NL East

The Atlanta Braves heard some really bad news yesterday when they learned that 3B Chipper Jones will miss the remainder of the season because of a torn ligament in his left knee. Jones hurt the knee fielding a ground ball in Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Astros.

What Johan Santana did today for the New York Mets was nothing short of amazing, and this is a franchise that knows from amazing.

Much the same way he pitched a gem when the Mets needed a win at the end of the 2008 season, Santana came up huge a day after the Mets saw another eighth-inning lead disappear, only to have their closer, Francisco Rodriguez, arrested for assaulting his father-in-law near the clubhouse after the game.

Do we have a Flushing Zoo on our hands?

With the news breaking on Thursday that Chipper Jones was done for the 2010 season and, potentially, his career with a torn ACL, the Braves found themselves without some sense of certainty at the hot corner for the first time in nearly sixteen years.

Mark Twain once said: "A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away.  He must have time to modify his shape."

In the Atlanta Braves recent win over the Houston Astros, longtime third baseman Chipper Jones tore his left ACL and will need season-ending surgery to repair it.

Right off the bat, this leaves the Braves (and Jones) with many questions. While the long term question facing Jones may be about retirement (which I go into more detail about here), the short term focus for Atlanta is on finding a capable replacement for Chipper.

The dog days of summer are here, and the Mets refuse to say die.

The team won just its second series since the All-Star break by taking two out of three at home against Colorado this week, and the Mets appear to be getting on a little bit of a roll.

Jose Reyes is running the bases well—even if he has had some difficulties in the field lately—and Mike Pelfrey put a rough stretch behind him by throwing seven shutout innings and showing some early-season form.

Baseball Hall of Fame Voters are a notoriously fickle group who are difficult to understand. They often find ways to overlook players who are seemingly statistical locks for the Hall, most notably in the case of poor Bert Blyleven, who has appeared on the ballot 13 times without getting the nod.

When the rumor that Chipper Jones' season was over became a reality, his status as a sure-fire Hall of Famer came into question.

Jones, who announced this would be his last season in June, is 38 years-old and might never be healthy enough to play again.

ESPN and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are reporting that Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones has torn the ACL in his left knee and that it is a potentially season-ending injury.

Being that the Philadelphia Phillies are only 2.5 games back, this injury could affect the division race as well as the Wild Card.

If the Phillies were to catch Atlanta, then the Braves would have to try and hold off the San Francisco Giants to even make the postseason.

While Mets fans and media are sure to continue their calls for manager Jerry Manuel to be fired after the Mets' latest loss — a 6-2 stomach punch delivered by the Colorado Rockies — let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?

From the third week of May to the All-Star Break, when the Atlanta Braves were rolling, Billy Wagner was one of the best closers in baseball.

Over that approximate two month stretch, the 39-year-old southpaw was 16-for-17 in save opportunities while collecting one win in a total of 23 appearances.

Dave Jauss is a man of few words, but when he speaks, people listen.

He has a unique perspective on the game, where neither the past nor the future has any impact on his opinions, and where the here and now are the only things in the world.

He's an astute baseball man with more than two decades of experience and know-how to draw from, and he encapsulates the "taking it one day at a time" cliche better than anyone in pro sports.