Braves Beat Rockies: Can We Call This a Sweep?

The Braves' road woes are well-documented at this point. Through 71 contests, they have now won a measly 10 of 35 road games in 2008 after beating the Rockies 7-1 Monday night.

Among the embarrassing road statistics the Bravos can lay claim to is this: they have not swept an opponent on the road so far this year. They had a chance to do so against the Angels Sunday night, but fell short despite Jorge Campillo's excellent outing.

So I propose this.

Monday night was a one-night-only affair for the Braves in Colorado. It was a makeup game for a game in April that was postponed.

Let's just give that April series to the Rockies. They won three games of the then-scheduled four-game series. That means the Braves get this second series. A one-game sweep.

Hey, baby steps.

Slowly but surely, it looks like the road woes are leveling off. I mean, 10 or 11 more one-game sweeps on the road, and they'll be middle of the pack in the gray uni's again.

Taking two of three from the Angels is no small feat. And if you really want to add a silver lining, just remember the Rockies are the defending National League champions. Yes, they're terrible this year. But every positive the Braves can take away from Atlanta is necessary at this point.

Other things I like:

* Consistent, innings-eating starting pitching. Jair Jurrjens returned from a minor injury to pitch 7.2 excellent innings for Atlanta, to help keep that bullpen fresh. And they need it. They just played their seventh of 16 consecutive games without a day off.

Before Jurrjens' outing Monday, they had gotten consecutive starts of 6.2, 8.0, 6.0 and 8.0 innings from Tim Hudson, Jo Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton and Campillo respectfully. That means less Jeff Bennett and Blaine Boyer.

* Chipper breaks out of so-called "slump" (hitless in previous 10 or so at bats) to go 2-for-4 to keep that average hovering above .400. He's currently at .403 going into hitter-friendly Arlington for three games.

* Mark Teixeira comes back to Texas. Expect plenty of boos from the Ranger faithful. He didn't have the kindest of things to say about the organization before leaving. Add to that the fact that the Braves and Rangers have almost identical records since the trade, and each teams' offensive production has been stellar. The Rangers were supposed to be struggling right now with the Braves among the elite. Not so much.

* Mike Gonzalez coming back soon. Maybe this return of a Braves reliever from injury will stick around longer than one or two outings. When healthy, Gonzalez is one of the nastiest left-handed relievers in the league. Not to mention, he needs to put some stats up to justify his worth for Adam LaRoche straight-up.

* "Brian McCann Bobble Head Day" on June 25. At the end of this 16-game stretch is a home stand that ends with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Wednesday afternoon game hasn't sold so many seats, which means I got home-side dugout seats to the game today, less than two weeks before the game.

And, I get a McCann bobble head. So does my friend Matt, three days before he gets married. I couldn't think of a better wedding gift.