ST. LOUIS – Let’s start by saying the Jason Heyward injury is probably the most devastating and difficult to overcome of the litany of ailments the Braves have had in 2013, including a staggering six season-ending surgeries: starter Tim Hudson; relievers Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters and Cristhian Martinez, and utility players Ramiro Pena and Tyler Pastornicky.

  Heyward had his broken jaw surgically repaired today in Atlanta, with two plates inserted, one over each fracture. It’s likely he’ll miss most or all of the remainder of the Braves’ regular season. Although we didn't get an official timetable for his possible return, 4-6 weeks was the preliminary early estimate, based on previous similar injuries to ballplayers.

  If it’s the back end of that estimate, it’ll take us right up to the start of the postseason, and then it’ll be an obvious question mark as to how quickly Heyward could be expected to return to the soaring form he’d displayed for the past 2-1/2 months, when he’s been the most impactful all-around player on the team for that period.  Hitting, playing superb defense, running the bases like a fiend ... Heyward had done it all lately.

 Now, when might he be able to do it again at that level? Physically, will the big right fielder be able to keep up his strength with the jaw wired shut for the next month or so? Will he be able to regain his timing at the plate? And, as much as we’re a bit uncomfortable bringing up the subject, it can’t be ignored: Will he quickly get over any lingering psychological hurdles after being hit in the face by a 90-mph fastball?

   The Braves’ offense has been inconsistent, but it got more productive after Heyward was moved to the leadoff spot on July 27, the second game of the 14-game winning streak. He has hit leadoff in all 21 of the 23 Braves games he’s started since then. But he won’t be in the lineup for at least the next month, and the Braves are back to scrambling to fill the leadoff spot.

   Heyward has hit .341 with six doubles, five homers and a .414 OBP and .580 slugging percentage in 88 at-bats as a leadoff hitter this season, and that’s good stuff. Makes an opposing pitcher nervous up there.

   However, it’s not really a representative comparision for folks to keep giving Heyward’s leadoff stats and contrasting them to the combined stats for the rest of the Braves who’ve batted leadoff, because Jordan Schafer has also done quite well(.299/.400/.494 in 77 at-bats) in his leadoff opportunities.

   The problem is, Schafer excels vs. right-handers (.313/.405/.461 in 128 at-bats) but has done little in his limited chances vs. lefties (.105, 2-for-19, seven strikeouts).

   Also, Schafer, after missing 5-1/2 weeks on the DL for an ankle stress fracture, is just 3-for-22 (.136) with a .240 OBP and no extra-base hits or RBIs in seven games since returning. This after he hit .312 (39-for-125) with nine extra-base hits, 15 RBIs, a .399 OBP and .464 slugging percentage in 61 games before getting hurt.

   Heyward has gone the other way statistically. After struggling in April and May, both before and immediately after the appendectomy, Heyward has hit .301 with a .377 OBP, .504 slugging and 27 extra-base hits (11 homers) in his past 64 games (going back to June 3). And he’d really heated up in the past several weeks, going 30-for-84 (.357) with five homers, a .426 OBP and a .607 slugging percentage in his past 22 games.

 For the month of August, Heyward was second to Justin Upton in most major statistical categories among Braves regulars, including average (.348), OBP (.419), slugging percentage (.621), extra-base hits (10), and homers (four, tied with Chris Johnson for second to Upton’s seven). Heyward led the Braves with 17 runs in 18 August games, and was fourth in RBIs (10) and only sixth in strikeouts (11 in 66 at-bats).

    Make no mistake, he’s going to be sorely missed.

   It’s a big blow not just to the offense, but certainly to the defense. Heyward was well on his way to winning a second consecutive Gold Glove (and probably still will, although he’s going to end up missing about one-third of the season between his DL stints for an emergency appendectomy April 22 and now this).

   As noted by ESPN Stats & Info, Heyward’s 64 defensive runs saved in right field since 2010 is more than 50 percent greater than the next-highest at the position in that period.  If the Braves move Justin Upton from left field to right, the position Upton played in Arizona, it’s a big dropoff in defense, as we’ve seen from watching the two of them all season.

   If the Braves leave Justin Upton in left and play Schafer in right, it’s not nearly such a downgrade in right field; Schafer is well above-average defensively at all three outfield spots, and very good in center. But if Schafer is playing a corner, that means B.J. Upton is in center on those particular days, at least until Reed Johnson returns from the DL (and we don’t know yet when that’ll be).

   B.J. Upton can’t possibly be any worse than he’s been offensively (more on that in a moment), and his defense hasn’t been much better than average, either (some terrific plays, but some head-scratchers, too).

   If the Braves have Evan Gattis in left field, Schafer in center and Justin Upton in right, it’s potentially a productive trio offensively, but that’s if they can get Gattis and Schafer back to doing what they did before mid-season DL stints. Defensively, Schafer has clearly played better than B.J. Upton in center field this season, but flanked by Gattis in left and Justin in right, that’s not a strong defensive outfield.

   If the Braves can pull off a waiver deal and add someone who makes them better without giving up significant young talent, they will. But other than David DeJesus, whom we learned today was put back on waivers by the Nationals this week, there just haven’t been any notable players available that clearly would make the Braves better while Heyward is out.

   That doesn’t mean another name won’t surface, because sometimes a surprisingly good player can suddenly appear on waivers because a team has decided it’s clearly out of playoff contention and would like to unload the contract of a pending free agent.

   It’s not as if DeJesus is the same player this year as he was in 2010, when he hit .318 with an .827 OPS in 91 games  for the Royals. He’s hit .247 with six homers, 27 RBIs and a .727 OPS this season with the Cubs and Nationals (he’s only played two games for Washington since they made a surprise claim on him).

  However, he still hits lefties (.266/.347/.440 with six homers in 241 at-bats), and has hit .311 with runners in scoring position. He can still play center field -- not great, but won’t kill you out there. He wouldn’t be an upgrade if the Braves had Schafer and Gattis hitting like they did before injuries, but they don’t.

  Is DeJesus more productive than B.J. Upton? Well, yes, but  nearly every major league player has been this season.

  Nevertheless, here’s the thing about Upton, who’s in the first year of a five-year, $75 million contract: As bad as he’s been overall at the plate – his .183 average is the majors’ worst among the 220 players with at least 300 plate appearances, one spot ahead of teammate Dan Uggla’s .186 – and in clutch-hitting situations – his .091 (7-for-77) with runners in scoring position and .023 (1-for-43) with runners in scoring position and two outs are also major league-worst averages – B.J. has shown in the past that he’s capable of getting hot and carrying an offense for stretches.

  He hasn’t shown it this year, but he did last season with Tampa, in a few second-half tears that helped land him that big free-agent contract from the Braves. And this, more than anything else, is what the Braves need right now. For B.J. to do again what he did last year at about this time.

   Consider: In his first 71 games last season for the Rays, Bossman Junior hit .219 with eight homers, a .303 OBP and a .359 slugging percentage (he currently has a .183 average with eight homers in 98 games, with a .266 OBP and .295 slugging).

   And in the last 30 of those first 71 games last season, a period that stretched from May 20 to June 22, B.J. was as bad as he’s been most of this season: .157 (16-for-102) with one homer, 15 walks, 33 strikeouts in that 30-game stretch.

   There was no reason to expect what was about to happen last season: Beginning June 23, B.J. hit .263 with 15 doubles, four triples, 15 homers and 47 RBIs over his final 82 games, with a .353 OBP and .487 slugging percentage. And even during those final 82 games, he had more stretches of ice-cold as well as blazing-hot, get-on-my-back-and-I’ll-carry-us offensive spurts.

  For instance, from June 23 through July 16, he hit .349 with seven homers, 18 RBIs and a .423 OBP in 17 games. Then, just as quickly as he’d gone to scorch mode, he cooled down overnight, hitting .167 with three homers, nine RBIs and a .251 OBP over his next 41 games.

   And then, he flipped the switch again and, over his final 24 games, hit .363 with 16 extra-base hits (five homers), 20 RBIs and a .464 OBP and .659 slugging percentage.

   Watching him this season, I realize it’s hard to even imagine him doing that. But he did it. And it was only a year ago. And again, he was just as cold as he’s been for most of this season during long stretches last season before he went to en fuego mode.

   Has he showny any signs, any reasons to believe he’s about to do that again? No, he has not. But Tampa Bay fans would probably tell you he looked dreadful for most of the first half last season and particularly for stretches of the second half, too.

  But when he was hot, he was about as hot as any hitter in baseball.

   That, right now, is what the Braves could really, really use. It would make the rest of his disappointing season seem a whole lot less so, wouldn’t it?

   Same thing goes for Dan Uggla, when he comes off the DL in another week or 10 days or so with his Lasik-repaired eyes. If he and B.J. Upton could each, or one at a time, go on the kind of runs that each of the streaky hitters has had in the past – not the distant past, the recent past – then the loss of Heyward for most of the remaining regular season might be a lot less traumatic for the Braves as they try to retain the best record in the league.

  One other thing: The Braves have had to deal with a string of recent injuries, including the loss of their veteran pitching leader (Hudson) a month ago and now their resurgent leadoff hitter.  But if it was going to happen, it’s not a terrible time for it. By that I mean, after the Braves have already built such a commanding lead in the NL East, and after they’ve gotten through the difficult parts of their schedule.

   Remember when the Braves had played the most road games of any NL team during the first couple of months of the season, including those difficult trips out West? Well, now they’re seeing the other, shinier side of that coin.

   Their .460 opponents’ winning percentage in their remaining games makes theirs the easiest remaining schedule in the majors, with this four-game series at St. Louis that starts tonight one of only two remaining series against a team that currently has a winning record (the other is a home series against Cleveland next week).

  Couple that with the fact that this trip to St. Louis is the last time they leave the Eastern Time Zone. Turns out, that brutal early season road schedule could work to the Braves’ benefit during this stretch drive, when they’re trying to get healthyand also holding onto the NL’s best record for home-field advantage through the LCS.

  Of course, the Dodgers’ .481 remaining opponents’ winning percentage is the fourth-lowest in the majors, and the Dodgers are showing no signs of ending their recent rampaging. They are a frightening 44-10 with a 2.52 ERA in their past 54 games, and the Dodgers are actually even better on the road (26-5, 2.46 ERA) during that stretch than they are at home.

BRAVES LINEUP

1. Schafer cf
2. JUpton rf
3. Freeman 1b
4. CJohnson 3b
5. McCann c
6. Gattis lf
7. Simmons ss
8. EJohnson 2b
9. Maholm p

• Tonight’s matchup: It’s the return of Paul Maholm (9-9, 4.41 ERA) against Cardinals righty Joe Kelly (4-3, 3.01).

    Maholm comes off the DL to make his first start since leaving a July 20 game with a sprained left wrist. After posting a 3.38 ERA and .236 opponents’ average in his first 10 starts, he’s 3-5 with a 5.35 ERA and .316 OA in his past 10. That included 0-3 with a 10.13 ERA in three July starts before he was shelved.

    Another trend he’ll try to buck: Maholm has a 6.03 ERA in 13 road starts, compared with a 1.97 ERA in seven home starts. Oh, and one more: The veteran lefty -- an ex-Pirate and ex-Cub -- is 4-7 with a 4.06 ERA in 18 starts against the Cardinals, including 0-3 with a 6.18 ERA in five since the beginning of the 2011 season.

  Against Maholm, Carlos Beltran is 9-for-24 with two home runs, and Allen Craig is 6-for-14 with a homer

   Kelly is 4-0 with a 2.23 ERA in seven starts since moving into the regular rotation July 6, including 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA and no homers allowed in four August starts. For the season, he’s 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA in eight starts, compared with a 4.26 ERA in 21 relief appearances. In his only career start against the Braves, Kelly allowed seven hits and three walks in 6-1/3 scoreless innings of a July 27 Cardinals loss.

   Kelly has been going the other way: He’s 4-0 with a 2.23 ERA in seven starts since moving into the regular rotation July 6, including 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA and no homers allowed in four August starts.

For the season, he’s 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA in eight starts, compared with a 4.26 ERA in 21 relief appearances.

   In his only career start against the Braves, Kelly allowed seven hits and three walks in 6-1/3 scoreless innings of a July 27 Cardinals loss.

   • Etc. – Since the All-Star break, Braves hitters are second in the NL in homers, third in runs, third in OBP, fifth in walks, and only tied for fifth-most strikeouts. This after leading the league in strikeouts by a considerable margin before the break….  

  Rookie Alex Wood has a 1.11 ERA and .179 opp. avg in 4 August starts, with 23 strikeouts and five walks in 24-1/3 innings. He’s worked at least six innings in each while allowed one or no runs….

  Since their 14-game winning streak ended, Braves have only hit .231 and scored 38 runs (nine homers) in 10 games, going 6-4 in that period with a stellar 2.78 ERA. During the 14-game streak, they hit .293 with 82 runs (17 homers) in 14 games, and had a 2.08 ERA….

 The Braves are 8-1 in nine regular-season games against the Cardinals since the beginning of the 2012 season, not including a loss in the 2012 Wild Card game. The Braves hit .299 and posted a 1.00 ERA while outscoring the Cardinals 11-3 in a three-game sweep at Turner Field July 26-28, to begin a 14-game winning streak…..

  Heyward had the Braves’ only two homers in the July series against the Cardinals….

  Freddie Freeman is 8-for-23 with three doubles, a homer and six RBIs in six games at Busch Stadium.

  Here's one from Interpol, which you can hear by clicking here.

“OBSTACLE 1” by Interpol

I wish i could eat the salt off your last faded lips
We can cap the old times make playing only logical harm
We can top the old lines clay-making that nothing else will change.
But she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad
Oh, she's bad

It's different now that I'm poor and aging, I'll never see this face again
You go stabbing yourself in the neck
It's different now that I'm poor and aging, and I'll never see this place again
And you go stabbing yourself in the neck

We can find new ways of living make playing only logical harm
And we can top the old times, clay-making that nothing else will change.
But she can read, she can read, she can read, she can read, she's bad
Oh, she's bad
 
It's in the way that she posed,
it's in the things that she puts in my head
Her stories are boring and stuff.
She's always calling my bluff.
She puts the weights into my little heart,
And she gets in my room and she takes it apart.
She puts the weights into my little heart,
I said she puts the weights into my little heart.

She packs it away

It's in the way that she walks
Her heaven is never enough
She puts the weights in my heart
She puts, oh she puts the weights into my little heart.