Can Conrad Carry Braves?

When Chipper Jones fell to the ground in foul territory at Houston’s Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night it would have been easy for the Braves to lose momentum and crumple in the same way the franchise legend had, to their credit nobody allowed that to happen on Tuesday or Wednesday but Chipper’s injury is going to affect far more than just the Astros series. The Chipper that got hurt was not the .251 hitter that had plagued the Braves line-up for the first four months of the season, whether it was the intensifying pennant chase, the benefit of being healthy for a couple of consecutive weeks (irony) or just finally seeing the ball well, something had happened to Chipper in the month of August, in the nine games Jones had played this month he was hitting .400 with 3 homers. Whilst the improved average was a major improvement for Chipper the power surge was the most significant statistic of the month, not just for Jones but the Braves, the most homers he had hit in a single month so far in 2010 prior to August was 2. To top that in just nine was a significant boost for the 38-year-old third baseman, finding the power swing that could have propelled the team into the play-offs, unfortunately that won’t happen now. Do the Braves have other options, or at least viable one’s to fill in for Chipper at third.

The best option for the Braves is Omar Infante the do it all utility man with the robust .330 average who has an All-Star selection to his name, problem with Infante is he will be playing second base until next week at the earliest covering for another All-Star Martin Prado. So now the team is facing an absolutely huge series against the Dodgers (who spent Thursday night trying to infuriate Braves fan everywhere) without a top quality third baseman. Brooks Conrad will likely be the individual filling the void left by Chipper but, despite his regular late game heroics, he will be a bigger black hole than even when Jones was at his worst. The most at-bats Conrad has had in a month so far this year is 33, Chipper’s monthly low before August was 61, a figure that cannot be overlooked. Brooks is a bench player, one who has carved his little piece of Braves folklore yes, but a bench player all the same. He will now be vaulted into the position of replacing the second best player in franchise history in a series that, even though it is in mid-August, could go a long way to deciding who had the inside track in the race for the NL East. It has been the role players like Conrad that have carried this team to its 66 wins so far, in Chippers absence they will need the carry them to a significant number more. This weekend will go a long way to deciding how magic the 2010 Braves truly are.