Well, Manchester United failed to make any attempt at a comeback last night in Milan, falling 3-0 to the Italian football club. Thanks for showing up Reds...here are some nice parting gifts for you. Bye, bye treble. Oh well, there's still the Premiership and the FA Cup.
On a happier note, the Braves continued their great play last night, disposing of the Phillies 4-3. Chipper Jones is leading the National League in HRs (10), with 22 RBIs and a .318 average to boot. Perhaps we're seeing the reemergence of one of the best players (and by all accounts clean) in the game and a return to his MVP form of 1999. So far, I have to say I'm impressed with the active roster the Braves front office has put together around the nucleus of John Smoltz and the Jones boys.
Let's face it, Bobby Cox has to be nearing the end of his remarkable run with Atlanta, and with guys like Smoltzy and Chipper entering their penultimate years, or, in Andruw's case, likely headed to another ball club, these guys want to win another World Series as much as Kobe wishes he had Shaq back in L.A. John Schuerholz has built a solid group of players to help achieve this. Jeff Francoeur is playing lights-out and is more patient at the plate this season (.311, 5 HRs, 25 RBIs), Brian McCann is the next coming of Mike Piazza, but without the Posh Spice attitude, Tim Hudson is pitching like he did in Oakland (3-0, 1.40 ERA), Edgar Renteria is getting on base a lot (OBP of .403) and making the defensive plays we expect of him, and Kelly Johnson is filling in admirably at second (.323, 5 HRs). Bob Wickman, of blowing-saves-by-the-bushel-in-Cleveland fame, has been shutting down opponents left and right...that is until this week when he blew two saves and ended up on the 15-day DL. All things considered, the Braves are making a serious argument for being a contender for late October baseball glory. Of course, we have 5 and a half months to see how it all shakes out. I like our chances, though.
Stay tuned...
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