CWNews

Actions Speak Louder


August 21, 2008 Thursday


Cox, Chipper not happy with play

BYLINE: BY ANTHONY RIEBER. anthony.rieber@newsday.com
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. A69



After a sloppy 6-3 loss to the Mets, Braves manager Bobby Cox sat behind his desk last night smoking a cigar - a no-no in what is supposed to be a tobacco-free Shea Stadium.

The smoke that emanated from his stogie was nothing compared to the smoke that came out of Cox's ears after a reporter asked if a pair of errors that led to five Mets runs in the first inning were evidence of players "losing focus."
 
 

"No," he said. "That would be -- idiotical to even ask that."

Later, when asked a different question, Cox went back to the one that set him off.

"They never lost focus," he said. "That is completely a -- joke."

Maybe it's their four losses in a row or the once-mighty Braves' standing in the NL East - at 56-71, they are 14 games behind the Mets - or the way they played last night. But the Braves were not a happy bunch.

Chipper Jones, the 36-year-old third baseman who lives to torment the Mets, was himself tormented over a game that made him look more he's 56.

"I didn't play well and that bothers me," Jones said. "It was just a bad all-around game. I've had two or three games this year where I've just been awful."

Jones was part of the Atlanta giveaway in the first. With the Mets leading 2-0, he fielded a lazy ground ball hit by Fernando Tatis with two outs and short-armed a one-hop throw. The throw almost got first baseman Greg Norton pulverized when Tatis and the ball arrived at the same time and Norton reached into the runner's path. Two runs scored on the play to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

Shortstop Yunel Escobar next threw Brian Schneider's routine grounder away, leading to Mike Pelfrey's RBI single. And Jones, who went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, also let a ball hit by Tatis go right past his glove in the third inning. It was scored a hit.

Cox tried to take comfort in the fact the Mets didn't hit starter Jair Jurrjens hard until David Wright's solo home run in the fifth. That first inning gnawed at the 67-year-old manager, though.

"They hit a couple head-knockers," Cox said. "He never did give up a ball hit hard until he gave up the home run. But we threw the ball away in the first inning. Just created something sloppy and they ended up with five runs. It would've been very easy to have a zero put up in that inning."

Cox later explained that by "head-knockers" he meant "little ground balls up the middle that were just out of reach of everybody."