Things looked pretty promising. After a three game winning streak via a sweep over the Pirates to start the second half, the Braves have lost five of eight and haven’t been able to string together successive wins since said streak. Still, there’s some reasons to be happy here.
Johm Smoltz is one of those reasons. He’s looked very good in his two starts since coming off of the disabled list and in the process, he picked up this tenth win of the season. If the Braves are going to keep pace with the Mets, Smoltz is going to have to win most of his starts. I know that’s a lot to ask, but it’s what you expect from your ace.
Andruw Jones is actually putting up a respectable month of July. He’s hitting a month high .282 and his seven homers are more then any other month, which is nice considering the break and the fact there’s a week’s worth of games left. We’ll need Andruw Jones too and it’s nice seeing him heat up a little bit.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, the Braves do with Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He’s getting some time in at first base but you know a lot of teams are salivating over that bat considering he’s a catcher. If the Braves could get some pen help and maybe another starter, I say they jump. Help at first base would useful too with the struggles of Scott Thorman.
Still, three games back isn’t horrible considering the current skid. The Braves continue their four game series aganst the Barry Bonds show tonight. Tim Hudson is on the mound and the Braves’ hitters will go up against Matt Morris.
