LaRoche off to hot start with Braves

“Here, it’s just about all of us trying to get back in the [playoff] hunt.”

LaRoche said he and his wife, Jennifer, probably will live for the rest of the season in a Peachtree City home owned by Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester. (It says something about LaRoche’s amiable personality that a teammate for one week would hand him the keys to his house for two months.)

“I have no idea” what the house is like, LaRoche said. “But I know it’s got a pond behind it, stocked with bass.”

LaRoche has a track record for hitting much better in the second half than the first, a big reason the Braves traded Casey Kotchman to Boston to get the pending free agent. They thought LaRoche would provide more power and RBIs.

He has had an immediate impact for the Braves. LaRoche had two key hits in a 4-3 win against the Dodgers in his first game Saturday, went 4-for-4 with a walk in five plate appearances in Tuesday’s 9-2 win at San Diego, and singled and scored the Braves’ second run Wednesday in a 6-2 win against the Padres.

His homer Monday made him the fourth player in the past 10 seasons to hit a homer for three teams, including at least one from each league. For the season, he has hit .260 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs in 98 games for Pittsburgh, Boston and the Braves.

True to form, the smooth-swinging left-hander has stepped things up recently, batting .378 with five doubles and two homers in his past 13 games, while playing for three teams in that stretch.

Was he surprised to continue a surge despite two trades in barely a week?

“No, because I’ve been pretty comfortable in the places I’ve been [traded to], especially coming back here around these clowns,” LaRoche said, nudging Braves catcher Brian McCann seated beside him on a clubhouse sofa Wednesday.

“Good to have you back,” McCann said with a sarcastic tone.

Diaz’s erratic night

Matt Diaz had an extreme mixed-bag performance Tuesday night, when he grounded into three double plays and hit a two-run homer in a win against the Padres.

He became the first Brave to hit a homer and ground into three double plays in a game since the team moved to Atlanta, and first major-leaguer to do it since Scott Rolen of St. Louis in 2002.

Diaz, who had never grounded into more than one double play in a game, grounded into one apiece in the second, fourth and ninth innings. After the third double play, Cox and teammates kidded Diaz, letting him know he was only one from tying Joe Torre’s 1975 single-game major-league record of four.

Lowe’s L.A. return

Derek Lowe is set to start Thursday in the Braves’ series opener at Dodger Stadium, his first game back after four seasons with the Dodgers through 2008.

He’s not expecting anything like the standing ovation he received when he returned earlier this season to Boston, where fans saluted the pitcher who helped guide them to their 2004 World Series title.

“They’ll boo me,” Lowe said of Dodgers fans. “They boo everyone who comes back there. Tomorrow is just another ballgame.”

Carlyle, Infante rehab

Buddy Carlyle pitched two scoreless innings (one hit, one strikeout) in a rehab appearance for Class A Rome on Tuesday. He has missed two months while recovering first from a lower back strain, then a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes after losing 20 pounds.... Infielder Omar Infante, returning from a broken hand, went 1-for-3 with a walk in his first rehab game at Rome on Tuesday, and was 1-for-2 with a single and a flyout to the warning track through five innings Wednesday.