Guillen Gives the Braves Another Boost With Bat

Ozzie Guillen did it again.

For the second game in a row, the Atlanta Brave shortstop stirred things at the top of the lineup.

Guillen singled three times in five at-bats, keeping the pressure on San Diego Padre pitchers. Guillen went one for five with a run-scoring single in the Braves’ 8-3 victory in Game 4--his first game in the starting lineup.

“[Manager] Bobby Cox gives me opportunities, and I just try to help the team,” Guillen said. “It feels good to help the team now, because we weren’t scoring too many runs.

“Now, we’re scoring more runs, but I think [shortstop] Walt Weiss was doing a great job [batting leadoff] all year. I just try to help when Bobby Cox gives me my opportunities.”

And not only when he’s in the lineup.

“I spark the team when I’m on the bench,” Guillen said. “It doesn’t matter where I am, I root for my teammates and I cheer for my teammates.”

The support is appreciated, the Braves said.

“He always picks the team up, all the time,” Brave first baseman Andres Galarraga said. “He plays great when he gets his opportunities, but he doesn’t have to be [in the lineup] to help the team.”

Guillen believes the Braves are ready to make history. He said the team is confident it can rally to win the series now that it shifts to Atlanta for Game 6 Wednesday.

“We believed in ourselves the whole time, when nobody else did,” he said. “We know what we can do. Now, we’re coming back home. This is good.”