Braves’ Jones is still hitting

ATLANTA -- Andruw Jones took batting practice in the basement of his nine-bedroom house in suburban Atlanta and slept in his own bed. He made the familiar 45-minute drive from Duluth to Turner Field.

But the reenacting of past routines didn’t allow Jones to escape the present, one in which he and the Dodgers are mired in an offensive rut. In his first game against his former team, Jones struck out twice and was upstaged by another Jones, longtime teammate Chipper, who belted two home runs and drove in four runs for the Atlanta Braves in their 6-1 victory over the Dodgers on Friday night.

The Dodgers scored 19 runs in their last two games, victories over the Pittsburgh Pirates but reverted to their previous form, not scoring until the seventh inning and collecting only five hits. The final hit was a double off the wall in left-center by Jones in the ninth.

The Dodgers had a chance to get an early lead, but they left the bases loaded in the first, with James Loney striking out and Russell Martin flying out to left to end the inning. Loney was 0 for 4, ending his hitting streak at 15 games.

Jones, who hit seventh, was one for three with a walk and a run, his average rising to .167.

Asked if he was relieved to put behind him the experience of being the enemy in a place he called home for 11-plus seasons, Jones responded with an unusual tone of urgency.

“We’ve got two more games here,” he said. “We have to go out here to win the series. We come here to win. We’re not here to see how the fans are going to react.”

The reaction toward Jones was mostly positive, as the cheers from the crowd dominated the boos from down the right-field line as Jones walked to home plate for his first at-bat. Jones struck out looking.

“That was a ball, period,” he said of a curveball by Braves starter Jeff Bennett. “I know I’m struggling, but I know what a strike is.

“This,” Jones said holding his hands about eight inches apart, “is not a strike.”

When Jones struck out for the second time, his wife Nicole put her hands on her Dodgers cap and shouted, “Oh no!”

Nicole, who has been shuttling back and forth between Los Angeles and Atlanta with their son, was among 13 of the center fielder’s relatives and friends in John Smoltz’s suite along the third-base line. Jones’ father flew in from Haiti for the weekend and his mother and sister came from his native Curacao.

In that suite, as well as in the Braves’ clubhouse, efforts were made to change the perception that the laid-back and always-smiling Jones didn’t care enough.

Of Jones’ habit of smiling when striking out, his father Henry said, “It’s a way of relaxing. That’s natural for him.”

Pointing out at the stands, Henry continued, “Here, they know. In Curacao, they know.”

Said Braves Manager Bobby Cox, “It’s not a bad way to be. Up, down, that gets old too.”

Braves pitcher Tim Hudson, who remains in contact with Jones, said he didn’t like hearing that Jones was being booed at Dodger Stadium.

“I think there’s a misunderstanding there,” Hudson said. “He’s as competitive as anybody. He plays hurt, he goes out there, keeps playing and doesn’t complain about it.”

Hudson said to look at how much Jones has played. Jones’ 1,746 games since 1997 are the most in the majors and he has never been on the disabled list.

Hudson said he was certain that Jones wouldn’t be booed, at least not heavily, in Atlanta.

“I think he’ll get a good ovation,” Hudson said. “It wasn’t his choice to leave. I know his first choice was to stay here in Atlanta.

“It’s one of the most difficult things he’s had to deal with in his career, realizing the team you grew up playing for wants to part ways with you. But that’s the nature of the business.”

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