Braves No. 3 Hitter Especially Chipper These Days

Braves No. 3 Hitter Especially Chipper These Days Braves No. 3 Hitter Especially Chipper These Days

Bobby Cox gave up, tossing the remote on his desk with resignation. There was no baseball game on the television hanging from the wall above, and hence, nothing to distract him from the thoroughly uninteresting line of questions about to be launched in his general direction by the thoroughly uninteresting group of strangers that had just invaded his office.

And, just as he knew it would, the subject came up for approximately the 100th time in a season not quite three weeks old.

With Andres Galarraga replacing Fred McGriff in the lineup, will Chipper Jones benefit offensively?

And, just as he had previously, the Atlanta Braves manager, a man whose genius has manifested itself into seven division titles, four National League pennants and a world championship, pleaded ignorance.

"I don't know," said Cox, whose team had just become the latest bully to beat up the Colorado Rockies, this time 11-4 before 48,058 at Coors Field. "I get that question all the time. I don't know if it makes a difference or not."

Well, here is a bit of statistical data to which Cox apparently isn't privvy:

Last year, with the left-handed-hitting McGriff batting behind third baseman Larry Wayne Jones Jr., the man otherwise known as Chipper hit an impressive .295, with 21 home runs and 111 RBI.

This year, with McGriff moving on to the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays and free-agent acquisition Galarraga finding a home as the Braves' new cleanup hitter, Jones stands at .433, eight and 22.

Through 16 games.

His latest showstopper came Saturday, when Jones faced his worst nightmare, who couldn't find the strike zone with a pack of bloodhounds. Pedro Astacio, against whom Jones brought a lifetime average of .167, started the switch-hitter off with a ball in the first inning, and he responded with a RBI double off the center field wall. Astacio went to 2-0 on Jones in the second, and the result was worse, a towering three-run homer into the second deck in right field.

"It was a hanging changeup, up around my eyes," Jones said. "It was the kind of pitch you dream about."

Jones later drew one of Astacio's five walks, flied hard to right against Chuck McElroy in the sixth and almost launched another off Mike Muñoz in the ninth.

"That last ball he hit was just a bullet," Cox said of the fly to left. "He just got it too low. He's been hot, and if he gets his pitches and they make mistakes, he doesn't miss."

That McElroy blew him away in the seventh didn't matter.

"I know it's not going to last forever," Jones said. "This is just one of those streaks that every player wants to have at some point during the season. To be able to do it in the first (three) weeks of the season, that's much more of a plus, because if you don't get off to a good start, you're kind of fighting an uphill battle the rest of the season."

Although he stops short of pointing directly at Galarraga's presence as a factor in his sizzling start, Jones, a much stronger hitter from the left side, does concede there are advantages. In the past, managers brought in left-handers to face him, McGriff and Ryan Klesko consecutively in late-inning situations. Now, with the right-handed Galarraga in the middle, the Braves present a stickier dilemma.

And that's another point in the favor of what may again be the league's best club.

By Tony Jackson

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