Mike Gonzalez has already drawn strong attention from a number of different teams looking for a closer and as he continues to determine where he’ll pitch next year, he’ll do so under the advisement of Scott Boras.


Two Major League sources have confirmed that Gonzalez recently chose Boras to serve as his agent. The veteran reliever had previously been represented by Dan Lozano of the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

With the addition of Gonzalez to his star-studded stable, Boras now possesses one of the top available relievers on this year’s free-agent market. The 31-year-old lefty posted a 2.42 ERA and limited opponents to a .209 batting average in the career-high 80 appearances he made for the Braves this past season.

Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

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Their season finale Sunday lasted 15 innings and nearly 4 1/2 hours and ended ingloriously in a 2-1 loss against the Washington Nationals at Turner Field, leaving the Braves with a six-game losing streak as the final act in a season that crashed from a promising peak six days before.

In under a week, the Braves went from a 15-2 tear that brought them to within 2 1/2 games of wild-card leader Colorado, to finishing third in the National League East behind Florida.

The Braves lost all four games in the series – the first time they were ever swept in a four-game home series against the Montreal/Washington franchise — despite strong performances from starting pitching in three, including Tim Hudson’s seven innings Sunday (seven hits and seven strikeouts).

“We just didn’t do much with the bats the entire homestand,” said manager Bobby Cox, whose club scored just nine runs in 44 innings against the NL’s worst pitching staff and a Nationals team that came to town with a major-league most 103 losses – and left with 103.


Click here to read the full article – By David O’Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Discouraged that they weren’t able to complete their goal of reaching the playoffs, the Braves are determined to finish the season strong and maintain some of the momentum they built over the course of the past couple of weeks.


Chipper Jones said that if somebody had told him at the beginning of the season that Atlanta would notch 90 victories, he would have predicted a playoff spot.

The bid for 90 victories ended on Thursday night, when the Braves lost a third consecutive game. But regardless of what happens the rest of the way, they have come a long way from the 72-90 campaign they endured last year.


Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

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Chipper Jones feels as though he’s returned to the 1990s.
Those were giddy times for the Atlanta Braves, who won their division just about every season and often made it to the World Series – five times by the time the decade was done.


Well, look who’s making an improbable bid for the playoffs.

Yep, it’s the Braves, the franchise that fell on hard times after the last of its record 14 straight division titles in 2005.

A 4-0 shutout of the Florida Marlins on Monday night was Atlanta’s 15th victory in 17 games, closing the gap on Colorado in the wild-card race to two games. The Braves haven’t even given up on chasing down defending World Series champion Philadelphia in the NL East, pulling within four games of the division leader.

There’s only six games left in the regular season, so Atlanta still faces long and longer odds to catch either team. But this late-season run has sure made things a lot more fun around the clubhouse for players who had almost forgotten what it was like to play meaningful games in September.


Click here to read the full article – By PAUL NEWBERRY of TheItem.com

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Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson highlighted the early power display that helped Derek Lowe feel less uneasy about his latest finger ailment and the possibility of reliving the nightmare that he’d experienced when he last stood on Citi Field’s mound.


It took the Braves just three innings to provide Lowe comfort and compile all of the runs that would encompass the 11-3 bashing that they handed the Mets at Citi Field on Monday night.

“A lot of this game is momentum, and if you can seize the momentum early and set the tone, you’ve got a good chance to win it,” said Jones, whose three-run homer capped the four-run second inning.


Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

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Chipper Jones’ return to the Braves’ lineup may have been further delayed on Wednesday night, when he aggravated his strained left groin muscle during an eighth-inning pinch-hit appearance.


After the Braves claimed their 6-5 walk-off win over the Mets, Jones revealed that he’d felt further discomfort while swinging and missing a pitch during his eighth-inning strikeout. The 37-year-old third baseman declared himself available to pinch-hit after taking numerous swings in the indoor batting cage.

“I’ll just take it day-by-day,” Jones said. “I took 100 swings [in the cage] and I didn’t feel it one time. That’s why I didn’t even think about it. But I guess there’s no simulating game-intensity swings. I’ll have to see how it feels tomorrow and see if I can play.”


Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

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As the Phillies continue to roll, there seems to be even more reason to wonder if the Braves’ hopes of participating in this year’s postseason rest solely on their position in the National League Wild Card standings.

But while discounting Atlanta’s division title hopes, one would be ignoring the significant obstacles the Phillies overcame while winning the NL East title each of the past two seasons.

Standing at 66-58, the Braves currently own the same record the Phillies possessed through the first 124 games in both 2007 and ‘08. The fact that they currently trail the defending World Series champs by seven games shows that the Braves’ hopes of winning the NL East hinge on the completion of a challenging task.


Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

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When the Braves were mulling the possibility of including Yunel Escobar in a trade package for Jake Peavy this past offseason, Chipper Jones said that Escobar had the tools to be considered the National League’s top shortstop.

As he nears the completion of his third Major League season, Escobar has displayed improved offensive skills that have provided more credence to Jones’ claim and also put him in position to be one of the nominees for this year’s Hank Aaron Award.

Jones, Escobar and Brian McCann have been selected as the Braves nominees for this year’s Hank Aaron Award, which is named after the legendary outfielder who established himself as one of the game’s greatest legends while spending the first 21 years of his 23-year playing career with the Braves.

Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

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When Brian McCann drilled his two-run homer off Cole Hamels on Saturday afternoon, there was some reason for the Braves All-Star catcher to feel relieved. It had been more than two months since he previously homered off a left-handed pitcher, and over the past few weeks, McCann was being burdened by regular frustration.


When the Braves play a makeup game against the D-backs at Turner Field on Monday afternoon, they may choose to give McCann a rest. With divisional matchups set over the course of the following six days against the Mets and Marlins, the 25-year-old catcher certainly wouldn’t object to the opportunity to regain some energy.

But at the same time, McCann will have every reason to want to return to action as soon as possible.

Entering Sunday night’s game against the Phillies, McCann had endured a 13-game stretch during which he had hit .156 (7-for-45) with three extra-base hits (one homer and two doubles). Over the course of his previous 50 games, he had hit .245 with a .300 on-base percentage and a .457 slugging percentage.


Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bowman of MLB.com

Phil Niekro 3-Time 20 Game Winner Upcoming Signing – 10/10/2009 Here are the details: Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel When: 10/10/2009 Phone: (908) 258-7228 All Orders and Mail-Order need to be received by: 10/7/2009 Prices: Flats up to 11×14 and Balls – $55 O/S Flats – $65 Caps, Equipment, Bats – $95 Inscriptions – $20
Place a presale order for the Phil Niekro Signing or check out a full list of Upcoming Memorabilia Signings.

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