Andruw Jones joins exclusive HR club

WASHINGTON - On an afternoon that vaulted Andruw Jones' name among the very best hitters to ever put on a Braves uniform, manager Bobby Cox said he had never seen the team's slugging center fielder look any better.

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Jones hit his franchise-record-tying 47th home run of the year in Atlanta's 4-0 victory at Washington's RFK Stadium, the Braves' seventh win in nine games.

And he did it with a fever, cough, chills and aches, feeling very much the opposite of the way Cox said he appeared.

"I feel bad," said Jones, who's fought the flu bug the past three days. "I get up in the morning and my body hurts, my stomach hurts, my knee hurts. ... It's not a good feeling."

What does feel good, he said, is joining Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews for the Braves' pinnacle of power-hitting seasons.

Mathews had 47 homers in 1953; Aaron duplicated the total in 1971.

Jones still has 20 games to dwarf the current record.

"It's good to be out there with the numbers I've got," Jones said. "All those guys that have been out there, they're big-time guys that are in the Hall of Fame. They put up numbers."

Rest assured, Jones' will be larger still.

With 119 runs driven in, the NL leader in that category is 13 behind Gary Sheffield's franchise record.

Saturday's homer came in the fourth inning against Washington's Livan Hernandez. Although greatly aided by catcher Brian McCann's three-run shot later in the inning, Jones' opposite-field blast that landed in the Atlanta bullpen beyond the right field wall stands as the game-winning RBI.

It's his league-leading 21st game-winner run driven in, typically a good indicator of an MVP front-runner.

"To me, there's no reason to be pitching to Andruw right now the way he's been swinging," Nationals outfielder Jose Guillen said.

That's especially true if Jones does what he did Saturday.

In stark contrast with past seasons, he went with pitches to the opposite field. In addition to the home run, Jones had a single to lead off the second inning that skidded into right field.

"I think today proved why he should be the MVP," rookie right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. "A guy like Hernandez, you don't try to pull him. You pull him, you're going to ground out.

"I think that shows you right there what he can do and how much better he's getting. It's his seventh, eighth year, but the adjustments he's made, I don't see how he couldn't be MVP."

Reach Travis Haney at travis.haney@morris.com.