AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 06
Friday, July 6, 2007
Hot-hitting Hoss overtakes Murph
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wouldn’t you know the last game in the Dodgers series would be wildest, longest one of the four, ending so late we didn’t make a single newspaper (before online, those last couple innings on such a long West Coast night game were spent eating popcorn and kicking back, not writing … progress stinks sometimes).
Before we go any further, let me give you the THIS JUST IN report on Smoltz:
Braves just announced this: “Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz met with team doctors today in Atlanta and underwent an MRI test on his right shoulder. The results of the test showed a “good” rotator cuff and some inflammation in the shoulder.
“As a result of today’s findings, Smoltz will not be going to Birmingham, Ala., next week to meet with Dr. James Andrews. However, the Braves have placed Smoltz on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 3. Smoltz will be eligible to come off the DL on July 18.”
OK, I’ll fill you in a little later when I get to the park and get any more details.
Anyway … drove down the 5 freeway after midnight and checked into my hotel at 3 a.m. (6 a.m. in Atlanta). Thankfully I’m in San Diego, where lack of sleep doesn’t seem too bad a problem to deal with when you look out at the scenery, including the view I’ve got of the Pacific Ocean beyond the harbor.
So I’m gonna crank this blog out quickly and go wolf down lunch (fish tacos, you better believe it) before heading to the ballpark.
How ‘bout Chipper last night? One night after his two-run single starts the Braves toward a 5-2 win over Los Dodgers, he comes back with not one, but two homers to unknot what had been a careening 6-6 game in which neither of the veteran starters, Tim Hudson and Brad Penny, got a decision or a decent performance.
(In fact, those two combined for seven innings pitched, and 19 hits, 12 runs and six walks allowed. Yikes. How does something like that happen? “That’s baseball,” as Livan Hernandez used to tell me in his thick Cuban accent.)
So back to Hoss. Jacks a homer off lefty Eric Stults in the sixth inning for a 7-6 lead, then another off righty Chin-hui Tsao in the eighth to provide a two-run cushion. And this time Bob Wickman was able to protect it.
The two homers gave Chipper a team-high 15 for the season (despite his time missed) and moved him past Murph, Dale Murphy, as the all-time Atlanta franchise leader (many have asked me why Hank Aaron’s not the leader; the great Aaron spent more than half his career with the Milwaukee Braves before they moved to Atlanta, and hit “only” 335 of his 755 career homers for the Atlanta Braves).
Folks, even I’m surprised by how much Chipper’s raking this year, which is merely a continuation of what he did starting last June. When healthy, he’s been one of the top five hitters in all of baseball in the past 13 months. Seriously.
He’s hit .390 (30-for-77) with three homers, 14 RBIs and a .466 OBP in 20 games since he returned from his latest DL stint, and now his hands are healing and his strength’s returning, as evident by the ease with which he appeared to stroke those balls out of the park from both sides last night.
In his past eight games, he’s 13-for-33 (.394) with 13 RBIs and a .487 OBP.
Now consider these extended-stretch stats:
Since June 24, 2006, he’s hit .354 (151-for-426) with 32 doubles, four triples, 34 homers, 92 RBIs, 62 walks (59 strikeouts) and a .435 OBP and .688 slugging percentage. That’s 70 extra-base hits and a 1.023 OPS in 113 games.
On the road in that period, he’s hit .385 (90-for-234) with 40 extra-base hits (18 homers), 43 RBIs and an 1.181 OPS.
Entering today’s games, Chipper ranks fourth in the majors in OPS this season at 1.019, behind Bonds (1.121), A-Rod (1.065) and Magglio (1.061). Chipper’s .603 slugging percentage is third in the NL behind Bonds (.607) and Prince Fielder (.604).
Joneses like Petco Park … a lot: It’s a good bet that Chipper’s surge will continue in San Diego, where he and Andruw Jones have put up gaudy numbers since the beautiful downtown park opened a few years ago.
(I’m not going to say it’s a good bet Andruw will have his usual power binge at Petco, because, as you may have heard, he’s in a bit of a slump. Uh-umm.)
Chipper’s 15-for-36 with six homers and 11 RBIs in 10 games at Petco, his highest average (.417) at any park he’s played more than five games, and his highest slugging percentage (.944) at any park, period.
Andruw is 16-for-45 (.356) with eight homers and 16 RBIs in 12 games at Petco, where he’s posted a whopping .956 slugging percentage. Of course, he’s never staggered into Petco lugging anything like his current numbers.
Jones is hitting .199 for the season and .173 (38-for-220) with nine homers and 59 strikeouts in 58 games since May 2.
He’s hit .131 (11-for-81) with 25 strikeouts and a .463 OPS in his past 22 games. Yikes. How much longer?
He did, however, miss a grand slam by about a foot last night (but also let a ball roll under his glove in the outfield).
As The Slump Turns: Jones has the lowest average among NL regulars, the worst vs. right-handers (.195), the second-worst with runners on base (.190), the second-worst after the sixth inning (.144), and the fourth-most strikeouts (87).
By the way, something’s wrong when the cleanup hitter has a team-worst .206 average with runners in scoring position and a team-high 102 at-bats in those situations.
B-Mac’s knee: Brian McCann was scratched from the lineup with what was called a sprained right knee last night, but I really don’t think it’s serious. I’ll let you know later after talking to him, but the fact that the team said he was available if needed last night told me it wasn’t anything major.
He’s 10-for-31 (.323) with two doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs in his past nine games, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s playing tonight. McCann is, by the way, 6-for-16 with two homers and seven RBIs in four game at Petco.
And what about the recent resurgence of his old roomie, Jeff Francoeur?
Frenchy is 15-for-34 (.441) with four extra-base hits and nine RBIs in his past eight games, including a homer to straight center last night that the was first homer allowed this season by Penny at Dodger Stadium.
Down Under from the side: Peter Moylan (3-1) is slinging his way to a helluva season. The sidearming righty bailed Hudson out of a man-at-third-with-no-outs jam last night, getting out unscathed with two grounders and a strikeout on his way to two scoreless innings and the win.
Since giving up three hits and three runs on one-third of an inning in his April 15 season debut (after a red-eye flight from the minors), the heavily tattoed and amiable Aussie has posted a 1.62 ERA and .203 opponents’ average in his 34 subsequent appearances.
Ok, gotta run. But first, a tune from the master of literate-underbelly songwriters, this one based on Tom’s experiences while he worked at a dive pizza parlor in San Diego many years ago:
“The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at Napoleone’s Pizza House)” by Tom Waits
A cab combs the snake,
Tryin’ to rake in that last night’s fare,
And a solitary sailor/Who spends the facts of his life
like small change on strangers…
Paws his inside P-coat pocket/for a welcome twenty-five cents,
And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,
As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.
Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, “Irene”
As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes
And the Texaco beacon burns on,
The steel-belted attendant with a ‘Ring and Valve Special’…
Cryin’ “Fill’er up and check that oil”
“You know it could be a distributor and it could be a coil.”
The early mornin’ final edition’s on the stands,
And that town cryer’s cryin’ there with nickels in his hands.
Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,
Eggs - roll ‘em over and a package of Kents,
Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink ‘em damn straight,
Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can’t be late.
And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond
Across a cash crop car lot
filled with twilight Coupe Devilles,
Leaving the town in a-keeping
Of the one who is sweeping
Up the ghost of Saturday night…
