The Atlanta Braves Made History

In a season when the Braves are 45-50 and well behind the first place New York Mets in the National League Eastern Division, they have made some big headlines recently. Why? Oddly enough, their offense. During their streak of fourteen consecutive division titles, the Braves were mainly winning due to their great pitching, but the pitching has been anything but great this season and if they have any chance of making the playoffs, the hitters will have to turn it up a notch. Turn it up a notch (several notches) is what they've done in the month of July, especially the past week or so.

After Tuesday night's 14-5 beatdown of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Braves became the first team since the 1930 New York Yankees (with the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig) to score 10 or more runs in five consecutive games.

The last time the Braves franchise had scored 10 or more in five straight games was all the way back in 1897 when they were known as the Boston Beaneaters. Compared to the 61 runs they scored in those five as the Beaneaters, the Braves scored 65 runs in the five up until last night.

The Braves have also hit 19 home runs in the past five games which is now a franchise record and only two off of the major league record.

It's been a very strange year for Braves fans. The pitching has been down. The hitting has been up. The National League overall is weaker, but the Mets are stronger. With the help of winning seven straight (up until last night), the Braves are right back in the thick of the N.L. Wild Card race. The division title may be out of reach unless the Mets go in a tailspin, but even if Bobby Cox leads this team to the wild card and essentially, the playoffs, that'd be the most impressing thing he's done in Atlanta as a manager.

The Braves did lose last night to the Cardinals, but that was their only loss in the past seven to N.L. West leading-San Diego and N.L. East leading-St. Louis. Up next come very important divisional foes. Atlanta will have to continue playing well against them if they want a shot at the Wild Card.

Link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260718124