AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 19
Friday, September 19, 2008
Chipper poised to win Braves’ first batting title since T.P.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few thoughts as we head to the weekend while wondering if the SEC (football) ever looked better or the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) ever looked worse, and also wondering who has the more secure future, detective Vic Mackey or Mets manager Jerry Manuel (I could have used a couple of Braves names instead of Girardi, were it not for the fact the team has already announced that all coaches will return along with Bobby Cox next season).
OK, let’s get to it.
Mets arrive for a three-game series this weekend at Turner Field, and for locals it’s your last chance to see the 2008 Braves unless you plan to schlep to Philly or Houston (hey, don’t smirk - I ran into one of our bloggers at the James McMurtry/Jason Isbell show Wednesday in Athens who said he’s going to the series up in Philly, and wearing his Braves gear while sitting 20 rows behind the visiting dugout. I told him I hope he’s not going alone in Braves gear.)
(Some of you are probably saying, “last chance” to see the 2008 Braves is an oxymoron. You’d probably suggest this is more accurate: Last chance to be subjected to the ‘08 Braves. But that would be cynical, so shame on you.)
Anyway, there is a race involving the Braves. Or a Brave. It is, of course, the major league (and NL) batting race, where Chipper Jones now holds a commanding 11-point lead over the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols with just nine games left on the schedule.
At 36, the favorite son of tiny Pierson, Fla. (and the Bolles School) is poised to win his first batting title and become the first Brave to win the honor since Terry Pendleton did it with a mere .319 average in Pendleton’s 1991 MVP season.
We say “mere” because .319 wouldn’t have you on the radar in the race many years, including this one. Jones is hitting .365, Pujols .354 - far and away the highest two averages in the majors - while Colorado’s Matt Holliday is a distant third in the NL at .325.
Chipper blew a 22-point lead in a span of a few cold weeks in August, but has since warmed up again and rebuilt a cushion.
Hoss hit .388 with 18 homers and a .640 slugging percentage in his first 77 games through July 6, then went into a 25-game tailspin (by his standards) in which he batted just .262 with one homer and a .321 slugging percentage.
That lasted from July 7 to Aug. 22, and since Aug. 23 Jones has rebounded to hit .394 (28-for-71) with 10 extra-base hits (two homers) and a .592 slugging percentaqe in his past 19 games.
Pujols is hitting for a lot more power than Jones; Albert has a .358 average with eight homers and a .765 slugging percentage in that stretch since Aug. 23. However, Albert is 1-for-11 in his past three games.
Jones is 15-for-31 (.484) with nine walks, a .600 OBP and a .710 slugging percentage in his past eight games. He’d probably have to go into a final-week slump, and Pujols would have to heat up again in that period to catch him.
By the way, against tonight’s Mets starter Oliver Perez, Jones is 11-for-23 with a homer and eight walks.
The Braves could really use shortstop Yunel Escobar tonight — he’s 4-for-8 against Perez. Escobar has been limited to two pinch-hit at-bats in the past five games since straining his right hamstring.
Before he got hurt, Escobar had hit .289 with 18 extra-base hits, 30 RBIs and a .371 OBP in his last 51 games, with more walks (22) than strikeouts (21). I’ll let you know soon as I do about whether he’s in the lineup tonight.
Speaking of Jones…. There’s a feature story about him in the October issue of GQ that hits newsstands next week. But we’ve got a link for you if you want to read it now: http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_7467
Heres’s a few interesting quotes from the story:
Chipper …on PED used in baseball: “I was just talking about this in the clubhouse with [journeyman pitcher] Buddy Carlyle, who spent eleven years in the minor leagues or overseas playing baseball. Now you’re starting to see guys who, without being enhanced, can’t make it here in the big leagues. And you’re seeing guys like Buddy Carlyle getting their opportunity.”
>… on Barry Bonds: “You don’t know how many guys he played against revere him. When he walks up to the plate, he might see one hittable pitch the whole game. And when that one guy who has ego enough challenges him, he kills it. To have the patience, the eyesight, the hand-eye coordination to be ready for that one guy truly amazes me. He’s the best player I’ve ever seen, steroids or no steroids.”
…on Roger Clemens, and Greg Maddux: “I have never had to work so hard just to put a ball in play against a particular pitcher the way I have against [Clemens]. But Bonds and Clemens have the cloud following them. That’s what makes me proud to have been Greg Maddux’s teammate, because he’s done it the right way.”
…on the possibility of DH-ing someday for an American League team like the Yankees: “I would really need some time to think about that, not that I would go Brett Favre on it. Heck, I’ve seen it happen. The Braves traded Hank Aaron, they traded Dale Murphy, icons in this town. So I know my day is going to come. I’ll play as long as I have the desire, and if it’s not in an Atlanta Braves uniform, that’s very unfortunate. But I would have to go somewhere where I have the chance to win. I’m not going to a last-place team just so I can hit 500 homers.”
…on making the Hall of Fame: Jones says he believes he’s “on the cusp” of Hall of Fame viability. “A lot of people say that offensively the benchmark is 3,000 hits. They say it’s 500 homers,” he says. “I don’t know that I’ll reach either one of those.”
…on whether or not playing in Atlanta has denied him some recognition: “I think it has prevented me from getting more recognition. What is fair recognition and what is not is debatable.”
OK, there’s more there if you want to read it. Link is above.
So anyway, if you don’t watch The Shield on FX, then you don’t know Mackey or my reference at the beginning. And, I might add, you’re missing some truly outstanding television. The new show on that network, Sons of Anarchy, has also got me roped in. And now House is back, too. And Entourage. And the remarkable Mad Men … All I can say is, thank you, whoever invented the DVR.
Other diversions: The McMurtry/Isbell twin bill in Athens was an outstanding night of music. McMurtry played nearly two hours, and those college kids who showed up late just to catch Isbell’s two-hour set (that lasted until 1:30 a.m.) missed a helluva performance by one of the great singer-songwriters alive today. McMurtry was incredible, despite the smallish crowd at the beginning of his set (by the end of his set, the place was nearly full).
Got to shake hands with the Man outside afterward, when he stopped at the light beside the theatre as he and the band were pulling away (McMurtry was driving). I was talking to a regular reader of the Braves/MIB blog at the time, a cool dude who lives outside Athens and sells insurance. Don’t know if he wants his name used here or not.
Isbell really ripped it up in his late-night set, especially on the two Drive-By Truckers songs he does at every solo show, Decoration Day and Outfit, which had all the college dudes in their torn baseball caps singing along to every word and pumping fists. As did the cover of the Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer that the band does so well. They did just about everything off Isbell’s great solo record 2007, Sirens of the Ditch. Good night.
“TOO LONG IN THE WASTELAND” by James McMurtry
Hear the trucks on the highway
And the ticking of the clock
There’s a ghost of a moon in the afternoon
Bullet holes in the mailbox
Bullet holes in the mailbox
Key holes in my mind
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I’ve fallen behind
She said why don’t you come see me
When the sun goes down
It’ll be just like the old days
When I used to let you hang around
Well I don’t know
I might not speak the language anymore
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
Will close some doors
The people in the village
Watch their children play
At the sight of a stranger
They call the kids away
Just leave that man alone
I hear the mother say
He’s been too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
’s what made him that way
Well, I hadn’t intended
To bend the rules
But whiskey don’t make liars
It just makes fools
So I didn’t mean to say it
But I meant what I said
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
Must’ve gone to my head
Jet trail in the sunset
A long way away
Cutting ‘cross the horizon
At the edge of the day
And it calls Jimmy
Come fly away
But I’ve been too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I believe I’ll have to stay
Yeah, I’ve been
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I believe I’ll have to stay
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