The Cincinnati Reds will honor Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones this week, during Chipper's final series in Cincinnati, with special bases. The bases will feature a custom made "jewel" on both sides of the base that has the Reds and Braves logos, and will say "Celebrating the Career of #10 Chipper Jones."

After the series one of the game-used bases will be presented to Chipper, one to the Braves Hall of Fame, and the other will remain in the Reds Hall of Fame.

This is a classy thing for the Reds to do, a truly great honor for Chipper, and something I haven't heard of being done before. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first time a player who is retiring will be honored on bases.

Fantastic stuff from the Reds, and continues more of the great acknowledgements from teams of the Hall of Fame career of Chipper Jones.

Chipper is a career .297/.384/.524 hitter against Cincinnati. He has appreciated the Great American Ballpark (.333/.400/.531) much more than he appreciated the old Cinergy Field (.216/.335/.396).

The Braves continued their winning ways on the road this year, taking two of three from the Rays in Tropicana Field in Atlanta's first interleague series of 2012.

It figures, though, that the Braves earned their wins against the two best pitchers the Rays have in James Shields and David Price, but suffer their loss to a young pitcher they've never seen before. That seems to happen more often than not to the Braves, but Alex Cobb deserves plenty of credit. He pitched a great ballgame and even retired 10 in a row in his win Saturday.

Randall Delgado, on the other hand, struggled with his command and gave up his second grand slam of the season. He recovered nicely after the first one, posting a 2.55 ERA in the four starts after the first slam against Arizona. It was also the first time he had issued five walks in a game in his brief major-league career. Let's hope he recovers after this outing as well.

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Your one-page daily morning overview of Atlanta Braves news:

Atlanta Braves at Tampa Bay Rays - May 20, 2012 | MLB.com ATL Recap
"I felt pretty good in the 'pen with it, and then I was just locating down in the zone, [keeping] them off balance. Cutters, curveballs, not much of a secret, try to make pitches down," said Hudson, who produced 14 ground-ball outs over his 99-pitch outing. "Just trying to keep those guys behind me in the game with some action. Usually we're ok, [we] had a little luck."

Braves win behind Hudson gem, Tampa Bay blunder | Atlanta Braves
Tim Hudson won a pitchers’ duel with All-Star David Price and got support in the form of a home run from old pal David Ross. But the most important play in Sunday’s 2-0 win against Tampa Bay turned out to be a baserunning mistake by the Rays, for which the Braves felt fortunate. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning, and Jonny Venters’ command faltering, Luke Scott’s hard-hit grounder struck Rays baserunner Carlos Pena in the leg as he ran toward second base. Pena was called out and the Braves, having avoided a potential game-changing moment, held on for the win to take the interleague series 2-1.

Braves quotes after Sunday’s win over Rays | Atlanta Braves
David Ross, what pitch were you looking for and what’d you get (on homer)? "I was looking for a heater. I mean, he throws so hard you’ve got to respect his heater. He throws 97 [mph], it moves all over the place. He’s a tough pitcher to face, but he’s a little easier for righties, I would say, than lefties. His ball moves so much. I was looking for something hard and he just threw a little backdoor slider and I got good barrel on it. I don’t go opposite field too much, but I just caught it deep, real late. Just kind of threw my hands on it and it got good barrel."

Hudson has good chemistry with Ross, Wilson | braves.com: News
"I like it like this because you play [Tyler Pastornicky] and you develop him," Gonzalez said. "You play Jack, you give Tyler a breather, keep Jack fresh. And you know you're going to get a lot of ground balls with Huddy. It's a good mix."

Chipper remains day to day | braves.com: News
"He's walking around better," Gonzalez said. "Hopefully, [he can play on Monday] and maybe even Tuesday. It's going to be something it may be for two months, he's going to have to wear a protector for at least ... two months."

Freeman’s eyes are dry and first-pitch swings fruitful | Atlanta Braves
Freeman swung at the first pitch just over 48 percent of the time (84 of 174) before Sunday, more frequently than any major leaguer except Texas slugger Josh Hamilton (56 percent). "I’ve always done that," Freeman said. "I’m a guy who, regardless of the count if it’s a strike, I swing. I’m not up there looking for a certain pitch or anything. I put my [front] foot down [and am ready to swing]. Usually the first pitch is the best pitch because they’re just trying to get to strike 1."

Todd Redmond pitched well for Gwinnett while Stefan Gartrell went deep again, Gilmartin was bitten by the gopherball in Mississippi, Schlosser tossed a beauty for Lynchburg while La Stella did it all, and

Gwinnett Braves 2, Rochester Red Wings 1

• Stefan Gartrell, 1-4, HR(10), .257
• Ernesto Mejia, DH: 2-4, 2B, R, .306
• Drew Sutton, 3B: 1-2, 2B, RBI, .270
• Joey Terdoslavich, 3B: 1-2, .197
• Todd Redmond, SP: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 2.63 ERA
• Cory Gearrin, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 1.09 ERA

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According to a tweet from a Pirates beat writer, the Braves have traded utility infielder Drew Sutton:

#Pirates acquired INF Drew Sutton from #Braves for $$. Sutton, 28, last season hit ..315 w/7 RBI in 31 games with Red Sox.

— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) May 20, 2012

Sutton was hitting .270/.374/.372 at triple-A Gwinnett, showing his value as a good on-base guy. I find it strange that the Braves traded him, as he represents good utility infield depth stashed away in the minors. Perhaps this signifies the organization's confidence in Andrelton Simmons if something were to happen to Tyler Pastornicky or Jack Wilson. Or perhaps it shows that they don't view Sutton as a backup at short, with better options to backup the other infield spots in case of injury.

Not a big trade, but curious.

The matchup of Tim Hudson vs. David Price was as good as advertised, but Hudson was just a little bit better, pitching into the eighth inning of Atlanta's 2-0 victory.

Price was undefeated in three home starts this year with a 1.16 ERA and Hudson had only allowed three runs in his last 14 innings. Neither pitcher gave up a hit until the third inning when David Ross hit an opposite-field home run off Price with one out. The lead was enough for Hudson, who kept getting easy ground balls hit to his infield defense. In fact, six of the first seven outs Hudson recorded were on the ground.

Price was no less effective at inducing ground balls. Braves hitters grounded out eight times against the lefty, but Price relied more on the strikeout, getting four in the first three innings and finished his outing with seven in seven innings. Atlanta, however, rallied in the sixth with three singles against Price. Jason Heyward drove in Freddie Freeman with two outs in the inning, with assistance from a passed ball that moved Freeman to second, for a much-needed second run.

Hudson escaped trouble in the bottom of the sixth when the Rays loaded the bases with two outs against him, but Carlos Pena helped him out, flying out to center to squash the threat. Hudson lasted 7.2 innings, allowing just four hits and two walks. He induced 14 groundouts in the game.

A single by B.J. Upton chased Hudson from the game in the eighth, and Jonny Venters was asked to get the final out. Venters, however, made the game a little bit interesting when he plunked Matt Joyce and Carlos Pena to load the bases for the DH Luke Scott. Scott hit what was sure to be a game-tying single to right field, but Venters and the Braves were saved when the ball struck Pena on his way to second and by rule, Pena was out, preserving the shutout.

Craig Kimbrel retired the Rays in order in the ninth, striking out two for the save.

Tropicana Field, Atlanta Braves vs. Tampa Bay Rays, 5/20/12, top of the first

Collecting Brandon Beachy

Thursday night, my wife and I drove over to Discover Mills mall in Lawrenceville. John Smoltz was there signing his recent book, Stating and Closing. We arrived about an hour and a half before the signing was set to begin, and was fortunate enough to get place 73 in line. We appeared to be the only people with a single copy of the book to be signed. I could see people buying copy after copy, seemingly for every Braves fan they know. Me? I’m not that nice I guess.

I struck up a conversation with the older guy in line in front of me. His son used to own a card and memorabilia shop over in Roswell. At some point, he stopped selling cards since he couldn’t compete with the internet retailers. Eventually he would sell his shop and now works as an independent dealer of signed jerseys and stuff. He said that his son has a closet filled with signed Braves jerseys, including a Spahn and a Mathews. His son already had a lot of Smoltz stuff, but he thought he would enjoy a signed copy of the Smoltz book.

When an individual picked up their number, the bookstore employee would place a yellow post it note on the title page. We were told that if we want the book personalized, to put the name on the post it. The old guy saw my name and informed that I would have a hard time selling the book if I got the autograph personalized. Well, OK then.

Of course, I have no intention of ever selling the book. John Smoltz remains one of my favorite players in the history of the game. As the line moved through the store, I thought back over his career. When Smoltzy was first called up in 1988, he got knocked around quite a bit. He seemed to put it all together on the awful 1989 Braves team, but Smoltz was wildly inconsistent through the early part of his career. It’s hard to forget a year like 1991 when he had his infamous Jekyll and Hyde season (2–11 5.16 through July 6, 12–2 2.63 after), which he followed up with a dominating post-season. Still, other than game 7 of the 1991 World Series, I’m having trouble remembering any defining moment from the early years of his career. Maybe I’m just getting old.

It took the line a while to wind through the store to the signing table. We were all Braves fan, so no one complained when someone started streaming the audio from the game to their phone. That brings me to Brandon Beachy.

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It was a rough day for Atlanta's minor league affiliates, as all four teams took losses, completing the dreaded reverse organizational sweep. Wiley and Simmons caused havoc at the top of Mississippi's lineup while Cornley was unconscious in relief.

Gwinnett Braves 4, Rochester Red Wings 6

• Jose Constanza, LF: 1-4, 3B, 2 RBI, R, .316
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B: 1-4, 3B, R, .301
• Felix Pie, RF: 1-3, RBI, .143
• Eric Junge, SP: 6 IP, 12 H, 6 R (5 ER), 2 BB, 3 K, 3.64 ERA
• Adam Russell, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2.37 ERA

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Randall Delgado had pitched great his previous three starts, but this one was anything but great. Delgado walked five hitters and surrendered a grand slam home run in a 5-2 loss to the Rays.

Delgado was given an early 2-0 lead in the second inning. Juan Francisco hit the third of three straight singles for Atlanta's first run against Rays starter Alex Cobb, scoring Brian McCann. Jason Heyward scored the second run of the inning on Eric Hinske's sacrifice fly.

However, Delgado put the lead in jeopardy in the bottom of the inning. Consecutive walks to Carlos Pena and Luke Scott started the inning and a sacrifice bunt moved them both into scoring position for Will Rhymes. He hit what was sure to be a sacrifice fly, but Jason Heyward fired a throw from right field to nab Pena and preserve the shutout.

Although he escaped trouble in the second, Delgado continued to struggle finding the strike zone in the third and his lack of command ultimately doomed him. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Matt Joyce and he smashed a grand slam home run to center, the third such home run of his career and suddenly the Rays had a 4-2 lead.

Delgado was gone after four innings. Only 43 of his 84 pitches were strikes.

Cristhian Martinez served up a homer to Sean Rodriguez leading off the sixth, staking Cobb to a 5-2 lead. Cobb retired the final 10 hitters he faced, striking out six in seven innings.

The bats remained quiet the rest of the game, going down in order the final two innings with Fernando Rodney recording the save.

Martin Prado's 10-game hitting streak came to an end. He was 0-for-3.