WASHINGTON – It’s hard to overstate how much the slumping Braves have missed Jason Heyward in the four weeks since he had his jaw smashed by Jonathon Niese’s fastball on Aug. 21.

  Heyward had sizzled at the plate since the first week of June, but especially since moving into the leadoff role in late July, where he proved to be a galvanizing force for an offense that had exhausted seemingly every other available leadoff option before turning to the 6-foot-5, 240-pound right fielder.

  Heyward hit .357 with six doubles, five  homers, 15 RBIs and a .426 OBP and .607 slugging percentage in his last 22 games before Niese broke his jaw in two places. That 22-game stretch began the day after he moved to the leadoff spot, and Heyward played every Braves game in that period before the injury.

   The Braves went 18-4 in those 22 games, batting .267 with 25 homers and 114 runs, an average of 5.2 runs per game.

   In 25 games since losing Heyward, the Braves are 12-13 and have batted .227 with 20 homers and 78 runs (3.1 per game).

   The Braves are 4-9 with a .199 batting average in their past 13 games, and have totaled 37 runs in that span including two or fewer runs in seven games. They’ve been shut out twice in a current three-game losing streak, and in their past five games they’ve totaled 10 runs and been held to five or fewer hits three times.

   Like I said, it’s hard to overstate how much they’ve missed Heyward, and easy to see why they are so eager to get him back. There is no definite timetable for his return, but Heyward has been taking batting practice with the team since last Friday, and today (Wednesday) they flew in Triple-A pitcher  Mark Lamm to throw about 30 pitches -- fastballs, breaking balls, the whole repertoire -- in Heyward's first batting practice against a pitcher instead of a coach throwing from about 50 feet at about 50-60 mph.

 The session went well, by all accounts, and it sounded as if Heyward would need at least a few more of these sessions in the comig days before he might be ready to play. But again, there is not set timetable. It's when the Braves and Heyward agree he's comfortable and ready to play.

  He hopes to rejoin the Braves to play at least a few regular season games before the season ends Sept. 29, and be ready for the playoffs. But as he pointed out Tuesday, that’s not his call to make.

  “Any discussions as far as where, when, and what, is really out of my hands,” he said Tuesday morning here in Washington before the Braves were swept in a doubleheader and shut out 4-0 in the nightcap. “That’s just how I have to look at it -- be prepared and ready to go whenever or wherever. That’s always going to be the GM that determines where or when, because he has the final say-so. All I can do is continue to work and be ready as soon as possible.”

  I asked Heyward on Tuesday if he was encouraged by the progress since he resumed taking batting practice and working out on the field.

  “I’m not encouraged or discouraged or anything like that, I’m really just focused on working my way back to get in shape as soon as possible,” he said. “I have to be patient, because I know it’s going to take time. I can’t just do it in one day. That’s kind of where I’m at right now.

 “My main goal is just to be ready to do something as soon as possible. Because if you start focusing on too many other things, you get detoured on what you need to be focused on day by day. I know somebody is going to tell me where and when to go. That’s out of my hands.”

   Before anyone reads anything into that and thinks maybe his recovery hasn’t gone well, that’s not the case at all. Heyward was just being realistic and truthful. He said he’s gotten more strength and energy back every day/

   Heyward was asked again if he had anything in mind, if he’d like to play two or three regular-season games, or maybe a week’s worth, before the playoffs.

  “I just want to do as much as I can, as much as time will allow, to be honest,” he said. “So the sooner I get back, the more opportunities I have to get at-bats, wherever it is. I would realistically like to play games with this team before the regular season is out, but I know that – it’s in my hands, but then it’s not.

 “Just let time takes its course. Just keep killing it every day and see where I finish up.”

  Simply put, the Braves’ offense is a shell of what it was since he went down. And while their pitching has been outstanding all season and carried them through some rough patches, lately even they are showing some signs of the stress that comes with knowing you can’t afford to give up more than a couple of runs and have a chance to win with this offense.

  While Heyward’s absence shouldn’t have such a profound effect on so many other hitters in the lineup, his presence and the charge he gave the Braves were just the sort of intangibles that are difficult for some folks to quantify, but can be huge.

  “When Fredi moved Jason to the leadoff spot, I didn’t dislike it, but I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal,” Braves hitting coach Greg Walker said. “But I talked to Jason about it yesterday. The thing that I think Jason did – first off, the leadoff spot I think has been our biggest deficiency. Everybody talks about our strikeouts, but the lack of a leadoff hitter to get on base, to me, has really been our biggest miss. When he filled that, and he was efficient getting on base, it filled it.

  “But the bigger part to me was, when a 6-foot-5, 240-pound man steps up there to lead off, it says, ‘OK, the fight’s starting on the first pitch.’”

   And there you go. Intangible.

 “He competes at a high level,” Walker continued. “He gets after it. Even when he’s not going good, he competes. And it’s just like, he set the tone for the rest of our at-bats the rest of the day. ‘OK, it’s game on.’ We’re not wondering what’s going to happen. You’re not putting certain guys up there and wondering, OK, what’s he going to do today? All you know is when Jason stepped up there, the fight’s on, baby. We’re starting right now on the first pitch, and we’re coming after you. And that’s the feeling I got.

  “And then we got results, too. But I do think that was part of it. Nobody is going to out-compete Jason, even when he’s going bad. So I think it just set the tone.”

  At the plate, and elsewhere.

 “He can do so much once he gets on the bases,” Walker said. “Score on a double, steal a base -- he can do a lot of different things, he’s got a lot of different ways of beating you. And we’ve missed him. Get him back and just  playing good – he doesn’t have to be great; just be good….

  “His defense  is off the charts. He does so many things.”

   Then he said again, “We’re  hoping we get him back.”

  They’d better hope like hell. Because at this point, it doesn’t look like anything else has as good a chance of snapping these Braves out of their funk and getting them on a roll again before the season ends.

  • Other leadoff guys: While it might be hard to quantify Heyward’s other effects on the team, it’s not difficult to compare his statistics to the others who’ve tried – and mostly failed, especially lately – in the leadoff role for the Braves.

  Jordan Schafer was having a really strong season before he fouled a ball off his right ankle and suffered a stress fracture that put him on the DL for about five weeks. Schafer went 12-for-33 (.364) with four extra-base hits in his last 16 games before going on the DL, but is just 15-for-92 (.163) with three extra-base hits and a .238 OBP in 27 games since returning.

  Schafer 1-for-24 in his past nine games with four walks and 10 strikeouts.

  Meanwhile, B.J. Upton’s terrible season rolls on. He’s 1-for-28 with four walks and 14 strikeouts in his past nine games, and has hit .153 (13-for-85) in his past 29 games with one homer, six RBIs, 37 strikeouts and a .229 OBP and .212 slugging percentage.

  Braves leadoff hitters have a collective .245 average and .305 OBP, third-worst in both categories and better than only the Marlins and Mets. Throw out Heyward’s .341 average in 88 at-bats in the leadoff spot, and all other Braves have hit a meager .226 (126-for-558).

BRAVES Wednesday lineup

1. EJohnson ss
2. JUpton rf
3. Freeman 1b
4. Gattis lf
5. McCann c
6. CJohnson3b
7. Uggla 2b
8. Schafer cf
9. Wood p

  • Next up, Cubs: The Nationals ended the Braves’ chances of sweeping and celebrating on the defending division champion’s home field, and the Braves need a win in today’s series finale in D.C. if they hope to clinch at Wrigley Field during a three-game series against the Cubs that  starts Friday.

   The Nationals, who’ve won 10 of 11 games and hit .306 with a 2.09 ERA in that stretch, start a four-game home series Thursday against the Jose Fernandez-less Marlins.

   The Braves magic number is four entering Wednesday’s game at D.C., meaning any combination of four Braves wins and Nationals losses gives Atlanta the division title it last won in 2005.

   The Braves (89-62) enter Wednesday just one game ahead of the Cardinals (88-63) for the NL’s best record and home-field advantage through the league playoffs, and two games ahead of both the Pirates and Dodgers (each 87-64).

   If sweeping the Cubs this weekend sounds reasonable, consider this: The Braves and Cubs are both 6-10 with identical 3.70 team ERAs and .221 batting averages in September, and the Cubs have scored four more runs (57) then the Braves.

 The five NL teams with better ERAs than the Braves this month all have at least 10 wins, and only the Mets and Marlins have fewer wins in September, with five apiece.

   The Braves have the worst record among NL playoff contenders this month, but the Dodgers aren’t much better at 7-9 (4.21 ERA), and the Pirates are 8-8 (4.37 ERA).

  • Nationals pleased with selves:  For the month, the Nationals lead the league in ERA (2.60), runs (91), homers (25) and stolen bases (18), and their 13-3 record gives them three wins more than any other NL team in September.

    Denard Span’s fifth-inning single Tuesday night extended the center fielder’s hitting streak 28 games, longest in majors since Dan Uggla's 33-game streak in 2011. Span was also thrilled about preventing the Braves from clinching during this series at Nationals Park.

  “Most definitely,” he said. “We definitely didn’t want to see that. We didn’t want to see them jumping around on our field. They can do that somewhere else, not here in Washington this year."

   Said Nats manager Davey Johnson: “I think it sends a good message over to Atlanta that we’re not going anywhere. We struggled a little bit early, but we’re certainly a capable ballclub and we’ve got the talent to compete with anybody.”

   Actually, where they’re going is still likely home as soon as the regular season ends. Because while the Nats are baseball’s hottest team right now, they waited too long and are still 4-1/2 games behind Cincy for the second wild-card spot with only 11 games to go.

   Before their current 11-1 surge, the Nationals were 51-54 in their previous 105 games.

   • Braves in September: How bad has most of lineup been? Well, among Braves with at least 25 at-bats in September, here are the batting averages and OBPs: Freeman (.356/.418), E. Johnson (.300/.333), C. Johnson (.296/.333), Simmons (.250/.316), Gattis (.218./.232), J. Upton (.214/.313), Schafer (.176/.213), McCann (.143/.268), Uggla (.143/.294), B. Upton (.128/.239).

   • RISP woes return: The Braves had a run at midseason when they lifted their runners-in-scoring-position average from last in the NL to middle of the pack. But they’ve regressed dramatically during the past month or more, including a 1-for-14 showing in Tuesday's losses.

   The Braves are tied with Arizona for 20^th in the majors in average with runners in scoring position at .245, despite Freddie Freeman’s .415 average (52-for-122) in those situations, second-best in the NL and the only non-Cardinal in the top six. Yes, the only non-St. Louis hitter in the top six in the league with RISP. It’s crazy what the Cards have done this year.

   Other than Freeman and Chris Johnson, whose .349 RISP average ranks eighth in the NL,  the rest of the Braves have a a combined .211 average with runners in scoring position, going 193-for-914 in those situations.

  The Cubs (.219) are the only major league team hitting below .227 with runners in scoring position, while the Cardinals have a jaw-dropping .329 average with runners in scoring position.

   • Walden woes: Before being sidelined with a groin injury in late August, Jordan Walden had a 1.47 ERA in and .133 opponents’ average in his last 32 appearances, with 36 strikeouts, 10 walks and two homers allowed in 30-2/3 innings.

   Since returning a week ago, Walden has a 16.88 ERA and .462 opponents’ average in three appearances, with no strikeouts, one walk and two homers allowed in 2-2/3 innings. He’s allowed six hits and five runs in those three games.

  Fredi Gonzalez said after Walden gave up three runs and a homer in the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s 4-0 loss that he believes it’s just rust, that Walden is healthy and the velocity is normal. They’ll keep using him and hope he can get back to being the guy he was before  the injury, because they obviously need him in a ‘pen that’s still the top-rated unit in baseball but has lately shown signs of fatigue.

  • Tonight’s matchup: It’s Braves rookie Alex Wood, coming off a couple of rough starts, against Nats righty Ross Ohlendorf (4-0, 3.15 ERA).

   Wood is 0-1 with a 14.14 ERA ajnd .459 opponents’ average in his past two starts, after going 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his previous six. He had a majors-leading 0.90 ERA and .190 opponents’ average in five August starts, and allowed five hits, one run, no walks and nine strikeouts in 6-1/3 innings for no decision in an Aug. 16 win against the National.

  The lefty has allowed 17 hits, 11 runs and five walks in seven innings over his past two starts, against the Marlins and Phillies. This will be his first game in 11 days since giving up nine hits and four runs in 4-2/3 innings of a loss at Philadelphia.

   Against Wood, Anthony Rendon is 2-for-2, and Span, Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond and Adam LaRoche are a combined 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts, including Span’s 0-for-3 with three K’s.

  Ohlendorf is 3-0 with a 3.34 ERA in six starts (1-0 with a 2.86 ERA in nine relief appearances). Lefty batters have hit .291 (25-for-86) against him with four homers and a .344 OBP, while righties have hit .221 (27-for-122) with two homers and a .269 OBP.

  Ohlendorf last faced the Braves in 2010. Schafer is 3-for-7 against him, McCann is 2-for-5, and Justin Upton and Uggla each is 2-for-7 with a homer. Chris Johnson is 1-for-11 with four strikeouts against him.

  • Clipping Tyler:  Nats reliever Tyler Clippard has allowed more runs (seven, all earned) in six appearances against the Braves this season than he allowed in 30 career appearances against them before this season. He had a 1.40 ERA and .147 opponents’ average against the Braves before this season, with 45 strikeouts, 13 walks and three homers in 38-2/3 innings.

    This season, the right-hander has an 11.12 ERA and .369 opponents’ average against the Braves, with six walks, four strikeouts and three homers  allowed in 5-2/3 innings. The Braves have scored at least one run against him in  all six appearances, including Evan Gattis' two-run homer in the eighth inning of Tuesday's 6-5, Game 1 loss, when Craig Kimbrel blew a two-run lead in the ninth and the last two runs scored on a grounder that Andrelton Simmons botched.

• Enough gloom, let's hear a cool tune that Tom Waits did with the band Thelonious Monster. (Actually, it's kind of gloomy, too, but it's great. Listen to it by clicking here.)

“ADIOS LOUNGE” by Thelonious Monster feat. Tom Waits
I know an oldtimer
Just a nickel-and-dimer
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
And for whiskey and smokes
Recites poems and jokes
But he's not just your average clown
And he's entertaining nightly
Down the Adios Lounge
And he puts it politely
But he does lay it down

Now I lie here alone in my bed
With these words running wild in my head
He said...

Don't let nobody go there for you
Don't be satisfied with a second-hand life
Don't let nobody stifle or bore you
Handle your troubles or take on your strife
Don't let nobody live your life for you
Not your friends, not your kids, no not even your wife
If you want to know where the rainbow ends
It's you who´ve got to go there and find it my friend

So I'm going back down
To the Adios Lounge
Where there's no one to wait up for me
I hope he's still around
Oh, that crazy old scrounge
To tell us how things ought to be
He said...

Don't let nobody go there for you
Don't be satisfied with a second-hand life
Don't let nobody stifle or bore you
Handle your troubles or take on your strife
Don't let nobody live your life for you
Not your friends, not your kids, no not even your wife
If you want to know where the rainbow ends
It's you who've got to go there and find it my friend

So I buy him more drinks
Just to hear what he thinks
Oh, it's worth it to see him almost smile
It's worth feeling free for a while
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the bar down the Adios Lounge