Man, what happened?  They went from dominating their division for over a decade, and now they can barely stay above last place?  I know that they were in sort of a rebuild mode, but does it take this long?  They had a lot of very good pieces in place there in Chipper, Teixiera, and Renteria, and now only Chipper remains.  Credit to them though, they got fantastic hauls for Tex and Edgar.  Out of the Renteria deal they got Jair Jurrjens who has been a stud for them, and the Tex deal netted them young 1B Casey Kotchman who has the makings to be an above-average player for many years.

They have some other guys too, like Escobar, McCann, and Francouer, but I still think they need a few more young arms before they want to start another NL East winning streak.

What a fantastic baseball player this guy is.  The 36 year old seems to be ageless and is improving every year, especially this year.  Through 28 games the guy’s hitting .425 with 9 home runs and 27 RBI, and if it weren’t for Chase Utley, he’d be the early favorite for NL MVP, and regardless he’s still in the running.  He’s been carrying this team on his back so far, which is a rare thing to say about a guy of Chipper’s age.  He’s one of the few guys you can pencil in for .300/30/100 before the season even starts, and right now he’s on a pace to do even better than that.  Hell, even in a shortened 2007 season (134 games), he hit 29 home runs and drove in 102.  Imagine how much better his stats would have been had he not missed 28 games.  His 2005 and 2006 seasons were also injury plagued, but he seems to have gotten over it.  If he can stay healthy and play at least 150 games, he’ll be in the top 3 for NL MVP voting, and he’ll hit .325 and 35-40 home runs.  It’s a big if, but it’s not like he’s Mike Hampton, someone Braves fans are unfortunately familiar with.  He should also be suiting up for the National League when the All Star Game is played at New York’s Yankee Stadium later this summer.

Just when you thought the younger generation was finally breaking through, guys like Chipper Jones come out and remind us that they’re still here and that they’re as productive as they ever were, and the future generation, at least the future generation of 3rd basemen, needs to wait a little while longer to take over the throne, because Chipper doesn’t seem to willing to give it up just yet.

As of 5 pm today, the Atlanta Braves are sitting at a .500 record 2 games behind the NL East leader, Philadelphia Phillies. Their record is currently 15-15, but the Braves have won 3 straight and are currently on their way to winning 4 straight games. A reason for their current streak is attributed to Chipper Jones. Jones is currently leading the MLB in batting average with a .425 average. He is also 4th in the National League in RBIs with 27, 3rd in the National League in HRs with 9, and 2nd in the National League in Slugging Percentage with a .717 average. The leader of the pitching staff is veteran pitcher, Tim Hudson. Hudson has started 7 games and has a 4-2 win-loss record. His ERA is 2.95 which ranks 11th best in the National League. Hudson, who is currently earning $1,550,000, has pitched 42.2 innings which leads the Braves. The Braves are looking to start a new streak NL East win streak after winning almost 15 NL East Division titles. Only time will tell if the Braves can beat out the Mets, lead by Johan Santana, and the Phillies, lead by Jimmy Rollins.

Is anybody really happy to have Glavine back this year?

I must admit I didn’t see this ever happening while he was a Met, and still gotta kinda pinch myself about it.  How long do you guys think he can pith for us?  You think he an win 15 games?  The guy seems to never get hurt so I think it’s a pretty good possibility.

Atlanta Braves left-hander Mike Hampton pitched one inning and allowed one hit with one strikeout in his Mexican Winter League debut Thursday for Novojoa the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. It the first of seven starts Hampton is scheduled to make as he embarks on his latest comeback bid.

He has missed the past two seasons recovering from elbow surgeries, and the Braves are cautiously optimistic about the possibility of Hampton returning to the starting rotation in 2008.

Although team officials said two weeks ago that Hampton hoped to pitch three innings in his winter league debut, that decision was apparently reconsidered before Thursday.

Does anybody think this guy an actually come back and be a factor in the starting lineup?  I’m iffy on it.

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