The Braves are lucky to be in the National League East this year. They could be a lot further back than the 6 1/2 games by which they trail the Phillies at the All-Star break.
For all the scorn heaped on the Pirates and Reds, the Braves' record is nearly identical to theirs. The Braves are 45-50; the Pirates, 44-51; the Reds, 46-51. None of this is lost on the Braves' Chipper Jones.
"I see a lot of the young guys," he said, "they have developed a mentality that they sit back and they wait for me or (Mark Teixeira) or (Brian McCann) to deliver the big blow. And we're not going to do it all the time.
"We need to go up with the urgency in the early innings that we seem to have in the seventh, eighth and ninth, that we seem to have when we do finally muster some runs.
"If we had that urgency at the beginning of the game, I think we would make things easier for ourselves.
"It's almost real relaxed until it's too late. We've dug ourselves a hole, and then we start playing. That's not a good approach."
