Hinske With Your Best Shot! : Braves Bench Continues to Produce

If you were wondering why the NL East leading Braves are so good this year, last night's game against the Phillies was a good reason why.

Sure, we have incredible starting pitching and the best bullpen in the game and our starting nine have been solid enough to keep us in the race, but the Braves undoubtedly have the best bench in baseball right now, and you don't even have to look at the stats to realize this. Twelve different Braves have delivered in some form for a last at-bat victory. Jason Heyward leads the team with three while Brooks Conrad and Omar Infante have two a piece.

I've heard a lot of talk about why Omar Infante shouldn't be in the All-Star game this year, and that he is only batting .302 with one home run and 22 RBI's, but this is not a guy where the season stats matter, because he is a utility player that comes off the bench when Bobby needs him. That is when you look at the stats. This year, Infante is batting .354 with Runners in scoring position, that's what I like to call clutch.

With the normal stars of the Braves not playing up to their full potential quite yet, (Chipper, Mac, Escobar) We need guys like Conrad, Hinske, and Infante to give us that extra push, and that is exactly what they have done, see Hinske's two run HR in the top of the 11th last night or Omar Infante's walk-off single against the fish and of course Brooks Conrad's walk-off slam that will never be forgotten in Braves country.

We are truly a 25-man team, and that is why this year could be the year.