Before Saturday afternoon's game I had a chance to speak with Andruw Jones about his season and the struggles of this Braves team.
Martin Gandy: You're having a pretty good year personally, the team's not having as good a year as it usually has, how do you reconcile those two?
Andruw Jones: All the stuff I did don't means nothing because we didn't accomplish what we want to do when the season is over. We want to be where we've been every year, we want to make the playoffs and finish with the division title, and that's looking impossible right now. But we've still got a month and a week left we can really play good baseball and kind of push for the Wild Card, but those guys that are winning the Wild Card are playing so good right now.
MG: How have the recent struggles affected your confidence and the team confidence?
AJ: You know it's frustrating a little bit, because you play hard for innings and then end up losing the game, so it's frustrating a little bit. But there's nothing you can do, it's baseball, if you don't get the last three outs of the game then you're not going to win the game.
MG: What has the media not been focusing on that you think they should focus on?
AJ: I don't know, this is a baseball team, if we lose then we lose together, it doesn't matter who hit a homerun or not, or who played better than the other person. So we lost, we lost as a team.
MG: Is it hard to keep having to answer these questions as the days go by?
AJ: Well, I mean that's your job, and that's why the media comes to you to ask you all those questions. Just answer what you need to answer and don't make difficult comments, just give them the right answer.
MG: Make a prediction of where this team will finish at the end of the season?
AJ: Well, I hope we can win the Wild Card. We want to get in the playoffs, that what this team is always built on, to be in the playoffs. It looks hard right now, but that's where I want to see us; make the playoffs.