Atlanta Braves Baseball Team

The quest to hit .400 is not a private journey. The Atlanta Braves' Chipper Jones is learning that each day. The Braves begin a three-game series with the Angels tonight, with Jones dragging a gaudy .414 batting average with him. He has not spent a day under .400 since April 12, and the media weight, with those can-he-do-it questions, gets a little heavier every day. "It's still so early," Jones said. "We get into August and September and somebody's hitting .

It will happen sometime in the next few weeks, maybe because of a checked swing. Or a close play at second. Chances are, though, it will be a ball-strike call. Those are the ones that Bobby Cox can't resist arguing. Whatever it is that brings the Atlanta Braves manager onto the field, the umpires won't let him stay long. They never do. And when he's ejected this time, he'll take a little bit of baseball history with him. Cox has been thrown out of 128 major league games.

ATLANTA -- Hank Aaron's team paid tribute to baseball's new home-run king Tuesday night, but Aaron wasn't at Turner Field to congratulate Barry Bonds in person. Before the opener of a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants, the Atlanta Braves replayed the videotaped message from Aaron that was shown in San Francisco last week after Bonds hit his 756th homer. Aaron, a senior vice president with the Braves, was not at the game.

Beyond the threatening and racist hate mail that formed a disturbing backdrop to the culmination of Henry Aaron's assault on Babe Ruth's career record for home runs, there were controversial issues then between commissioner Bowie Kuhn and Aaron and the Atlanta Braves, just as controversy now engulfs Commissioner Bud Selig and Barry Bonds.

Derek Lowe's four-year stint with the Dodgers is about to officially come to an end. The right-hander has agreed to terms with the Atlanta Braves on a four-year, $60-million contract, according to a baseball source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal is pending a physical. Lowe, 35, anchored an inexperienced rotation last season and was the club's No. 1 pitcher in the playoffs. He was 14-11 with a 3.24 earned-run average. Lowe was 54-48 with a 3.

ASTROS' PROJECTED LINEUP ANALYSIS *--* P Player Avg HR RBI 2B Craig Biggio 264 26 69 CF Willy Taveras 291 3 29 3B Morgan Ensberg 283 36 101 LF Lance Berkman 293 24 82 1B Mike Lamb 236 12 53 RF Jason Lane 267 26 78 SS Adam Everett 248 11 54 C Brad Ausmus 258 3 47 P Andy Pettitte 081 0 3 *--* * Strengths: After a 15-30 start that sparked rumors of trading Roger Clemens, the Astros bounced off the mat to earn the wild card on the final day of the season.

John Smoltz slipped out of the Atlanta Braves' clubhouse through a side door, hoping to avoid reporters camped by his locker. He knew what was coming and, frankly, he was a little tired of talking about it. Smoltz walked all the way to the parking lot before finally -- with more than a little reluctance -- stopping by his car to chat. "Everybody's putting me in a coffin," Smoltz said. "All I've got is a stiff shoulder. It's not that big a deal."

Once each generation, it can now be assumed, this city shall produce a baseball game that will leave an indelible mark on everyone who played in it, officiated it or merely witnessed it. Even just watched it on television, far away from Minute Maid Park. For those who weren't around for Game 6 of the 1986 National League championship series in the Astrodome, you now have Sunday. The Houston Astros are headed to a rematch of last year's NL championship series with the St.

For Jaret Wright, the road from Game 7 of the 1997 World Series to Game 1 of the 2004 National League division series was fraught with more detours than Pacific Coast Highway during mudslides. There were six mediocre seasons, two major shoulder surgeries and one particularly unsettling wait for a cab ride. It was August 2003, when Wright stood outside Minute Maid Park with his luggage after being waived by the San Diego Padres.