Braves will win the N.L. East if ...

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Braves enter the second half of the season, or actually their final 74 games, with work to do. They trail the Phillies by six games (in third place) in the National League East, and the Mets are in town, trailing the Braves by only one-half of a game.

Here are five things the Braves need to do to get back in the hunt for a division title:

Produce some pop

Either the existing Braves hitters need to start hitting for power, or the Braves need to acquire some. The Braves have only 68 home runs in 88 games, which ranks 13th in the National League. Chipper Jones leads the team with only nine home runs, leaving the Braves as the only team in the majors without a player in double digits. (Nate McLouth has 14, but his first nine were as a Pirate.) Jones hasn’t hit one since June 28. For a lineup the Braves had hoped might produce multiple players with 20 or more home runs, only McLouth is on pace to reach that.

Resolve the Escobar riddle

If the Braves are going make a run for the postseason they don’t need distractions coming from the middle of their infield. Yunel Escobar was pulled in the middle of a game for defensive lapses and soon after raised eyebrows when he sat for several games with a hip flexor injury. He’s one of the Braves’ best hitters, and this season has been one of their best in the clutch, so they might be reluctant to trade him. But if his antics take away from the team atmosphere, that might change.

Score for Jurrjens and Vazquez

Jair Jurrjens and Javier Vazquez pitched great in the first half, but were a combined 13-14 and lost a shot at playing in the All-Star game. Despite the added angst of pitching in close games or behind, both rank in the top 10 in the National League in earned-run average (Jurrjens is sixth at 2.91 and Vazquez seventh at 2.95), and Vazquez was second in strikeouts with 136. If the Braves had won half (six) of the quality starts from these two they let slip away, they would be tied with the Phillies.

Hit in the late innings

Overall, the Braves’ offense has struggled, but the lineup has been especially fruitless in the late innings. As a team, the Braves have hit .272 over the first six innings, which is tied for second-best in the National League. But from the seventh inning on, they have hit only .238, 14th in the NL. Look at the dip in numbers for some key hitters late in games, when they face specialist relievers and closers: Garret Anderson’s batting average drops from .313 to .195, Escobar’s from .325 to .217, Casey Kotchman’s from .305 to .210 and Jones’ from .305 to .250.

Make a stand these next 14 games

This is true for a lot of teams “on the bubble” in their divisions right now, but the Braves have 14 games to show general manager Frank Wren they are contenders and he should be a buyer at the July 31 trade deadline. Fresh on their minds should be a key series loss in Philadelphia last season, which led to the trading of first baseman Mark Teixeira to Anaheim. Half of these 14 games, including four this weekend against the Mets and three games against the Marlins leading to the deadline, are within the division. Prime fodder.