Conversation with Bobby Cox

I got a chance to talk with Bobby Cox before the game today. I asked him who he thought was the biggest surprise on the team this year. His answer will probably not surprise many Braves fans, "Kelly Johnson, and I don't know if it's a surprise," he siad. "The work he did all winter with Hubbard, you know, he became an excellent second baseman."

When asked if either Johnson or Marcus Giles was better at this point in their development, Bobby replied "I don't know, Hubby had Giles ready too."

With Bobby Cox's ejection last night he is now two away from the record for most ejections by a manager in baseball history. What does Bobby attribute all of the ejections to? "I don't know, just moment of the game, that's all," he said. When I followed up by asking him if it was any particular word he said, he cracked a bit of a smile and repeated the word "sometimes."

He wasn't forthcoming about the status of Willy Aybar, or when if at all he would be back this year.

I asked him about putting Salty at first and when he would do it, and this was his response: "Well, right now, Thorman's hitting lefties so well I hate to mess with it, but we can though. Yeah, he's hitting the ball hard against them. I don't know what his average is, but he's hitting it hard." When I asked if he was worried about the prospect of having two converted players on the right side of the infield Bobby replied, "I'm not worried about anything, Johnson's great."

Bobby also said that they are going to have to rely on everyone in the bullpen to fill Mike Gonzalez's role. Interestingly, he e also mentioned that Gonzo's injury is similar to the one that Smoltz had several years ago before he went under the knife. In both cases the pitchers really didn't feel much pain, but at the same time they couldn't throw hard.

I was able to speak with Andruw Jones and Kelly Johnson before the game today, so I'll have those interviews along with the three guys I spoke with yesterday, Salty, Prado, and Harris, coming up later on today and throughout the next few days.