At the end of the day on June 14, the Braves had lost six out of eight games and slipped to 39-28, and they ranked dead last in the NL with a .226 average with runners in scoring position.

   In the nearly two months since then, the Braves have hit .292 with runners in scoring position while going 33-18. They’ve raised their RISP average from last in the league to third (.257) in about eight weeks.

   The stellar pitching has been there all season for the Braves, who have the sixth-best starters ERA (3.58) in the majors and a stunning 2.38 bullpen ERA that’s far and away the best in the majors.

   But the offense? That’s where the Braves have improved dramatically since midseason, moving beyond the early boom-or-bust stage, when the lineup could look awful a lot of nights when the Braves didn't hit a couple of homers.

    “Earlier in the season when we were scoring runs, it was basically walking and hitting home runs,” hitting coach Greg Walker said. “And we knew we were too good just to be that type of team. Guys just had to work through it. Luckily we were good enough in those two aspects, it kept us going. But we knew there was more in the tank. We knew we could improve, and we have.”

   For the benefit of those who might have forgotten how extreme it was early, consider this: On May 18, the Braves were 1-14 in games in which they didn’t hit at least one homer, and 23-4 in games in which they did.

   Since then they’ve gone 11-15 in games in which they don’t have a homer, which is a reasonable rate for any team, and better than most. (They are 37-13 in games with at least one homer.)

   The Braves hit .243 overall with a whopping 89 homers in those first 67 games through June 14, and the pitching staff had a 3.27 ERA. In the 51 games since, the Braves have hit .268 and posted a 3.13 ERA. The homer rate has been reduced (53 in those 51 games), but so has the strikeout rate. The K’s are way down, and the RISP average is way up.

    “I don’t think we were near as bad (with the early season offense) as people thought we were, because we were doing a lot of good things,” Walker said. “We were taking our walks, and we were hitting home runs. So we were scoring runs; but not like we are now, obviously. Our guys are too good a hitters, they’re not just sluggers. And we knew it was going to come out sooner or later.”

  • Heyward in leadoff role: The offense has moved to another level since Jason Heyward became the world’s largest leadoff man, which basically coincided with the recent 14-game winning streak (he moved into the role on the second day of the streak).

 For the season, Heyward has hit .351 (20-for-57) as a leadoff hitter with three doubles, two homers, 18 runs, 11 RBIs, a .439 OBP, and .509 slugging percentage. As a 2-hole hitter, he had a .226/.330/.385 slash line in 239 at-bats.

  “He’s handled it well,” Walker said. “He’s so versatile, he can do so many different things. When he’s been healthy, he’s been getting better as the year goes on, all year. I think he was going to do well no matter what, but he has adapted (to leadoff).”

   Good point by Walker, because it’s not accurate to say Heyward has excelled since moving to the leadoff role. He had turned his season around well before the move, but it’s just been more noticeable because he moved to the top of the lineup and entire offense started clicking like never before. Individually, he’s been quite productive since the first week of June.

  After hitting .142 (15-for-106) with six extra-base hits, a .283 OBP and .236 slugging percentage in his first 31 games through June 2 (including nearly a month missed for an emergency appendectomy), Heyward has hit .299 (64-for-214) with 21 extra-base hits (eight homers), a .380 OBP and .477 slugging percentage in his past 56 games.

  Not to mention the strong defense he’s played during that period.

  “He can just beat you so many different ways,” Walker said. “And he competes. God, he competes. He likes the stage. He doesn’t play scared. That’s not part of his game.”

  I joked with Jason after his four-hit game Sunday that he might be pigeonholing himself as a leadoff hitter.

  "I’m not too concerned about it," he said, smiling. "Either way, just happy to be playing, happy to be on the field, happy to be contributing and having fun with this team.”

   As for his approach and if he's changed it in the leadoff role, he said,  “I’m not even thinking about it, to be honest. I’m just going up there, putting up good at-bats, get good pitches, take good swings. Don’t miss the good pitches. Try to hit some tough ones sometimes. If I drive guys in sometimes, it happens. And other than that, I know I don’t have a problem scoring from first on a double by one of those two guys behind me.”

   • Freddie Friendly: After going 2-for-3 with a double, three-run homer and two walks in Sunday’s 9-4 win against the Marlins, Freddie Freeman has a .417 average (20-for-48) with three homers, 14 RBIs, seven walks and only four strikeouts in his past 12 games, for a .509 OBP and .646 slugging percentage.

   Marlins pitcher Henderson Alvarez hadn’t given up a homer in 49 innings this season before Freeman took him deep with two runners on Sunday, turning a two-run deficit into a 4-3 Braves lead.

   “The game got away on that pitch,” Alvarez said. “I wanted to throw a fastball in and it stayed middle-middle. He got his hands out and hit the ball well… For me, he’s a tough hitter, a guy that doesn't stand at the plate to swing at bad pitches. He’s the best I’ve faced in this league. It’s difficult to strike him out. It's tough to get him out.”

   The hug-happy first baseman ranks second in the majors with a .453 average (43-for-95) with runners in scoring position, behind St. Louis’ Allen Craig (.464) and ahead of Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera (.440). They are the only three qualifiers hitting as high as .395 with RISP.

   In his past 12 games against the Marlins, Freeman has hit .372 (16-for-43) with seven extra-base hits (two homers), 10 walks and a .491 OBP, and he’s 4-for-7 with a homer, five RBIs and one strikeout in his career against Alvarez.

   By the way,  Freeman is also sixth in the league batting race at .313, 23 points behind teammate and NL leader Chris Johnson (.336).

   The Braves have two of league’s top six in batting average, and also have the majors’ lowest qualified average in Dan Uggla’s .187. Uggla is 4-for-54 (.074) in his past 16 games with no homers, four RBIs, nine walks and 20 strikeouts.

  He also has a majors-worst .162 home batting average, and is 3-for-34 with no homers, five walks and 13 strikeouts in his past 10 home games.

  • Next up, the Phillies: There was a time not long ago when any mid-August Braves-Phillies series was guaranteed to be highly competitive and draw a lot of national attention.

  Not now.

  Entering tonight’s series opener at Turner Field, the Braves have won 17 of their past 20 games, while the Phillies have lost 17 of their past 20. Philly has lost 11 in a row on the road and slipped to fourth place in the NL East, 19-1/2 games behind runaway leader Atlanta and three behind the third-place Mets.

  The Phillies are 52-65. If you’d have told me a few years ago that we’d see a Phillies team 13 games under .500 in mid-August in the forseeable future, I wouldn’t have believed you.

  In their 3-17 skid, the Phillies have hit .216 while totaling 63 runs and posting a 5.34 ERA. And that includes 28 runs in three games (they scored just 35 runs in the other 17 games in that period).

  In their 11-game road losing streak, they’ve hit .194 and posted a 6.65 ERA. They scored one or no runs in six of those 11.

  The Braves have won 17 of their past 24 against the Phillies, with a 3.29 ERA  and 30 homers in those games

  • Tonight’s matchup: It’ll be rookie Julio Teheran (9-5, 2.96) against Cole Hamels (4-13, 3.81).

   It’s been a rough year with scant run support for Hamels, who leads the league in losses. (And can you believe that?) But in his past seven starts he has a 2.16 ERA, with 38 strikeouts with seven walks in 50 innings. He’s 2-2 with a .245 opponents’ average in that stretch, and the Phillies scored two or fewer runs while he was in each of his past four starts (0-2).

   Against the lefty Hamels, two Braves with the best numbers are lefty hitters Freeman, who’s 8-for-26 (.308) with with two homers, and Brian McCann, who’s 16-for-57 (.281) with three homers, an eye-opening 15 RBIs, and a .359 OBP. Don’t know yet if McCann will be back in the lineup after missing the weekend games with a sore knee.

    Justin Upton is also 6-for-18 with a homer against Hamels, and Uggla is 9-for-57 (.158) with three homers and 18 strikeouts.

   Teheran is 5-2 with a 2.10 ERA in his past 10 starts, with 63 strikeouts and 15 walks in 60 innings. Dude allowed one or no earned runs in seven of those games.

   In his past four starts, he’s 2-0 with a  1.13 ERA and .179 opponents’ average, with 27 strikeouts, seven walks and one homer allowed in 24 innings. He gave up one or no runs in each of those four games, and the Braves scored no runs while he was in during his two no-decisions.

 • Etc. The Braves are 15-1 with a 2.13 ERA in their past 16 games. They are 9-1 with a .307 average and 2.08 ERA in their past 10 home games, totaling 65 runs and 13 homers. They scored nine or more runs in five of their past seven home games, and opponents scored one or no runs in five of those 10 home games….  Remember when the Marlins were a thorn in the Braves’ side? Well, in their past 45 games against the Marlins, the Braves are 33-12 with a 2.13 ERA…. Despite missing a month on the DL and being a part-time player much the season, Evan Gattis has 47 RBIs. No other major league rookie has 40.

 • Here's a beauty by the late, great Levon Helm, which you can hear by clicking here.

“GROWIN’ TRADE” by Levon Helm

I worked the land to raise a family
‘til I was weary to the bone
But hard labor never bothered me
Lord, it’s all I’ve ever known

Too many seasons of calamity
And too much interest on the loan
I’m half the size that I used to be
And half of that is stone

The crops ain’t worth the seeding
10 will only get you 5
The livestock I’m a-feeding
I can hardly keep them alive
I’ve got to do what I can to survive

I know the law won’t be forgiving
But that’ll be the choice I make
I used to farm for a living
And now I’m in the growing trade

The summer beauty of the cotton field
Was like a view from heaven’s door
My granddaddy said that harvest time
Was what the good lord made us for

I guess he’d wonder where’s the dignity
In a crop you raise to burn
But this land is my legacy
I got nowhere else to turn

Shotgun on my shoulder
Where a tote sack ought to be
The thieves are getting bolder
And the feds may be watching me
I’ve got to quit this eventually

I know the law won’t be forgiving
But that’ll be the choice I make
I used to farm for a living
But now I’m in the growing trade

Helicopters in the distance
Coming closer everyday
They’re going to meet some resistance
Ain’t no price too big to pay
There won’t be any difference
When they take it all away
Between a cot in the jail house
And a bed beneath the clay
I guess there’s nothing to do now but pray

I know the law won’t be forgiving
But that’ll be the choice I make
I used to farm for a living
And now I’m in the growing trade