Kelly Johnson

2005 FINISH: 79-83, third place, 18 games back HELLO: LHP Mike Gonzalez, RHP Rafael Soriano, RHP Tanyon Sturtze, IF-OF Craig Wilson, IF Chris Woodward. GOODBYE: 2B Marcus Giles, OF Brian Jordan, 1B Adam La Roche, C Todd Pratt, LHP Horacio Ramirez, RHP Chris Reitsma, RHP John Thomson LINEUP Kelly Johnson, 2b Edgar Renteria, ss Chipper Jones, 3b Andruw Jones, cf Brian McCann, c Jeff Francouer, rf Scott Thoman, 1b Ryan Langerhans, lf ROTATION John Smoltz Tim Hudson Chuck James (L)

Braves   There are some baseball theorists who will argue that the importance of the leadoff hitter is overrated. Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton is not one of them. And, at the end of the first month of the season, the ups and downs of the Braves' No. 1 hitter Kelly Johnson support him. The notoriously streaky Johnson batted .333 in Atlanta's first eight games this year and the team got off to a 5-3 start. Then they went 4-7, scoring two or fewer runs seven times.

New York's bullpen cost Tom Glavine his 300th win. After Mets relievers wasted a one-run lead in the eighth, Geoff Jenkins hit a two-run homer off Aaron Sele in the 13th inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 4-2 victory over the visiting Mets last night. Glavine had allowed only two hits when Mets manager Willie Randolph took him out in the seventh inning with a runner on first and New York leading 2-1 with no outs. Righthander Aaron Heilman relieved Glavine, who fidgeted and stared nervously from the Mets' bench as he accepted congratulations from his teammates.

Ad man's dream Love him, hate him or don't care about him, you have to give Manny Ramirez credit. The guy with the beat-up batting helmet and baggy pants knows how to write a headline. Expected to sit out Wednesday night - his own bobblehead night! - against the visiting Reds because of a sore left hand, Manny got the call to pinch-hit in the sixth inning. And all he could muster was a tiebreaking grand slammer that landed in Mannywood, the short left-field corner of Dodger Stadium named after MR. The grand slam, No. 21 for Manny, gave L.A. a 6-2 victory and left him two shy of Lou Gehrig's record.

And so it continued. And so the question had to be asked: How much longer can the Phillies afford to have Vicente Padilla pitch for them every fifth day? Padilla allowed nine hits and four runs and lasted just four innings in a 9-1 loss last night to the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park that dropped the Phillies into last place in the National League East for the first time since June 4. The Phillies have lost 12 of 16. They fell 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Washington Nationals in the National League East, the furthest they have been from first this season.

Kyle Phillips doesn't know how long he will have to impress San Diego manager Bud Black. Phillips did a good job of it yesterday in Atlanta. The rookie catcher broke a 2-all tie in the 10th inning with a pinch-hit homer and the Padres held off the Braves, 3-2, for their third straight win. "It's a huge deal," said Phillips, who has a .167 average in 30 at-bats. He is on the 25-man roster as Rob Johnson's backup while Nick Hundley recovers from a strained muscle in his right side.

Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer and the Atlanta Braves roughed up a rusty Orlando Hernandez in a 13-5 victory over the host New York Mets last night. Yunel Escobar also went deep for Atlanta, which played without Chipper Jones for the second straight night but still managed 13 hits. Willie Harris drove in three runs, and Jeff Francoeur was 2-for-3 with two RBI. The Braves, clinging to their slim playoff hopes with 17 games left, pulled within 8 1/2 of NL East-leading New York.

Even with patchwork pitching, the Washington Nationals are suddenly winning. Ryan Church hit a go-ahead, three-run double, the Nationals' bullpen provided five shutout innings, and last-place Washington beat the visiting Atlanta Braves, 6-4, last night for its fifth victory in six games. Church's liner to right-center off Kyle Davies (1-2) capped a four-run fifth in which the Nationals batted around and all of the runs were unearned, thanks to second baseman Kelly Johnson's fielding error.

Two old friends had their fun, then got down to business. This could have been John Smoltz and Greg Maddux in the prime of their brilliant careers when they were Atlanta Braves teammates, not opponents. Smoltz got the best of Maddux in their first head-to-head matchup since 1992, earning the win when the Braves rallied for two runs in the seventh inning to beat the visiting San Diego Padres, 3-2, last night. Both pitchers - with 533 wins and five Cy Young Awards between them - were eager to get the best of the other after spending 11 years as teammates.

Brad Lidge has been to a World Series, so he knows special teams have moments like this. Maybe this is one of them. "If you want things in the season to go good, you need to have some of those 'Force be With You' moments," Lidge said after the Phillies' improbable 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves in 10 innings last night at Turner Field. "The Force was with us tonight. " Chris Coste hit a lazy pop fly down the right-field line with two outs and two on in the top of the ninth inning with the Phillies down a run. Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson coasted underneath the ball to make the routine play.

When Jimmy Johnson ran his first few NFL drafts, he used his institutional knowledge of the college game to select the building blocks for Cowboys teams that eventually won back-to-back Super Bowls. The league has changed significantly in the 25-plus years since Johnson made the jump to the NFL, and Chip Kelly is a long way from being mentioned in the same breath. But there are parallels between how the new Eagles coach and former Dallas coach approached their first drafts. Heading into the process, Kelly said he did not do any research on how successful college-to-NFL coaches such as Johnson approached the draft.

DAN UGGLA flipped his bat to the ground. Then his helmet. Then both batting gloves. The game was over. So was Atlanta's winning streak. It was that kind of day for the Braves. Wade Davis pitched five-hit ball for seven innings, Jeff Francoeur had a fourth-inning RBI single and the visiting Kansas City Royals stopped Atlanta's 10-game spurt with a 1-0 victory Wednesday. "We feel like we can win every one of them," said Uggla, who was called out on strikes for the final out. "We'll just have to come back tomorrow and start another streak.

FORGET ABOUT last year. This season, the Atlanta Braves are looking very much like the team to beat in the NL East. Justin Upton and Andrelton Simmons homered, and the visiting Braves cruised to their ninth straight victory Sunday, beating Washington, 9-0, to complete a three-game sweep of the defending division champion Nationals. Chris Johnson had four hits and two RBI for the Braves, who received a sparkling pitching performance from Paul Maholm. After forging two-run victories on Friday and Saturday, Atlanta took a 7-0 lead in the third inning against Gio Gonzalez (1-1)

RIGHTHANDER Jered Weaver threw his first no-hitter as the Angels pounded the Minnesota Twins, 9-0, Wednesday night. The only two baserunners for the Twins were Chris Parmelee in the second inning when he struck out and ended up on first on a passed ball by catcher Chris Iannetta and a seventh-inning walk to Josh Willingham on a 3-and-2 count. The Angels collected a season-high 15 hits. Howie Kendrick went 4-for-4 with a three-run home run. Weaver (4-0) struck out eight and walked just nine on his way to the near-perfect game.

Kyle Phillips doesn't know how long he will have to impress San Diego manager Bud Black. Phillips did a good job of it yesterday in Atlanta. The rookie catcher broke a 2-all tie in the 10th inning with a pinch-hit homer and the Padres held off the Braves, 3-2, for their third straight win. "It's a huge deal," said Phillips, who has a .167 average in 30 at-bats. He is on the 25-man roster as Rob Johnson's backup while Nick Hundley recovers from a strained muscle in his right side.

Charlie Morton remembers watching Jair Jurrjens pitch while the two were teammates in Atlanta and marveling at Jurr-jens' stuff. "He was just dealing when I was there and I was just getting by," Morton said with a laugh. A few years later, Jurrjens still has the upper hand. The 25-year-old righthander continued his sparkling spring, pitching six-hit ball into the eighth inning to lead the visiting Braves to a 2-0 win over Morton and the Pittsburgh Pirates last night. Jurrjens (6-1)

John Maine stood on the mound with wrappers and napkins swirling around him in the chilly, 26 mph wind and decided to have some fun. Why not? The Mets were on a roll and a win would give them their best homestand in more than 20 years. Using mostly fastballs for the first time this season, Maine returned from an odd injury and pitched into the seventh inning, leading the New York Mets over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3, yesterday for their seventh straight victory. "The wind, the coldness, you can't do anything about it you just got to go out there and enjoy it," Maine said.

With spring training just over a month away, most teams are putting the finishing touches on a busy off-season. In the NL East, the goal is to close the gap on the three-time defending champion Phillies. Perhaps the busiest team in the division has been Atlanta. The Braves, despite trading away their ace pitcher to the Yankees, will try to build around what has the potential to be one of the finest starting rotations in the majors. Atlanta has a relatively young core of players and added a handful of veterans during the off-season.

Ad man's dream Love him, hate him or don't care about him, you have to give Manny Ramirez credit. The guy with the beat-up batting helmet and baggy pants knows how to write a headline. Expected to sit out Wednesday night - his own bobblehead night! - against the visiting Reds because of a sore left hand, Manny got the call to pinch-hit in the sixth inning. And all he could muster was a tiebreaking grand slammer that landed in Mannywood, the short left-field corner of Dodger Stadium named after MR. The grand slam, No. 21 for Manny, gave L.A. a 6-2 victory and left him two shy of Lou Gehrig's record.

The Colorado Rockies are learning to love life on the road under new manager Jim Tracy. Aaron Cook pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and closer Huston Street shook off a ninth-inning home run by Ryan Braun to earn his fourth save in as many games, lifting the Rockies to a 5-4 victory and three-game sweep at Milwaukee yesterday. That's eight straight wins, all on the road, for the Rockies, who completed a four-game sweep of St. Louis earlier this week - shredding two of the NL Central's best over 7 days.