Francouer hit the ground running this winter, adding 17 pounds and foolishly trying to outdrive Tiger Woods. Robert Beck/SI
	FAST FACTS MANAGER BOBBY COX 19th season with Atlanta Team Page | 2008 Schedule THE NUMBERS LIE | DON'T LIE 59 Total home runs hit in 2007 by Mark Teixeira (30) and Chipper Jones (29), who this season could become the first switch-hitting teammates to each hit 30 in the same year. Teixeira, who was acquired by Atlanta last July, reached the 30-homer mark in each of the last four seasons; the oft-injured Jones hit 35 dingers per 162 games during the same period, while missing an average of 40 games a season. CONSIDER THIS The Braves obtained 32-year-old centerfielder Mark Kotsay from the A's to be the bridge between the departed Andruw Jones and top prospect Jordan Schaefer, who looked good this spring but has yet to play higher than Class A. Problem is, Kotsay missed 106 games last year with a bad back and since 2004 has had steep declines in power and batting average. What the slugging Atlanta lineup could use is a centerfielder who has young legs and can hit leadoff -- and they have that in Gregor Blanco. The 23-year-old Blanco has a career on-base percentage of .371 in the minors, including a .369 mark in Triple A last year, and has plenty of speed (though he needs work on his basestealing). Blanco is a better fit at the plate and in the field than Kotsay and would score a lot of runs in front of the Braves' power hitters. BATTING ORDER POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB 2B KELLY JOHNSON L-R 153 .276 16 68 9 SS YUNEL ESCOBAR R 134 .326 5 28 5 3B CHIPPER JONES S-R 43 .337 29 102 5 1B MARK TEIXEIRA S-R 27 .306 30 105 0 RF JEFF FRANCOEUR R 55 .293 19 105 5 C BRIAN MCCANN L-R 61 .270 18 92 0 CF MARK KOTSAY L 274 .214 1 20 1 LF MATT DIAZ R 159 .338 12 45 4 BENCH POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB IF-OF OMAR INFANTE R 305 .271 2 17 4 IF MARTIN PRADO R 363 .288 4 12 0 OF GREGOR BLANCO (R)* L 326 .282 3 35 23 ROTATION PITCHER PVR W L K/9 WHIP ERA RH TIM HUDSON 22 16 10 5.3 1.22 3.33 RH JOHN SMOLTZ 16 14 8 8.6 1.18 3.11 LH TOM GLAVINE 60 13 8 4.0 1.41 4.45 LH MIKE HAMPTON 189 5 3 3.5 1.33 3.50 RH JAIR JURRJENS (R) 122 3 1 3.8 1.14 4.70 BULLPEN PITCHER PVR W L S WHIP ERA RH RAFAEL SORIANO 44 3 9 8.8 0.86 3.00 LH WILL OHMAN 156 2 1 8.2 1.60 4.95 RH PETER MOYLAN 171 5 1 6.3 1.07 1.80

"I'll take their middle of the order."

The Braves' new slugger stepped to the plate in the first batting practice of spring training, when players typically do little more than swat lazy fly balls as they work off the rust. He began as most do, with a few bunts. Next he peppered the field with some line drives. Then the show started: He sent ball after ball soaring out of the park. One landed 30 feet beyond the leftfield wall. Another slammed halfway up the scoreboard in center. "The ball even sounded different off the bat," recalls third baseman Chipper Jones. "Guys were shaking their heads, wondering, Is that really Frenchy?"

The new slugger was actually a familiar face, fourth-year rightfielder Jeff Francoeur, though his body wasn't so recognizable. After raising his average from .260 in 2006 to .293 last season, nearly doubling his walk total (from 23 to 42) and driving in 100 runs for the second straight year, Francoeur was still bothered by one stat: his 19 home runs, a drop from the 29 he smacked in '06. So in the off-season Francoeur trained alongside college football players who were getting in shape for the NFL combine, and he added 17 pounds of muscle.

"I gave up on being a guy who steals 30 bases, but there's no reason I can't hit 35 home runs," says Francoeur, 24, who was swinging a bigger stick (a 34-inch 34-ouncer) in exhibition games. "I feel a lot stronger, and I feel the ball jumping off my bat differently."

Since the beginning of last season Atlanta has been largely overshadowed in the NL East by the yapping Mets and Phillies, but a big year from Francoeur and a full season from first baseman Mark Teixeira, acquired at last year's trade deadline from the Rangers, will give the Braves one of the league's three most explosive offenses -- even without centerfielder Andruw Jones, who signed a free-agent deal with the Dodgers.

"People always talk about the Phillies' and the Mets' lineups," says an NL general manager, "but I'll take the Braves' middle of the order of Chipper, Teixeira and Francoeur."

Unlike last year, the Braves have the depth in the rotation to take advantage of that offensive firepower and close the gap in the division. Many dismissed the signing of former Cy Young winner Tom Glavine as a lame attempt to reclaim their golden years, but the 42-year-old lefthander, whose final year with the Mets was tainted by three bad September starts that contributed to New York's historic collapse, was for most of last season exactly what the Braves needed: a steady No. 3 starter. The two guys behind him weren't in the 2007 rotation either: Mike Hampton, 35, who hasn't pitched since August '05 (left elbow), and rookie Jair Jurrjens, 22, who was acquired in a trade with the Tigers. During a critical stretch in August and September, when Atlanta lost 13 of 19 after inching to within three games of first place, John Smoltz and Tim Hudson had all but three of the Braves' wins.

Smoltz, 40, held his own at the front of the rotation, with the second-most quality starts in the league (26) and his best strikeout rate (8.6 per nine innings) as a starter since 1998. But like Francoeur, he wasn't satisfied. Smoltz spent the opening month of camp throwing on back diamonds in simulated games, focusing on locating his off-speed pitches. Not until the second week of March did he pitch in a Grapefruit League game. "Last year the results were great, but I was holding my breath a lot of the time," he says.

On March 3 Smoltz took Glavine and Francoeur to the Orlando community of Isleworth for a round of golf with his friend Tiger Woods. The foursome didn't keep score, but Francoeur was so intent on seeing how his new home run stroke translated to the tee box that, according to Smoltz, "he very foolishly tried to outdrive Tiger Woods."

Says Francoeur, "Just for the first few holes. Then I realized I sucked. But, hey, I was fired up."

His team has reason to be fired up as well. -- Albert Chen