As soon as all the other Braves learn how to hit on the road, they'll be awesome.

Either that or Teixiera and Franceour start hitting like last year.

Bud Selig unavailable for comment.

anyone know how many ABs he needs to be eligible for the hitting .400 thing? because he's bound to go on the DL for a long time any day now...

RRRY!

uofacats2004: anyone know how many ABs he needs to be eligible for the hitting .400 thing? because he's bound to go on the DL for a long time any day now...

You need 3.1 plate appearances for every game your team plays. That's 3.1 * 162 = 502.

Interesting rule: If you're leading the league in batting but are, say, 20 PA's short, if you're still leading after including an imaginary 0-for-20, you win the batting title.

jimpoz: Interesting rule: If you're leading the league in batting but are, say, 20 PA's short, if you're still leading after including an imaginary 0-for-20, you win the batting title.

hm, never heard that. i ask because i could see people crying for an asterisk when he'shiatting .400 and then getting injured and sitting out the last 3 weeks on DL.

/not a braves fan

lol owned by the filter

uofacats2004: hm, never heard that. i ask because i could see people crying for an asterisk when he'shiatting .400 and then getting injured and sitting out the last 3 weeks on DL.

Something similar happened in 1990 when Willie McGee was traded to the A's while he was leading the NL with a .335 average. Since that wasn't affected by his .274 AL average, he still managed to win the batting title over Eddie Murray's .330, Dave Magadan's .328, and Len Dykstra's .325, even though McGee's overall average for the year was .324.

SlothB77: i have come to the conclusion that only a left-handed hitter will hit .400 again and it is much harder for a righty to win a batting title than it is a lefty.


What Chipper's doing is even more amazing considering he's a switch hitter hitting over .400 from BOTH sides of the plate right now!

He's been phenomenal to watch... his OBP was right at .500 yesterday when he was 2-2, so I suppose his 2 outs later in the game lowered it a smidgen.

dukeblue219: SlothB77: i have come to the conclusion that only a left-handed hitter will hit .400 again and it is much harder for a righty to win a batting title than it is a lefty.


What Chipper's doing is even more amazing considering he's a switch hitter hitting over .400 from BOTH sides of the plate right now!

He's been phenomenal to watch... his OBP was right at .500 yesterday when he was 2-2, so I suppose his 2 outs later in the game lowered it a smidgen.

This. Chipper is in an incredible groove. I don't know if he can keep it up for a full season (mainly because he is getting up in years and seems to spend a lot of time on the DL) but man, it's fun to watch.

/Go Braves!

He's putting up some awesome numbers...

He's goes 2 for 5 and his average drops..

He's hitting .400 for the season like Brandon Webb was gonna win 25 10 days ago.

Hey Ned--

You got the wrong Jones.

Lovingly,
Ric Romero

uofacats2004: anyone know how many ABs he needs to be eligible for the hitting .400 thing? because he's bound to go on the DL for a long time any day now...

Why are you idiots talking like chipper spends a lot of time in the DL, hes not on there very much for his career at least in comparison to other players at that age.

steamingpile: Why are you idiots talking like chipper spends a lot of time in the DL, hes not on there very much for his career at least in comparison to other players at that age.

Jeez, I dunno... maybe cuz John friggin' Smoltz called him out on it last year?

Whodat?: He's hitting .400 for the season like Brandon Webb was gonna win 25 10 days ago.

Chipper has basically said the same thing. "I'm a .310 hitter, I expect to be hitting .310 by the end of the season."

To paraphrase.

yeah, but he is still a whiny little biatch.

he cried last year about having to play the red sox in inter-league, when the rest of the division didnt. "waah waah, its not FAIR, waah waah!"

the phillies get them this year, and had them 2 years ago, and 3 years ago. i haven't heard any of them complain.

Daniels: steamingpile: Why are you idiots talking like chipper spends a lot of time in the DL, hes not on there very much for his career at least in comparison to other players at that age.

Jeez, I dunno... maybe cuz John friggin' Smoltz called him out on it last year?

The same Smoltz who has spent how much time on the DL in his career?

/love Smoltz, but it was bush league for him to say that last year, especially given his injury prone career

liquid duane-o: he cried last year about having to play the red sox in inter-league, when the rest of the division didnt. "waah waah, its not FAIR, waah waah!"

6 against Boston
3 against Cleveland, Minnesota, Detroit

The Mets had it the same way playing the Yankees for 6 and a series against Oakland, Detroit, and Minnesota.

The difficulty of that schedule compared to the Phillies beating up on Toronto, Kansas City, and the White Sox was quite noticeable.

That being said, the Braves just weren't very good last year either, so it probably would've have mattered who they were playing.

And, about Chipper, it's a shame to see how the last 3 years or so has apparently changed his entire perception to that of some glass-like DL man that is only playing as hard as possible until spending 2 months on the DL. He's played less than 130 games twice in his career. That's not exactly injury plagued.

Daniels: steamingpile: Why are you idiots talking like chipper spends a lot of time in the DL, hes not on there very much for his career at least in comparison to other players at that age.

Jeez, I dunno... maybe cuz John friggin' Smoltz called him out on it last year?

Yeah and he apologized as well saying he was wrong but hey way to biatch about nothing

bulldg4life: That being said, the Braves just weren't very good last year either, so it probably would've have mattered who they were playing.

Yet they still had a chance at the end, I think it says more about the NL east and how shiatty they were.

bulldg4life

He's played less than 130 games twice in his career.

Three. In 1994 he played zero due to injury.

Yeah, he wasnt an established major leaguer yet, but he would have been.

steamingpile: Yet they still had a chance at the end, I think it says more about the NL east and how shiatty they were.

... Really? The NL East that featured 3 of the top 4 and 4 of the top 6 run producers in the NL last year?

1) PHI 5.51 R/game, 892 RS.
2) COL 5.28 860
3) ATL 5.00 810
4) NYM 4.96 804
5) MIL 4.94 801
6) FLA 4.88 790

If only the Braves could play the Mets every game, they would have 140 wins and Chipper would have a .550 BA.

Daniels: Really? The NL East that featured 3 of the top 4 and 4 of the top 6 run producers in the NL last year?

If only we were playing some modified home run derby and didn't have to count the runs that the our pitching staff allowed to other teams...

The only reason they were so close is because the Mets imploded (on top of being average much of the season past the middle of June).

bulldg4life:
And, about Chipper, it's a shame to see how the last 3 years or so has apparently changed his entire perception to that of some glass-like DL man that is only playing as hard as possible until spending 2 months on the DL. He's played less than 130 games twice in his career. That's not exactly injury plagued.

Wow it's like his career has progressed normally instead of being performance enhanced now that he is in his thirties. He is on the DL a lot because he doesn't juice.

"I'm a .310 hitter, I expect to be hitting .310 by the end of the season."

That sucks since it means he will have to hit somewhere in the mid 200s the rest of the year to get there.

Wow it's like his career has progressed normally instead of being performance enhanced now that he is in his thirties. He is on the DL a lot because he doesn't juice.

Have you seen Chipper's photo on his ESPN page...As a Braves fan, it makes me wonder if he didn't in fact do some juicing.

I thought everyone juiced...well maybe not Eckstein.

No jokes about walking into a Hooter's and ordering the Chipper Jones special?

srhp29: That sucks since it means he will have to hit somewhere in the mid 200s the rest of the year to get there.

It could just be his way of avoiding the pressure of answering questions about batting .400.

Tjos Weel: Yeah, he wasnt an established major leaguer yet, but he would have been.

So a catastrophic injury before he has played substantial time in the big leagues now qualifies as missing time, geeez never knew chipper was hated that much around the league thank god he didnt cheat by taking steroids like the rest of the league.

srhp29: Wow it's like his career has progressed normally instead of being performance enhanced now that he is in his thirties. He is on the DL a lot because he doesn't juice.

Have you seen Chipper's photo on his ESPN page...As a Braves fan, it makes me wonder if he didn't in fact do some juicing.

I thought everyone juiced...well maybe not Eckstein.

Are you serious? He doesnt look like he ever juiced, the only braves I ever thought juiced was gant and rocker.

Are you serious? He doesnt look like he ever juiced, the only braves I ever thought juiced was gant and rocker.

Then you are being a silly fan that wants to see no wrong. Javy Lopez? Obvious to me. Gary Sheffield? Duh. Ryan Klesko? Perhaps. There are numerous names that could be wondered about. Don't be a Giant fan and pretend it could not possibly happen on your team. Chipper's head looks a lot like it has grown, and that is a lot of the evidence people like to cite when saying Bonds juiced (which he did). All I was saying is I am not so sure who did and who didn't and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Chipper did.


Though I must say if it ever came out that Smoltz did, I would be somewhat heartbroken.

Dating back to last year, he has a current full season BA of near... .380. While I really don't see anyone hitting .400, who knows. It has to happen someday right?

If Gwynn or Boggs couldn't do it though, I don't see Chipper doing it. As long as he doesn't end up at anything less than .350 which would mean he was hitting pretty shiatty for a large part of the rest of the season...

If the Braves get Smoltz, Soriano and Gonzalez back healthy (I don't even care about Hamp...oh I think I hurt myself trying to type his name...anymore), the Braves are going to run away with the NL East.

Unfortunately, it's clearly not going to last. Chipper's BABIP since 2000 (except for 2004, when the number was an awful .251) tends to stay between .310 and about .350. This year, as can be expected with a .400+ batting average, his BABIP is at .424. This is going to converge to the mean before too long.

Okay, I need an explanation. I'm pretty down with the newfangled stats. I love OPS. I like VORP, RC/27, offensive winning percentage, and most other acronyms.

I don't get BABIP. At All.

Yeah, if you're gonna bat 400, you're gonna have a high batting average on balls you put in play. Cause you're hitting the ball so well.

If you're gonna bat 200, you're gonna have a low BABIP. Cause you suck at hitting and everything you touch goes 50 feet. Exception for Adam Dunn.

I feel like everyone who cites BABIP seems to think that all players have the same BABIP on average, and anything changing is an aberration and a coincidence.

Or at least, when a player posts a higher or lower BABIP than compared to their career, it means they're getting lucky or unlucky, as opposed to playing better or worse.

Anyone care to explain?

tarkus1980: Unfortunately, it's clearly not going to last

I dunno...he's already been batting something like .375 since this time last year. It's not out of the realm of possibility for him to stay this locked in and get 1 extra hit every 2 weeks to keep it up.

srhp29: Then you are being a silly fan that wants to see no wrong. Javy Lopez? Obvious to me. Gary Sheffield? Duh. Ryan Klesko? Perhaps. There are numerous names that could be wondered about. Don't be a Giant fan and pretend it could not possibly happen on your team. Chipper's head looks a lot like it has grown, and that is a lot of the evidence people like to cite when saying Bonds juiced (which he did). All I was saying is I am not so sure who did and who didn't and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Chipper did.

You're stretching A LOT.

Chipper Jones was a number one pick and was projected as a superstar when in the minors. He has had one outlier in homeruns and has other wise been in the 25-35 range. It's not like he experienced a gigantic increase in power at some point in the late 90s. He has been pretty consistent and pretty good for his entire career.

Also, he did not balloon from 180 to 250 of solid muscle. He's been in the 6'4" 220 range for a good part of his career.

Besides never been connected with steroids at any point ever in his career, he hasn't seemed to suffer the stress related injuries that occur through extended steroid use. His foot and leg injuries over recent years have undeniable causes that do not in any way relate to steroids. The oblique strain is old age at best. Of course, there has been an increase in "oblique strains" but that could be associated with increased work out regimens just as easily.

After spending a few years around him, I'd put his success on his ability to remember pitchers and situations and his desire to be better than everybody else far sooner than I would say steroids.

Javy Lopez, an all the sudden explosion followed by a sharp decline and some pretty severe injuries.
Ron Gant broke his leg in a motorcycle accident and pretty much finished his career.
Ryan Klesko? Ha. He had too much of a gut to use steroids. (I'm good friends with him too and if he cared enough about baseball...he'd be using steroids to keep playing right now instead of going to hunt or hang out at his coffee plantation in central America)

Dafatone: I feel like everyone who cites BABIP seems to think that all players have the same BABIP on average, and anything changing is an aberration and a coincidence.

That's kind of the point. All players DO tend to have the same BABIP over the course of their career (around .300). Though, in the last few weeks it seems people here have been overusing it regarding hitters... a lot. It's much more useful to predict pitchers than it is for specific batters.

It doesn't regularly apply to batters because some guys are better at hitting to spots and hitting it through defenses. For the last few years, Chipper has been one of those guys. His last two seasons were around .350 and this year it's .424 so it could be time to consider him "above average."

People forget that it's a generalization... not a hard rule.