Sports Page Atlanta

As many of you saw or heard or at least read Chipper Jones got hurt again last night in the win against the Marlins.  This time he hurt his hamstring in the 4th inning running to first base.

It is not known as of right now how much time he will miss.  The Braves desparately need him if they still think the can make the playoffs.

It is also bad that he might miss the upcoming series against the Phillies.  Most people think that it is the Mets that Chipper has the highest batting average against.  Well it is actually the Phillies in teams that he has played at least 100 games against.

Here are the top 5…

Phillies (185 games)  .339

Astros (106 games) .332

Mets (184 games) .330 

Padres (105 games) .322

Marlins (193 games) .314

Chipper has also hit the most home runs against the Phillies (40) but not the rbi (that honor belongs to the Marlins with 143).

The Braves resume playing tonight as they take on the Washington Nationals.

Here is how some of the current Braves have done at the all-star break the last 3 seasons…

Chipper Jones: 2008 - .376 avg  18 hr 51 rbi

                            2007 - .329 avg  15 hr 41 rbi

                            2006 - .315 avg  11 hr 50 rbi

Brian McCann: 2008 - .302 avg  18 hr 53 rbi

                            2007 - .262 avg   9 hr 49 rbi

                            2006 - .343 avg  6 hr 29 rbi

Mark Teixeira: 2008 - .271 avg  17 hr 69 rbi

                            2007 - .302 avg  12 hr 41 rbi

                            2006 - .275 avg    9 hr 49 rbi 

Jeff Francoeur: 2008 - .234 avg    9 hr 44 rbi

                            2007 - .289 avg   10 hr 58 rbi

                            2006 - .260 avg   17 hr 63 rbi

Colin, over at Braves Blast, just posted the first part of a two-part serialized article concerning whether or not the Braves should make a run for the championship this season or cut their losses and rebuild for 2009. Today, he posted 10 Reasons To Pull Out The Stops. Tomorrow, he’ll go in reverse and tell us why the Braves should rebuild.

This is good stuff here, and I’d like to comment on a few of his reasons from today.

• “They have Mark Teixeira until the end of the year and he’ll make a huge contract year push.”

I think Colin is right here. Teixeira will have a great second half, due in part to his impending free agency. He’s already begun to feel his power stroke as his nine home runs in June more than doubled his power output for the season. There’s no reason to believe that Teixeira cannot approach 40 dingers this season. My worry is that Scott Boras over prices Teixeira, and the Braves are left searching for a clean-up hitter and first baseman in the off-season. But, to make a run in 2008, the Braves must have “Big Teix”, or receive one hell of a hitter in return.

• “Chipper is chasing .400″

While this was neat as Chipper was above the .400 mark, it’s kind of a moot point now. His June batting average was almost 100 points lower than his March through May batting average, and his July batting average, although we’re only nine days in, is 70 points lower than his June. However, he’s having a superb season, and staying relatively injury-free. It’ll be fun to watch Chipper just do the things that make him a Hall of Fame worthy third baseman. But, Chipper is done flirting with .400, so don’t expect those kind of heroics.

• “Brian McCann is showing everybody why the Braves traded away their starting catcher so he could play as a rookie.”

McCann is the biggest ray of hope that this Braves team has. He’s arguably the best offensive catcher in Major League Baseball, and if it weren’t for the fan support for Cubs rookie Geovany Soto, should have been the NL All-Star starting catcher. His batting average (.293) is higher, his slugging percentage is higher (.547), he’s scored more runs (39), hit more homes (17), and even stolen a base. I’m not taking anything away from Soto, as his numbers are very similar to McCann’s. But McCann should be starting in NYC, and he’s definitely a reason for anyone to come out to “The Ted” to see one of the essential cogs for this 2008 Braves team.

Chipper Jones and Brian McCann made the all-star game roster this season.

Chipper is making his 6th appearance and Brian his 3rd.  Both players have a long way to go to catch up to the great Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Stan Musial.  Those 3 Hall of Famers made it 24 mid-summer classic’s each.

Although Hank Aaron made it 24 games, he represented the Atlanta Braves in 9 of those games.  The 9 games is the most by an Atlanta Brave…

Most games in the all-star game as an Atlanta Brave…

Hank Aaron - 9

Tom Glavine - 8

John Smoltz - 8

Dale Murphy - 7

Chipper Jones - 6

Greg Maddux - 6

Chipper Jones and Brian McCann are going to represent the National League in the 2008 All-Star Game this month at Yankee Stadium. 

This is Chipper’s 6th all-star game and 5th as a starter.  To no suprise, he is a .400 hitter in all-star competition as well.  He is batting 4-for-10 with a home run.  1996 was his first all-star game and 2001 was his last.   In 2000, he went 3-for-3 with that home run which came off of James Baldwin in a game that was played at Turner Field.

McCann is making his 3rd all-star game as a reserve.   He is a career 0-for-2 in the classic.  He grounded out to short in 2006 and flew out to short in 2007.

The Braves made it kind of interesting last night, but fell short to the Phillies by the score of 7 to 3.  The game could have been tied, but Mark Teixeira struck out with 2 outs in the 9th with the bases loaded.  A few pitches earlier, Teixeira blasted a shot that was just foul.

It would have been the 2nd grand slam hit by a Brave this year.  Kelly Johnson hit a pinch hit grand slam against the Mets back during the first week of the season.

Here are the number of grand slams hit by the current Atlanta Braves…

Chipper Jones - 6 (although last one was back in 2001)

Brian McCann - 4

Mark Teixeira - 3

Mark Kotsay - 3

Kelly Johnson - 2

Greg Norton - 2

Jeff Francoeur - 1

It seems like the only time we are seeing Chipper Jones is in a pinch-hitting situation when the game can be tied or won.  It is very sad not being able to see him do the things that we are accustomed to.  Except for Wednesday, he is looking pretty good as a pinch-hitter this season.  He is 2-for-3 with a walk and an rbi in the pinch-hitting role this season.

Chipper wasn’t always that way.  This is Chipper’s pinch-hitting stats prior to this season…

hits/at bats - 4/36

average - .111

home runs - 1

rbi - 6

walks - 6

strikeouts 13

His only pinch hit home run came on July 2, 2006 against Baltimore Orioles pitcher Sendy Rleal.  All I know about Sendy is that 2006 has been his only season that he has pitched in so far and his birthday was last Saturday.

The Atlanta Braves got attacked by the injury bug once again last night. 

Chipper Jones reaggravated his right quad running the bases in the 4th inning.  By the 7th inning, he had to leave the game.  He should miss about 2 games.

Yunel Escobar got hurt as well.  The shortstop hurt his right hip flexor when he slid at home in the 8th inning.  He is day-to-day.

Chipper Jones went 0-for-4 yesterday against the Rangers and his season batting average fell down all the way to a mere .394.  It was the first time since April 12th that his average went below .400.  Braves fans should have known this was going to happen this month.

June is Chipper’s worst month in terms of batting average in his career.  He is hitting just .293 in the month of June.  Don’t worry fans, his best month is July, where he bats .328.  I am not counting October and March where he only has a few career at-bats.  His other great months are ahead as well.

Chipper Jones: month-by-month career batting average

October: .381 (only 42 at-bats)

March: .333 (only 18 at-bats)

July: .328

April: .323

August: .313

September: .309

May: .294

June: .293

Chipper Jones hit his 14th home run of the season last night which was also his 400th of his career. He is the 43rd player in major league history to reach that number.

This season he is tied for 8th place in home runs in the national league. That is strange for him because even though he has 400 career home runs, he rarely ranks in the top-10 in the category for a season.

Here are his best finishes…

1999: 45 home runs (3rd)

2001: 38 home runs (9th)

1998: 34 home runs (10th)