When he saw that Chris Johnson wasn’t in the lineup Sunday, Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman couldn’t resist razzing his teammate, saying Johnson was “sitting on” his league-leading .331 batting average.
Freeman was joking. He and the rest of the Braves know the average is not something their third baseman and improbable NL batting leader dwells upon.
Johnson was out of the lineup for a rest day Sunday after getting four hits in Saturday’s 11-inning, 5-4 win against Miami.
“It’s just pretty much a day off, really,” said Johnson, adding that it wasn’t related to a turf-toe condition he got after stumbling over first base on an infield hit a week ago at St. Louis. “Long game yesterday, lot of running. Sore legs. Just tired, that’s all.”
Saturday’s game was just his second multi-hit game in the past 11, but it moved Johnson back ahead of St. Louis’ Yadier Molina (.328) for the NL lead entering the final month of the season.
“It’s cool,” Johnson said. “I mean, I don’t know if it’s (serious) yet. When you’ve got two weeks left, that might be the time to say there’s a shot. But right now? A month? A lot can happen in a month. You can be hitting .330 at the beginning of the month and be hitting .315 at the end. Or you can be hitting .340, something like that.”
Johnson relishes the fact that his batting lead has been largely overshadowed by the Braves’ team success.
“I love the fact that it’s under the radar and it’s not even an issue,” he said. “It helps me out, too, because no hitter wants to think about going out there and, ‘Oh, I dropped a point, he’s getting closer…’ In my career I’ve never been in a spot where (his team) had a lead and I can focus on something other than myself, which is great.
“I think honestly some of the biggest part of my success this year was being able to just worry about winning games. Like last night, it was not about getting hits, it was about trying to get on base and getting that win. Because the team behind us (Washington) lost and we wanted to gain another game. I think that’s the biggest part of me doing well.”
