The Braves are Back..... Maybe.

I just got back home from Turner Field, and was fortunate enough to see the Braves break out the brooms against the first place Phills. To say Atlanta needed those three games, would be a huge understatement. After losing 6 out of 9 against the Yankees and Red Sox, the Braves were desperate to turn things around and at least give themselves a shot in the race for the N.L. East. There was no better time to get three wins than against a Philly ball club that beat them every time the two teams met at Turner Field in 2008.

Incredibly, the offense that has been so miserable all season, figured it out. Who knows, maybe it will be their most potent output of the year, and the bats will come back down to earth. Make that below the earth, because they have not been good enough to be called mediocre until this Phillies series. Martin Prado became a catalyst for a club that has had only three solid hitters this year( Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Yunel Escobar). Prado nearly won the first game of the series by himself. He went 4-5 and drove in four runs, including the game-tying and game-winning RBI's.

Although Prado had the single best series of any Atlanta hitter, Gregor Blanco and Matt Diaz were just as valuable. Blanco, replacing an injured Nate McLouth, set the table all three games. His slap hitting mixed with great speed, reminded me of Otis Nixon. Even his outs tended to be productive and at the very least, put pressure on the defense. Matt Diaz, a guy who has been a streaky hitter his entire career, decided to become red hot. He went 7-11 in the series, scoring 4 runs and driving in 3, including a homerun. Diaz also enjoyed a clutch moment like Prado did in game one, by driving in the winning run in the series finale.

Other than the role players playing great, the ball finally began to bounce Atlanta's way. What proved to be the key play of the third game of the series, was a wild pitch by Mike Gonzalez in the eighth inning. Jayson Werth took off from third when he saw the pitch deflect off of McCann's glove and head all the way to the backstop. Gonzalez, sprinted to cover home, and McCann slid to the ground to recover the baseball, spun, and threw a strike to Gonzalez at home. Werth slid head first as Gonzalez received the throw and jabbed his glove at the runner. The home plate umpire waited a brief moment, and gave an emphatic out call. The crowd went nuts. The players went nuts. Even Bobby Cox showed a sign of life. That momentum carried into the bottom half of the inning and led the Braves to three runs and the series sweep.

Nobody knows what this sweep of the Phillies will mean in the long run. It could certainly lead to an extended run for Atlanta, since they go to Washington for three games, starting Friday night. While the Nationals aren't a scary team, the Braves have a startling trait of playing to the level of their competition. It would not surprise me at all to see the offense go back into stand-by mode and lose this series to the Nats. But for right now, the Braves have swept the defending World Champions, and find themselves 2 games back of the division lead. And in Atlanta, that will suffice for now.