Fresh Loaf

PENNSYLVANIANS: Vote today to determine which candidate’s cable-news-fueled faux controversies have most distracted them.

COMIC RELEAF: Hagar the Horrible, Snuffy Smith and 43 other comic strips unite for Earth Day-themed strips today.

STUNNING: Byron, Ga.-based company indicted for allegedly relabeling and selling faulty stun grenades to the FBI.

TESLER TRIAL: Judge closes jury selection to media and public, sans explanation.

REVOLTING DEVELOPMENT: Hall County would like the drought to end so it can start sprawling again.

SMOLTZ: Four strikeouts away from No. 3,000; could get it tonight in Atlanta.

ANDRUW JONES: Flailing.

PANS: Being handled more often in Atlanta, according to ACVB study.

KEEP ON TRUCKIN’: Truck crashes into bank branch in Gainesville. And in case you can’t quite picture what this looked like from the driver’s point of view, AccessNorthGa has you covered.

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VACCINES AND AUTISM: Feds admit vaccines led to autismlike symptoms in Georgia girl; deny evidence of broader link between thimerosal and autism.

HOLD YOUR HORSES: Unless they’ve been quarantined for a potentially fatal viral disease. In that case, you should not steal them back and take them across state lines.

MAR Y TIERRA: Y cucarachas y bacterias.

BLITCH TAPPED: South Georgia Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III, under investigation for alleged judicial misconduct, has also been spied on by the FBI.

JANE KIDD: Backs Obama, and she’s a superdelegate.

BROWN RECLUSE: Didn’t bite you.

CUTS CONTINUE: Falcons fire Harrington, leading to more speculation Matt Ryan will be the No. 3 pick.

ANDRUW JONES: Fat.

BILL CAMPBELL: Still has never had a drug problem anymore.

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According to the AJC’s David O’Brien, the Atlanta Braves told free agent center fielder Andruw Jones today that they can’t afford him and will allow him to sign with another team. Center field at Turner Field without Andruw Jones? It doesn’t seem possible.

I remember hanging around home plate during batting practice in 1999 when the Mets were in town. Shawn Dunston was in the batting cage and he hit a ball right center that would have been a hit in a real game. Except he exclaimed, “That was an Andruw Jones out!” When I asked him to explain, he said the players counted the number of “hits” they got during BP. But there were outs and then there were “Andruw Jones outs.” Essentially, any fly ball hit in the vicinity of center field was an “Andruw Jones out.” That’s how much respect other players have for him.

Jones is generally regarded as the best center fielder since Willie Mays. And even though he had a subpar year in 2007, he was also battling through nagging injuries. After losing Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine to free agency, it doesn’t come so much as a shock to lose Andruw Jones. You get used to it.

The fact is the Braves are owned by a company that is headquartered in Colorado, a company that purchased the Braves as a tax write-off. The Braves aren’t even mentioned on the company’s website.

The Braves will never approach the peaks of the team’s glory years in the ’90s until it is owned by someone in Atlanta who will come to games and invest emotionally in the team. Until then, the team will continue to lose its best players because management will have budget constraints.

So long, Andruw, we hardly knew ya.

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark thinks so and builds his case in a new column (and book excerpt) that has already drawn nearly 200 comments, mostly from Braves fans in protest.

Stark is a very good baseball writer, and he has some interesting stats to back up his contention. But, in the end, it’s more hyperbole than anything else.

Is Andruw Jones a great center fielder? Most definitely; just ask any pitcher he’s played behind. When Jones was a rookie and playing left field, none other than Greg Maddux went up to pitching coach Leo Mazzone and said, “Will you ask Bobby [Cox] to let that kid play center field when I’m pitching?”

That’s a pretty strong endorsement. And here’s another. I was hanging out at the batting cage a few years ago when the Giants were in town. Shawon Dunston hit a liner to right-center and said, “That’s an Andrew Jones out.” I walked over and asked him what he meant. He explained that when some of the players did batting practice, they counted how many “hits” they got. An “Andruw Jones out” was a ball that would typically be a hit … unless Andruw Jones was playing center field.

Jones is certainly the best I’ve ever seen play center. Sure, he’s slowed a little in the last couple of years, mainly because he plays hurt so often. But he’s still the guy I’d want patrolling the outfield if I owned a team.

What do you think? Is he overrated, or is Stark just over-the-top?

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