Braves Respond to Championship Boasts

The Atlanta Braves, amused by the Dodgers’ boasts that they could be the team to beat this season, suggested Monday that the Dodgers had better concern themselves with winning their own division before making World Series plans.

“Every team went out in the off-season with the intention of going out to be better than us,” third baseman Chipper Jones said before the Braves’ 7-3 exhibition victory over the Dodgers. “But it’s been the same the last five years. If they want to represent the National League in the World Series, they have to go through Atlanta.”

Said first baseman Fred McGriff, “They better worry about their own division. If I’m the [San Diego] Padres, I sure don’t think it’s over. I would get a little mad. That division isn’t going to be easy.”

But the Braves are aware that the Dodgers appear to be much improved, and that their confidence is a bit alarming.

“If those teams have that much confidence early in the season, that’s impressive,” Jones said. “That’s actually a little scary. That’s half the battle right there.”

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Dodger catcher Mike Piazza played first base for the first time since 1993, starting in place of Eric Karros, who has a strained hamstring. “It’s not anything I’d like to do a lot,” Piazza said. “[The Braves] were all over me, anyway. They kept telling me I can’t hit as a first baseman.” . . . The Cincinnati Reds told the Dodgers they are interested in acquiring reliever Billy Brewer or another left-hander. The Dodgers are looking for a right-handed power hitter. . . . Neither Pedro Astacio nor Chan Ho Park distinguished himself against the Braves. Astacio yielded five hits, three earned runs and three walks in three innings. Park gave up two hits in two innings, but several balls were hit deep into the outfield against a stiff breeze. Each is shooting for the fifth spot in the starting rotation. Right fielder Raul Mondesi boldly predicts: “This is going to be the greatest year of my career. Write it down. It’s going to happen.”