Heyward, who is 6-5 and 240 pounds, batted .277 with 18 homers as a rookie. His power potential?"More than 18 homers," Jones says. "The sky's the limit for this kid. He's a tremendous power balance talent. He's capable of hitting .300. He's capable of hitting 35-40 homers in a year, capable of driving in 100-plus runs and capable of playing a Gold Glove right field. He had nine of his 24 homers in September, 25 of his 67 RBI and a .958 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage). One question remained, and Granderson smoothly answered it on the ninth-inning shot to the wall by Brandon Inge against closer Mariano Rivera."Mariano doesn't want balls to fall in front of us," Granderson said. "All spring, we kept pushing it to see how shallow we can play." "Maybe we need to trick him on Saturday and tell him it's opening day again," said Gonzalez, following Bobby Cox, who managed the Braves 25 seasons. "He hit that ball a shop online 2011 ton. I thought (Washington's Rick) Ankiel got his (in the second), and it only made it as far as the warning track in right. That tells you how strong this guy Heyward is." From the shutout pitching of Derek Lowe and four relievers — including rookie closer Craig Kimbrel — to the first-inning double that tested the surgically repaired knee of Chipper Jones and led to Atlanta's first run, the Braves appeared to do everything right in their 2-0 opening-day win against the Washington Nationals.And no one hit a ball better in the 41-degree chill than Jason Heyward, whose second-inning homer made him the second player in major league history to homer on opening day in his first two seasons. One swing isn't necessarily an answer, just as it doesn't wipe out lingering doubts from 2010.He hit a home run on opening day last year, too, and had two after the Yankees' first three games. He didn't hit another cheap power balance homer until June 1, and was hitting .226 on the Fourth of July.But Granderson and hitting coach Kevin Long attacked the lefties questions in August, rebuilding his swing to reduce unnecessary movement.
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eileen le vendredi 01 avril 2011
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