The next otis nixon?

Injuries to the Braves 2008 roster have left the front office with a few questions and not many answers. Who will be the opening day starter come 2009? Who will bat cleanup for this team in 2009? Who will patrol centerfield for the Braves in 2009? One answer though has been found in this season. Gregor Blanco SHOULD be the leadoff hitter come 2009.
When Rafael Furcal bolted Atlanta a few years back for LA Blue (hats) and Green (dollars), the team was without a true leadoff hitter for the first time seemingly in years. Ever since I can recall, the Braves had Otis Nixon or Deion Sanders, Marquis Grissom or Kenny Lofton leading off and setting the table for the Braves bats. The last few years, the team has tried to make Marcus Giles, Kelly Johnson, Yunel Escobar, among others, their leadoff man, but to no avail. This season, due to injuries, Gregor Blanco was pressed into the role and he has excelled. His on-base percentage has gone through the roof since moving into the leadoff spot June 19, and he is off to a .471 OBP clip in August. He won’t blow the doors off with homers, but neither did Otis Nixon. All he did was get on base and wreak havoc once he was there. Blanco is a Nixon-clone in that respect.
Injuries to Matt Diaz and Mark Kotsay pressed Blanco into a full-time role and his wheels led manager Bobby Cox to experiment with him during the interleague series in Texas. Cox hasn’t looked back. Blanco is 10-14 in stolen bases this season, and he is bringing an element to Atlanta that this team hasn’t seen since Furcal was batting leadoff: speed on the base paths. Suddenly when Blanco reaches, he is a threat to steal a base, go first to third on a hit to the outfield, and he can score on a shallow fly ball to the outfield. This was something that the team simply could not do with Escobar batting leadoff or Johnson trying to set the table. Plus with Blanco occupying the top spot in the lineup, Escobar can focus on plain hitting. Chipper Jones can drive a runner in that is in scoring position.
Blanco may not be the long term answer in the outfield as Jordan Schaffer seems destined to man center in the near future and Jason Heyward will be penciled into leftfield starting in 2010. However Blanco is exciting to watch and he could be the catalyst this Braves team needs to make a run in 2009.

Other Braves Bits,
An open funeral service has been planned for Skip Caray to be held this Monday, August 11 at Christ the King Cathedral at the corner of Peachtree St and Peachtree Ave. The service is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. The Caray family is asking that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in the memory of Skip to Camp Twin Lakes, Winship Cancer Institute, or the Friends House.

And Tom Glavine will make another minor league rehab start this Saturday in Class-AA Mississippi. Glavine pitched well in Myrtle Beach, throwing 53 pitches and completing 4 innings, but team officials have stated they are hoping for 65 pitches this start so that Glavine can test his endurance. He has missed time due to a torn flexor ligament in his pitching elbow and has not pitched since June 11 in Chicago.