Braves News World

The Good: Who would have thought Jorge Sosa would win as many games as John Smoltz this year? If Sosa wins 1 more game he’ll do exactly that. His amazing string of dominance (and luck) continued Tuesday as he won his 13th game this season. “Houdini,” as his teammates call him, pitched out of trouble repeatedly as he gave up a career-high 6 walks. But he also registered 6 strikeouts and gave up only 2 hits in 6 2/3 innings. Sosa has 5 wins in his last 6 starts. … Rafael Furcal continues to cruise in the 2nd half, going 5-for-12 in the series with 4 runs scored and setting a new Atlanta record for career stolen bases. … Adam LaRoche and Johnny Estrada were each 3-for-9 with a home run in the series. … Ryan Langerhans was 3-for-8 during the series. … The Braves’ magic number stands at 6.

The Bad: Now he can’t even get it done at home. Horacio Ramirez gave up 5 runs, 4 earned, in 6 innings. 7 hits allowed, 5 strikeouts, 4 walks. … Marcus Giles was 1-for-12 in the series. .. Jeff Francoeur was 2-for-12 in the set. … The slumping Andruw Jones was 1-for-10 in the set and has only mustered 2 hits in his last 26 at-bats.

The Ugly: To relieve or not to relieve? That was the question Thursday when Tim Hudson was due to bat with one out and a runner on third in a scoreless game. Hudson proceeded to ground out and give up 4 runs in the 9th inning to lose the game. I wonder if Bobby Cox decided against pinch hitting because of lack of faith in the offense (he feared they would not get a run across and squander Hudson’s great performance to that point) or lack of faith in the bullpen (he feared the bullpen would blow the game in the top of the 9th). Probably the latter but it just underscores the enormous burden the starting pitchers shoulder down the stretch and in the playoffs every year it seems. Now, more than ever, the Braves live and die with the performances of their starting pitchers.

The Braves honored pitchers and position players from each of their Minor League affiliates before Saturday’s game. Listed below are the Pitcher and Player of the Year, respectively, from each club:

Class AAA Richmond: Kyle Davies, James Jurries
Class AA Mississippi: Chuck James, Scott Thorman
Class A Myrtle Beach: Brady Endl, Jarrod Saltamacchia
Class A Rome: Matt Harrison, Clint Sammons
Rookie League Danville: Jairo Cuevas, Eric Campbell
Rookie League Gulf Coast League: Beau Jones, Elvis Andrus
Dominican Summer League I: Edgar Osuna, Concepcion Rodriguez
Dominican Summer League II: Carlos Sencion, Tony De La Cruz

On Wednesday, Rafael Furcal stole his 44th base of the season, a career-high for him and a total that leads the National League in that department. That theft, the 187th of his career, also put him in the record books for the most career stolen bases by an Atlanta Brave. Otis Nixon previously held the Atlanta career mark with 186 steals. Herman Long, who played for the Boston Braves from 1980 to 1902, holds the franchise record with 431 stolen bases.

The Good: Marcus Giles was 6-for-11 in the series with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. … Adam LaRoche (yes, LaRoche) was also 6-for-11 in the set including a 4-hit performance Saturday when he drove in 2 and scored thrice. … The Braves’ magic number stands at 8.

The Bad: Chipper Jones was 1-for-12 in the series. … You have to wonder what good it would do to include John Thomson on the postseason roster. For the first 5 innings Sundayhe pitched the best he has since returning from the DL. However, he fell apart in the 6th inning when he allowed 4 runs. He ended up taking his 5th loss of the season against 3 wins. He is 0-3 since being activated on August 13th. … John Smoltz still isn’t pitching like himself due to stiffness in his right shoulder. He gave up 4 earned runs in 7 innings, striking out 5 but walking none, in a loss Friday night. … Tim Hudson pitched no better than either Thomson or Smoltz, yet registered his 13th win Saturday. He gave up 4 runs in only 6 innings of work. He gave up 6 hits (3 of them home runs!), walked 4, and struck out 4. These pitchers that struggled against the Mets’ bats are supposed to neutralize the best the National League has to offer this postseason!?

The Ugly: Through Sunday, Andruw Jones was 1-for-17 since hitting his 50th home run of the season. Not coincidentally, the Braves dropped 2 of 3 to the lowly Mets. It’s just another indication of how valuable Andruw is and how much trouble the Braves will find themselves in this postseason if his Herculean performances don’t continue into October.

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Rick Camp has been sentenced to approximately 3 years in a federal prison after being convicted of participating in a conspiracy to steal more than $2 million from a mental health agency. Camp was serving as a lobbyist at the time he and 4 other people, including former state representative Robin Williams, allegedly committed the crime. Camp compiled a 56-49 record and 3.37 ERA during 9 seasons with the Braves (1976-78, 1980-85).

The Good: Another win for Jorge Sosa, his 12th of the season (and he didn’t start games for the first 2 1/2 months of the season!). Why he wasn’t a finalist for National League Comeback Player of the Year is beyond me! He gave up 2 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks and struck out 2 in 5 2/3 innings Thursday. … Kyle Farnsworth notched his 7th save in as many opportunities. What a steal he was! The Braves would likely be neck and neck with the Phillies without him. … Adam LaRoche 3-for-8 during the series with 2 runs scored and an RBI from a home run. Hopefully he’s finally snapping out of his prolonged slump. … The Braves’ magic number stands at 10.

The Bad: Marcus Giles was 2-for-13 in the series and threw in a couple errors for good measure. … Julio Franco was 1-for-9 in the set. … Ryan Langerhans had only 2 hits in 11 at-bats. … Jeff Francoeur mustered 3 singles in 15 at-bats. … The Braves’ bullpen problems from the left side continue as Macay McBride gave up 2 earned runs in less than 3 innings of work.

The Ugly: Horacio Ramirez was battered by the Phillies offense for 7 runs, 6 earned, in 3 innings Wednesday. He gave up 8 hits, walked 1, and struck out 2. It was the 5th straight start during which he has surrendered 3 or more runs. That better put to rest any last shred of doubt as to who the 3rd starter in the rotation will be this October (Sosa).

With Mike Hampton unable to come back and John Foster nursing an injured elbow, the Braves needed another left-handed pitcher in their bullpen. Chuck James was called up from Triple-A Richmond Thursday to provide some much-needed relief from the left side. James started the year at Class A Myrtle Beach, progressed to Double-A Mississippi in and then ended the minor league season at Triple-A Richmond. He compiled a cumulative 13-7 record and 2.12 ERA during those 3 stints. Like fellow Braves rookies Blaine Boyer, Kyle Davies, Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann, James was raised in Atlanta. Jorge Vasquez was designated for assignment in order to make room for James on the 40-man roster.

Andruw Jones’ solo home run in the 8th inning of Wednesday night’s game reached 2 milestones for him. First, he became the first major leaguer to hit 50 round trippers in a season since Jim Thome and Alex Rodriguez accomplished the feat in 2002 (Barry Bonds was the last to reach that mark in the National League in 2001).

With his 300th career home run, Andruw became just the 12th player in Major League history to reach that milestone before his 30th birthday. Jones turned 28 years old in April and is the youngest Brave to reach the 300-homer mark (Eddie Mathews 42 days older when he hit his 300th home run). The other players who have reached 300 homers by age 30 are: Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Harmon Killebrew, Mel Ott, Frank Robinson, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Juan Gonzalez and Vladimir Guerrero.

Braves MVP candidate Andruw Jones was named the Bank of America National League Player of the Week on Monday for the week of September 5-11. During the week he batted .381 with 5 home runs, 7 runs scored, and 10 runs batted in. Last week he also tied for the league lead with 24 total bases and led the league in slugging percentage with a 1.143 mark.

Through September 11th, he led the NL in home runs (49) and RBIs (121) and was also registering career highs in slugging percentage (.612) and OPS (.972). In conjunction with the award Bank of America will make a $1,000 donation to the Little League Urban Initiative on behalf of Andruw.

The Good: Make sure you save some for the postseason Andruw! Andruw Jones is on fire, going 6-for-11 this series with 4 home runs (his 49 through Sunday’s game set a new Braves franchise record), 7 RBIs and 5 runs scored. How do you spell MVP? A-N-D-R-U-W! … Chipper Jones was 4-for-13, including a clutch 2-run homer with 2 outs in the 9th inning to win Sunday’s game. That saved the Braves from losing a game in which the bullpen blew a 4-run lead (yet another John Smoltz win erased by the blowpen). … Jorge Sosa hurled another gem, registering his 11th win of the season. He allowed 6 hits, struck out 3 and walked none while shutting out the Nationals over 8 innings. He would be 5th in the National League in ERA if he had enough innings under his belt. … The Braves’ magic number stands at 13.

The Bad: Last year it was Chris Reitsma. Before that it was Mike Remlinger. This year its John Foster. Invariably Bobby Cox finds a hot reliever and uses him until his arm is about to fall off. Of course he didn’t have much choice, with Foster being the only halfway-decent left-handed pitcher in the bullpen all year. Through Sunday, Foster had made 56 major-league appearances this year (keep in mind all but 4 of those came after May 8th). Foster gave up 2 earned runs in 1/3 inning Saturday (with some help from Dan Kolb naturally) and 3 earned runs without retiring a batter Sunday. … Marcus Giles was 2-for-12 in the series. … It had to happen some time. Jeff Francoeur is coming back down to earth. He was 1-for-11 in the set but still sports a .325 season average.

The Ugly: As if Adam LaRoche’s offensive play has not been ugly enough, he took a hard-hit ground ball off the right side of his face Sunday afternoon. After absorbing the shot off of Nick Johnson’s bat LaRoche left the game. Team doctors have concluded it is not a serious injury and his status is listed as day-to-day. LaRoche said it best himself when he joked “it might help me get my head back where it belongs.” Amen!

Mike Hampton was activated from the 15-day disabled list on Sunday in the hopes he could spell the Braves lefty relievers, Macay McBride and the overused John Foster. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. Over the weekend and Monday, Hampton continued to feel the tightness in his left arm that had plagued him since May 14th. Team doctors met with him Thursday and recommended he have Tommy John surgery. The surgery requires approximately 10 months of rehab and will therefore cause him to miss most of the 2006 season as well! The Braves are on the hook for $43 million over the last 3 years on Hampton’s contract though insurance covers a portion of his salary while he is on the disabled list.

Catcher Eddie Perez was activated from the 60-day disabled list on Friday, September 9th. He has been sidelined since mid-May with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Up to that point, Perez had hit .216 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs in 12 games. To make room for Perez on the 40-man roster, the Braves designated Richmond Braves pitcher Adam Bernero for assignment.

Andruw Jones passed Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews in the Braves record books Sunday afternoon when he hit his 48th home run of the season in the 3rd inning (his 9th-inning solo shot brought his season total to a league-leading 49 dingers). With over 2 weeks to go in the season, Andruw now holds the franchise record for most home runs in a season and he shows no signs of slowing down. Mathews hit 47 home runs in 1953 while Aaron accomplished the feat in 1971. Jones’ previous career-best mark in homers was 36 which he achieved in both 2000 and 2003. Entering play Monday, Andruw was on pace to tally 55 home runs and 137 RBIs. Gary Sheffield holds the Atlanta record for RBIs with the 132 runs he drove in during the 2003 season. Eddie Mathews had 135 RBIs in 1953, the most by a Braves since 1900.

The Good: The Braves get their first sweep in over a month and 2nd sweep of the Mets this season. … No one can keep up with the Joneses these days. Chipper was 5-for-10 with 3 RBIs and his 16th home run in the series. Not to be outdone, Andruw was 5-for-11 with 3 RBIs of his own and his league-leading 45th home run. … John Smoltz outpitched Pedro Martinez for his 14th win of the season, giving up 7 hits in 7 innings, striking out 2 and walking only 1. … Tim Hudson turned in another great start but had nothing to show for it at the end of the night. He scattered 8 hits in 8 innings of work while striking out 3 and walking 3. The Mets managed just 2 runs off him but the Braves were not able to break through until the 9th inning. … Ryan Langerhans singled-handedly won Wednesday night’s game for the Braves, delivering game-tying and game-winning clutch hits in the 9th and 10th innings respectively. Combine his stellar defense with improved offensive production and he may have secured the everyday left fielder’s job.

The Bad: Marcus Giles was 2-for-12 in the series but, to his credit, he did make Pedro look bad when he scored from 2nd on a swinging bunt to the Mets pitcher. … Braves first basemen continue to struggle (one due to slump, one due to injury). Adam LaRoche was 0-for-3 Monday and has 4 hits in his last 82 at-bats (.049). Julio Franco was 1-for-7 in the set and is likely still bothered by his elbow injury.

The Ugly: Thank heavens John Schuerholz pulled off the Kyle Farnsworth trade! Chris Reitsma strained his left hamstring Wednesday after turning in another mediocre perfomance. It appears the only relievers besides Farnsworth the Braves can possibly count on now are Macay McBride and Blaine Boyer. No wonder the Braves are considering using the eternally-injured Mike Hampton in relief the rest of the year.

For the 2nd time this season Andruw Jones has been selected as National League Player of the Month! He won the award for the month of June and now August. During the month of August Jones hit .272 (28-for-103) and led the N.L. with 11 home runs and 29 RBIs. He tallied a .359 on-base percentage and .602 slugging percentage during the month along with 4 game-winning RBIs. He has set a career-high for homers in a season and is closing in on his personal best mark for RBIs in a season. He currrently leads the league in both of those categories as well.

The Good: Chipper Jones says his injured foot has almost completely healed. It’s showing in his play as he went 4-for-12 during the series with 3 RBIs, 3 runs scored and his 15th home run of the season. … Marcus Giles was 5-for-13 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs in the set. He hit 2 homers Sunday and flashed his great glovework again. … Horacio Ramirez turned in another solid (home) performance. He struck out 7 in 7 innings while walking 3 and giving up 3 earned runs but had no decision to show for it at the end of the night.

The Bad: Andruw Jones cooled down after a torrid month of August, going 2-for-11 in the series. … Ryan Langerhans was 1-for-9 in the set. … Adam LaRoche was 1-for-8 in the series and is down to .247 on the season.

The Ugly: How high does Dan Kolb’s ERA (currently 5.64) have to go… How many losses (currently 7) must he accumulate… before the Braves cut him loose? Sunday night he gave up 5 runs, all earned, on 4 hits and a walk to blow a game in the 12th inning. After being drained of his confidence failing time after time this season does Bobby Cox really think he’ll miraculously regain some semblance of the effectiveness he displayed in 2004 by the time the playoffs roll around? The Braves can’t afford to squander a bullpen spot with Kolb this postseason.

The Atlanta Braves will start selling postseason tickets in a “World Series Package” September 10th at 9:00 a.m. The package guarantees the purchaser tickets to every 2005 Braves postseason home game (including the World Series if the team advances that far). Individual game tickets for the Division Series go on sale September 17th at 9:00 a.m. and individual NLCS and World Series tickets will be sold at an as yet undetermined date. Postseason tickets bought for games that are not played will be eligible for a refund.

The National League Division Series will get underway on October 4th and the National League Championship Series will start October 11th. The World Series will begin October 22nd.

With more roster spots available, the Braves recalled yet another rookie (the 17th to play with the major league club this season), right-hander Anthony Lerew, from their Triple-A Richmond affiliate on Saturday. Though he has been a starter in the minors all season Lerew will be pitching out of the Atlanta bullpen the rest of the regular season. The 22-year-old pitcher was 4-4 in 13 starts at Richmond this season with a 3.48 ERA. Before being promoted to the AAA level, Lerew sported a 6-2 record and 3.93 ERA in 14 starts for the Class AA Mississippi Braves. He was an 11th round draft pick of the Braves in 2001.

The Atlanta Braves will be making at least a $100,000 donation to the Hurricane relief efforts. The Braves will donate $1 for every new ticket sold during September to the Mississippi American Red Cross through the Braves Foundation, but not less than $100,000. For victims that have take refuge in Atlanta the team is donating game tickets and vouchers for free food at Turner Field concession stands.

The foundation will also collect donations for hurricane victims from fans in the form of money, canned goods, phone and gas cards and other necessities at all Braves home games during September. Meanwhile, John Smoltz is spearheading the collection effort from Braves players and their families. Much clothing, food and money has been pledged by team personnel.

The Mississippi Braves, the Double-A minor league affiliate of the Braves, were forced to cancel their final 7 games of the season, a 3-game series against the Chattanooga Lookouts and a 4-game series against the Carolina Mudcats. Though their home stadium, Trustmark Park, sustained only minor structural damage from the hurricane, the team decided it was not appropriate to play their final games with much of the city of Jackson still in turmoil due to the aftereffects of the storm.

The Good: Andruw Jones shows no signs of slowing down as he makes his case for MVP. He was 5-for-17 during the series with 8 RBIs. He smacked his league-leading 43rd and 44th home runs of the season. … Homeracio, I mean Horacio, Ramirez turned in another solid performance at home. He scattered 8 hits, walked 2, struck out 4 and allowed 3 earned runs in 7 innings of work for his 11th win. … John Thomson turned in his first quality start since returning from the DL. He allowed 2 earned runs in 6 innings, allowing 8 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3 in the process. … Wilson Betemit was 6-for-12 in the series, including a career-high 4 hits in Wednesday’s nightcap. … It’s nice to see Johnny Estrada getting in on the action for a change. He had 4 hits in 6 at-bats during the set.

The Bad: Adam LaRoche (big surprise there) and Kelly Johnson were each 1-for-8 in the series. … Todd Hollandsworth has been nothing special (but of course we knew that when we traded for him), going 2-for-8 in his first 3 games as a Brave. … Jim Brower picked up where he left off with Atlanta before being demoted to Triple-A: he gave up 4 earned runs, 2 hits, and a walk in 2/3 of an inning Thursday.

The Ugly: That would be the comedy of errors during the last 3 innings of the 2nd game of the doubleheader Wednesday night. In the top of 7th Pete Orr bobbled the ball while trying to turn a double play allowing the Nationals to take the lead. In the bottom of the inning newly acquired Todd Hollandsworth was caught roaming off 2nd base after a bunt never materialized. That put the brakes on what could have been a game-tying rally that inning. Then when the Braves did come back to tie it up in the bottom of the 8th they gave the game away in the top of the 9th. Brian McCann hurried a throw to 3rd base when Brad Wilkerson attempted to steal. The ball sailed out of the reach of Marcus Giles (who was filling in at 3rd base after Chipper left early with a “stomach virus") allowing what would prove to be the winning run to score. What a mess.