The bad news is, the Braves are only 8-10 in June. The good news is, the Mets have been even worse so despite a rough stretch earlier in the month, the Braves sit just a game and a half back of the first place Mets. Things are a lot more tight behind the Braves with the Phillies breathing down their neck but when you put yourself in a situation where if you just win you can take home the division, then it’s all good.
Chipper Jones racked up his 2,000 hit and there’s little doubt he’s one of the best switch hitters ever. He also leads the team with twelve homeruns despite the injuries and he has that OPS back up over 1.000 again.
Edgar Renteria is probably the biggest surprise. He’s hitting .330/.392/.519 and he leads the team with 47 runs. He also already had ten homeruns and his career mark is only 16.
John Smoltz is still rolling and it looks like the contract extension was warranted. He leads the team in wins with 8 and ERA with 2.84 and he’s probably on the back end of a short list of Cy Young candidates. And with win number 200 out of the way, he should be more then up for the challege of 250.
Game two against the Red Sox is tonight and it’ll be Tim Hudson going up against Josh Beckett. Beckett is coming off his first loss so hopefully the Braves can make that two in a row and with a Braves win and a Mets loss, it’ll put the Braves just a half game out of first place.
