Braves close out "first half" winning two straight

With the unofficial end to the first half of the season upon us, I thought it would be fun to recap a few themes of the first three months.

INJURIES: The biggest recurring theme has been the influx of players headed to the DL. From John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Mike Hampton and Rafael Soriano to Mark Kotsay, Omar Infante and Matt Diaz, there hasn’t been one area that has not been hurt by injuries at some point this season.

Comebacks: It’s hard to say that a guy that has only been in the league for about three years could be having a comeback year, but that’s just what 2008 has been for catcher Brian McCann. 2007 was definitely a down year for him as he struggled with an injury, but in 2008 he leads NL catchers in homeruns, 2nd in average and 3rd in RBIs.

Speaking of big years, Chipper Jones is having a monster of a first half. He spent most of April and May flirting with .400 and still leads the league in average at .378. But most importantly, he has remained healthy.

Tough Losses: The Braves have had quite an issue winning one run games this season standing at just 4-22, and 0-17 in such games on the road. They also have not been doing so well in extra inning games, proving very costly in their hopes of making to the playoffs.

Moving Up and Down the Ladder: Mostly due to injuries, the Braves have seemingly had a rotating group of guys come up to the Majors for a couple of games before being sent back down. And then there’s the whole Jeff Francoeur debacle, but I think we all know where I stood on that issue.

The Braves will now move into the second half riding a two game win streak. But they sit five games below .500 and 6 ½ behind the Phillies in the NL East. They aren’t out of it...yet...look at the Mets, two weeks ago they were tied with the Braves and now they’re just a half by Philadelphia, but the clock is ticking even faster for Atlanta. If they don’t turn things around in the next ten days, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Mark Teixeira wearing a different uniform on August 1st.

News&Notes: Greg Maddux might have played his final game against his former team...Congrats to Jair Jurrjens who was named National League Rookie of the Month for June.
(Photo: Danny Moloshok/AP)

It’s been fun blogging with you,
Kate