Day 19 of July, 2006 and to suggest that the Atlanta Braves are swinging the lumber would be a bit of an understatement. They have played 14 games in the seventh month of the year and are 13-1 on the over total in that span. Do you have your sportsbook on speed dial yet?
That, folks, is an astonishing 93% and I can live with those numbers any time of the year. Andruw Jones was 5-for-5 with two homers and matched his career high with six RBIs helping the Braves to become the first team since the ’30 Yankees to score 10 or more runs in five straight games with a 14-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Adam LaRoche, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann also homered for the Braves who have scored 65 runs during an offensive explosion that includes two 15-run games. The last time the franchise reached double figures in five straight games was in 1897 when the Braves were called the Beaneaters and they totaled 61 runs.
The 65 runs in five games is the best by the franchise since those same Beaneaters totaled 78 including 25 in one game and 21 in another from May 31-June 3. The Braves have 81 hits during their five-game run and 98 in their last six going back to an 8-3 victory over Cincinnati on July 9 which is the last game before the All-Star break.
Chipper Jones was 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, all but four multihit efforts. He’s batting .534 (39-for-73) during the streak with eight homers and 23 RBIs.
During their six-game winning streak they’ve outscored their opponents 77-32 and they’ve hit 19 homers in the last five games — the most for the franchise in a five-game span and only two off the major league record set by the 1977 Boston Red Sox and 1999 Cincinnati Reds.
The Cardinals lost 15-3 in the opener of the three-game series on Monday and trailed 13-1 in the fifth Tuesday, a two-game sequence reminiscent of blowout losses to the Chicago White Sox by 20-6 and 13-5 on June 20-21.
After ripping starters Jeff Weaver and Jason Marquis, Atlanta faces Chris Carpenter (8-4, 2.85 ERA) in Wednesday’s series finale. He beat the Braves on July 4 by holding them to two runs and four hits in five innings of a 6-3 road win, his first victory in four career starts against Atlanta.
Carpenter is going for his third straight win after striking out seven in pitching a two-hitter in the Cardinals’ 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
If you’re into sports betting and winning, play the over!
Bob Acton
