Hitting in the Jones Zone

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It was, Denny Neagle decided, the kind of streak that demanded a soundtrack. And that was even before the Braves went to Colorado and Chipper Jones went ballistic again. So 10 days ago, when Neagle drove by and picked up Jones for an afternoon game against Pittsburgh before the Braves' flight to Denver, the pitcher was prepared when Jones got in the car.

Cue soundtrack. "This is dedicated to all the hitters who are seeing the ball like a beachball right now," Neagle announced, popping a compact disc into his CD player. "And that would be Chipper Jones."

Neagle pushed the play button. And that would be "The Backstreet Boys," one of Jones' favorite groups. Neagle laughed; Jones laughed. He who sees the ball like a beachball laughs last, laughs best.

Sometimes, the baseball looks like a grapefruit -- a Grapefruit League flat, first-pitch fastball from a Class A 19-year-old right-hander. Even when it's golf-ball-sized, a 96-mile-an-hour Titleist launched by Curt Schilling, Jones sees that clearly, too. That's what April has been like for Chipper Jones. That's what it's like when you're in The Zone.

"It's just having that confidence you're going to go up there and put the ball in play hard, no matter where the guy throws it," Jones said. "If they miss their spot, you're gonna make 'em pay for it."

Like taxpayers everywhere, National League pitchers have been anteing up in April whenever Jones steps to the plate. Despite an 0-for-7 start this homestand, he's still hitting .400. Jones was named the NL Player of the Week for April 13-19; in those seven games, he batted .423 (11-for-26) with five home runs, 13 RBIs, a 1.038 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.

Jones is in the top five in the league in nine offensive categories: First in extra-base hits (16) and total bases (68), tied for first in home runs (nine) and RBIs (27), second in runs (23) and slugging percentage (.788), third in on-base percentage (.462), fourth in average (.400), and fifth in hits (34). While Thursday's 0-for-3 (with a walk) against Andy Benes ended Jones' 11-game hitting streak, it didn't faze him.

"I still feel great at the plate," Jones said. "I have confidence that if the guy messes up, I'm gonna get him."

That confidence stems from several factors.

One is Jones' intensified offseason workout program, much of it with his father, Larry, an assistant coach at Stetson University. It is designed, Jones said, "So that, God willing, I'd be in midseason form at the start of it."

Others are Jones' vow to atone for last year's NLCS; arriving two weeks early at spring training to take extra batting practice at the Disney complex with Barry Larkin and other Cincinnati Reds; milder weather this month than in Aprils past; the intimidating, right-handed presence of new cleanup man Andres Galarraga ; and, excluding Schilling, an all-you-can-beat buffet of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Colorado right-handers.

All that, enhancing one of the game's purest swings, has yielded Jones' best April. He already has far surpassed his April career total for homers (five). While he had 20 RBIs last April, he hit just two homers in the month; his ninth homer didn't come until June 16.

"I never would've thought everything would've paid off this quickly," said Jones, previously a .289 April hitter. "I've never had an April like this. Am I capable of putting up a month like this? Yeah. But I thought it'd be June, July, August. . . . Usually when we come up here [from spring training], it's been real cold. I've always been a warm-weather guy."

This month, he has been red-hot. "About as good as you can get," said Keith Lockhart, ablaze himself hitting in front of Jones in the No. 2 spot. "He looks as relaxed as anybody I've seen. Even with two strikes. If there's a guy on base, he has a way of getting him in. He's a pure hitter, disciplined, with a great swing. His bat stays in the strike zone longer, so he gets a lot of line drives. And when they see Andres on deck, they're not going to waste too many pitches. With two strikes, they're going to come at Chipper."

"When I saw him from the other side [with Colorado], I thought he was a good power hitter -- not 35-40 [homers], but 25-30," Galarraga said. "Now, I see this guy's bigger. He doesn't look as big from the other side. But when I saw him in the locker room in Orlando, I said, `Damn, Chipper, you're bigger than I thought.' He's a tall guy, a big guy."

"Everyone knew he's a good player," said Walt Weiss, the ex-Rockies player who, like Galarraga, has a heightened, every-day appreciation of Jones. "But from what I've seen over here, he's a legitimate superstar.

"He's hit a lot of homers to center field and left-center [with all nine of Jones' home runs coming from the left side]. That's a real good sign. There's not a lot of guys who drive the ball out of the park from [foul] line to line. They can smoke balls when they pull 'em. When you hit 'em the opposite way, that's a pure hitter."

That's pure Chipper, especially now. To Neagle, who grew up in Maryland as an Orioles fan, this is reminiscent of Eddie Murray's days with the O's with runners in scoring position. "I always enjoyed Eddie Murray with men on base," Neagle said. "That's how I feel about Chipper. It seems like he gets that run in seven out of 10.

"It was so much fun watching him those 8-10 games. Every ball he was hitting was going in, on the screws. Everybody was going, `Holy cow!' There's one thing being hot, another thing being locked in like he is."

"When you're seeing the ball good," Jones said, "you can see the ball right out of the pitcher's hand, whether it's a ball or strike. Whether he's got the plate covered or not. You go through stretches where you're over-anxious, you might think you can hit a pitch wherever it's thrown. That gets you in trouble."

While Jones is confident, he's still as selective as ever. These days, the view from the plate is spectacular. Even better than last summer, when he hit three grand slams in 13 games, an NL record. "I'm seeing the ball 10 times better than in that grand-slam stretch," Jones said. "That was basically a home-run streak, get a good pitch or two a game. Now, I'm getting three, four good at-bats a game. Not only hitting homers, I'm getting hits, too.

"The average, the homers, the RBIs, the runs scored. What I try to do as a hitter is go out and produce at least one run a game." Through 21 games, Jones produced 27 RBIs while scoring 23 runs.

With the departure of the lefty-swinging Fred McGriff and the arrival of Galarraga, the Braves have seen fewer left-handed starters, Jones more balls to hit. Pitchers are loathe to pitch around Jones and walk him with Galarraga -- 290 RBIs and 88 homers the last two years -- on deck.

"He's helped a lot," Jones said. "The threat of having him behind me gets me a lot of pitches, a lot of fastballs." A lot more left-handed at-bats.

For Jones, who turned 26 Friday and is in his fourth full season in Atlanta, there's also an increased knowledge of opposing pitchers. That, and some good guesswork, too. "Sometimes, I think it has to do with guessing right," he said. "Somebody tells you they're not a guess hitter, they're lying."

What truly set the tone for April, though, was two early showdowns with Schilling. "We lost both games, but I was probably as focused and locked in for those two games as any games in my career," said Jones, 3-for-7 against Schilling, including 2-for-4 on April 5, when Jones hit a homer and was not one of Schilling's 15 strikeout victims.

"This was going to give me an early-season accounting of where I am," Jones said. "If you approach it like a postseason game, you'll be on an even keel. It's those kind of matchups and ballgames that really propelled me, and gave me the confidence. To say, `This guy's probably the best pitcher we'll face, and I'm even with him.' Then you go up against someone who's a little lesser than Schilling, and you're still locked in and able to capitalize on whatever mistake they make."

And watch that beachball soar.

By Jack Wilkinson, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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