Braves' Uggla aims to extend hitting streak

Braves second baseman Dan Uggla is batting .355 with 12 homers and 29 runs batted in during his 31-game hitting streak. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)The Atlanta Braves plan to honour their former longtime manager before opening a 10-game homestand Friday night against the Chicago Cubs. Dan Uggla could make the evening all the more special by recording the second-longest hitting streak in club history. Bobby Cox walked away from the game last year after 29 seasons as a manager, including <a href="http://www.afashionbuy.com/Handbags-LV-Handbag-f2-39-c3-15.html"><strong>cheap lv handbags outlet</strong></a> 25 with Atlanta, which will retire his No. 6 before Friday's contest against the Chicago Cubs at 7:35 p.m. ET. The Braves (69-49) were hoping to add another franchise mainstay when they acquired Uggla from Florida and signed him to a five-year contract in the offseason. That plan wasn't going so well with Uggla hitting .173 on July 4, but since then he's posted the longest hitting streak in the majors this season at 31 games — tying Rico Carty for the longest Braves run since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966. "It's crazy," said Uggla, batting .355 with 12 homers and 29 runs batted in during his streak. "Was that one of the things I thought about when I got over here? No, obviously not, but it's a cool thing. This is an awesome organization and to have some kind of record with this organization is really special." Uggla went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in Wednesday's 6-2 victory at Florida, helping the Braves cap a nine-game trek by winning six of the last seven, including four in a row. Despite his impressive run, Uggla is batting just .224 on the season. He earned high praise from Wednesday's winning pitcher Tim Hudson for his ability to rebound from his early funk. 'Unbelievable teammate' "He's been an unbelievable teammate all year," Hudson said. "He plays hard every single day. When <a href="http://afashionbuy.com/"><strong>Buy Discount Replica Gucci Sunglass</strong></a> he had his struggles early on, he never made excuses, he played hard. When fans were booing him, he never let his head drop <a href="http://afashionbuy.com/"><strong>Wholesale Replica LV Handbags Online</strong></a> and he's prevailing now." Uggla continues to creep closer to Tommy Holmes's franchise record of hitting safely in 37 straight games with the Boston Braves in 1945, but he's batting just .212 in his last 10 meetings with the Cubs (51-67) and is 1-for-9 with four walks and five strikeouts against Carlos Zambrano (9-6, 4.46 earned-run average). Zambrano is on a bit of a roll himself, having gone 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA over his last four starts. Despite his recent success, though, the right-hander has experienced some control issues. After walking three batters during a 5-3 win at Pittsburgh on Aug. 1, Zambrano yielded three runs and four free passes during Saturday's 11-4 win over Cincinnati. "For some reason, the last two outings, Pittsburgh and [Saturday], I've been fighting with my mechanics and my arm slot," Zambrano told the Cubs' official site. "Hopefully, my next start, I will come with a better arm slot and a better feeling." Zambrano won his first two career outings against Atlanta in 2002 but has since gone 0-4 with a 6.24 ERA over 10 starts in the series. Atlanta counters with Mike Minor (1-2, 4.85). In his first start since getting recalled from AAA Gwinnett for the fourth time this season, the left-hander allowed four runs and seven hits Sunday in 5 2-3 innings of Atlanta's 6-5 road win over the New York Mets. Minor gave up three runs and seven hits while striking out a career-high 12 in six innings of a 16-5 win at Wrigley Field last Aug. 22 — his <a href="http://www.yaoxue8.com/plus/guestbook.php"><strong>Trading strategy for Universal Technical Institute Inc. (down 4.88 percent, UTI)</strong></a> only career appearance in this series. Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena hit back-to-back homers as Chicago defeated Washington 4-3 on Thursday. The Cubs have won nine of 11, including a season-best five straight as the visiting team.