something like this…

• Catcher - Bruce Benedict
• 1st Base - Chris Chambliss
• 2nd Base - Glenn Hubbard
• Shortstop - Rafael Ramirez
• 3rd Base - Bob Horner
• Left Field - Dale Murphy
• Centerfield - Brett Butler
• Right Field - Claudell Washington

Starting pitchers included: Phil Niekro, Rick Mahler, Bob Walk, Rick Camp, Ken Dayley, Pascual Perez and Tommy Boggs. Gene Garber came in to notch the saves.

*** by the way the 1987 Brewers were the other team to start 13-0

Earlier this week, legendary college baseball coach Ron Polk said he would retire at the end of the season.  The current Mississippi State skipper has coached college ball for 35 seasons including stints in the Peach State at Georgia Southern and Georgia. 

From 2000-2001, he led the Bulldogs to a 79-48 record and a trip to the 2001 College World Series.

He is 7th all-time by most wins in NCAA history, but he is 1st in the SEC.  Here is a list of the top-5 all-time in the Southeastern Conference…

1. Ron Polk: 1,206 wins (1,361 overall) - Mississippi State/Georgia

2. Skip Bertman: 870 - LSU

3. Keith Madison: 735 - Kentucky

4. Rod Delmonico: 699 - Tennessee

5. Roy Mewbourne: 655 - Vanderbilt

As Elliot Bernstein mentioned in his article earlier this week, the Atlanta Hawks are currently in a fight for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

One of the things that has been helping them is their great play at home. Of the Hawks 31 wins this season, 22 have been at home. As the Chicago Bulls enter Philips Arena tonight, let’s take a look back at the last few years and see how the Hawks have looked at home…

• 2007-08: 22-13
• 2006-07: 18-23
• 2005-06: 18-23
• 2004-05: 9-32
• 2003-04: 18-23
• 2002-03: 26-15

Josh Smith had another typical solid night for the Atlanta Hawks yesterday. His points were down, but once again he showed up on defense. He had 3 more blocked shots and is averaging 2.9 per game which ranks him 2nd in the NBA.

Since he started back in 2004-05 he is 2nd as well in that time frame.

Here are the top 5 shot blockers from 2004-05 to now…

1. Marcus Camby - 869
2. Josh Smith - 763
3. Tim Duncan - 659
4. Ben Wallace - 613
5. Samuel Dalembert - 611

2007 was a breakout year for 29-year-old Aussie reliever, Peter Moylan. He threw 90 innings for the Braves and recorded a 1.80 ERA while notching 5 wins and a save. He’s become the go-to set-up guy for Rafael Soriano and Bobby Cox says very positive things about him.

“You could use him to get out of a jam in the fifth or sixth or put him in the eighth,” Cox said. “I wouldn’t have any problem putting him in the ninth. A guy like that is valuable. He had a sensational year, just sensational.”

In 7.2 spring relief innings, Moylan has struck out 5, walked 4 and posted a 1.17 ERA. Moylan seems to be right on track towards a repeat performance in 2008.