Winning is a habit for Atlanta

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Winning is a habit for Atlanta
By MATT WONG, MOP Squad Sports Staff Writer
Aug 29, 2004 - 6:56:00 PM

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As a die hard San Francisco Giants fan, its tough to watch this current wrap around series with the Atlanta Braves. We�re fighting for our playoff lives, while the Braves seem like a finely tuned machine.

Smoltz and Jones have been staples for Atlanta

However this Braves team was written off by basically everyone. Even the very respectable Harold Reynolds believed the Braves would finish 4th in the NL East. They lost Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield and Javy Lopez. It seemed the dynasty was coming to an end.

Looking at this team now, I�d say they are better than ever. General Manager John Scherholtz and the most underrated manager in baseball, Bobby Cox have created something special with this ball club. A perfect mix of power, speed, experience and youth. Their lineup is deep but diverse. They don�t depend on the long ball like other teams. They play little ball, run the bases and get the clutch base hit. Furcal and Giles set the table for Chipper and J.D. while Estrada drives in anybody who makes it into scoring position. And oh yeah, Andruw Jones is in this lineup too. They basically platoon in left field and at first base. In left, young gun Charles Thomas brings pure athleticism and rookie enthusiasm to the park everyday; while Eli Marrero is nothing short of solid with a .339 batting average (as of 8/29). First baseman Adam LaRoche reminds me of a young Will Clark. And the ageless Julio Franco continues to be productive. This team can score runs in a number of ways. They steal when they need to, bunt when it�s necessary, go 1st to 3rd as good as any team in the national league and yes, they can hit the long ball. No Sheffield, no Javy, but still no problem scoring runs.

As for pitching and defense, the Braves are just as potent. Russ Ortiz has become a legitimate #1 starter, Jaret Wright has come back from the dead, and looks more like a pitcher, instead of a young kid who throws hard. Mike Hampton�s career looked to be as promising as a new Ben Affleck movie, until I gave him a second chance, by signing him onto my first place fantasy team. But that�s neither here nor there. Moving on, Paul Byrd has come back from arm surgery and looks to be 100%. While John Thompson seems to be getting stronger as the season goes on, and Horacio Ramirez is expected to come back from injury soon, the Braves as always, have no worries in the starting pitching department.

The bullpen doesn�t jump out at you, but it is still pretty effective. Chris Reitsma is the first legitimate set up man the Braves have had in a long time. John Smoltz is unhittable, when rested. Juan Cruz is a year away from being the next Pedro Martinez. And rookie Roman Colon could have a Francisco Rodriguez effect in the postseason. And we all know how that ended up.

Life's been good lately for Chipper

As for defense, the Braves are very athletic and cover a lot of ground. I consider the outfield of Jones, Drew and Thomas/ Marrero as the best in the National League, and maybe only Minnesota�s trio of Hunter, Stewart, and Jones are superior. The key word is maybe. The infield can be spectacular, but erratic at times, especially up the middle. There is nobody more spectacular at shortstop than Rafael Furcal. However, he has a tendency to lose his concentration on routine plays. The same shoe fits for Marcus Giles. The spectacular comes easy to them, but the consistency isn�t there yet. Chipper, who is reborn as a third baseman, is steady in the field. He�s also battling it out with Adrian Beltre as my second half most valuable player. LaRoche and Franco are with the elite (by elite I mean J.T. Snow) fielding first basemen in the league.

So with all that said, who can stop the Atlanta Braves? The answer is themselves. They�ve been notorious for underachieving in the postseason. Only 1 World Series championship in this amazing run they�ve had. While Maddux and Glavine tended to struggle in the postseason, Russ Ortiz and Jaret Wright have had success. Hampton also adds some playoff experience and �football� mentality that is needed for October baseball. This isn�t your older brother�s Braves squad. It�s built to win, to play real baseball and not to underachieve. The Yankees will learn a similar lesson that the selection committee for the dream team learned. Building a championship team is different then creating an All-Star team. The Braves lost a lot of star power in the last few years, and probably sell fewer jerseys in the dugout store because of it. But a second world title would finally make people consider this Braves dynasty among the elite in baseball history.