OPINION

By Matt Crossman

updated 10:45 p.m. ET June 7, 2008

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros are spring training neighbors in Florida. Every spring, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones and Astros first baseman Lance Berkman get together to talk switch-hitting.

It's a humbling occupation. No switch-hitter ever gets both swings working the way he wants at the same time, so it's always like something is broken and needs fixing. Both have contemplated giving it up at one point or another, but each has stuck with it.

Once the season starts, and they're no longer in close proximity, they usually continue their conversations on the phone. "He vents his frustrations to me, and I vent my frustrations to him," Jones says. "It's always one thing or another."

It should come as no surprise that the two have not talked yet this season. What frustrations could either have? Berkman is second in the majors in hitting at .382. And he looks like a schlub compared to Jones, who entered Friday's game hitting a whopping .418. And while it's too early to start a .400 watch, it ain't April anymore, either.

Every day, Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur becomes a little more convinced Jones could hit .400 for the season. He's not totally there yet. But he will be soon if Jones keeps it up. "He's making it look easy," Francoeur says. "Every day he comes to the park and feels like he can get two hits no matter who they're throwing."

Jones has been a great hitter since he was taken first overall in the 1990 draft, and he showed marked improvement in the past two seasons. In 2007, he hit .338, a career best and second in the National League. He entered 2008 with a career average of .307. It's .310 now, and get this: Only seven players in history have a career average of .310 with 400 homers and 1,300 RBI. Five are Hall of Famers, plus Manny Ramirez and Jones.

"It's a miracle somebody's hitting .418 this late in the year," Braves manager Bobby Cox says. "He's been awesome. He's hitting everything."

Throw out the one game the Braves played in March, and his worst month this season was May. He hit .417. "It amazes me," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said before Friday's Phillies-Braves matchup. "I don't know if we can hold him hitless, but we've got to keep him in the yard. He's starting to hit home runs lately."

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Jones attributes his late career surge to experience. He studies diligently and is more prepared when he steps into the batter's box than ever before. "I know, at 36 years old, what my limitations are," he says. "I'm quicker to realize which guys I can do optimal damage against, and which guys I'll just scrape by."

His first two at-bats on Friday were a good indication of his measured approach. He was coming off a game in which he went 4-for-5, hit his 400th home run and received his second career curtain call. He was facing Jamie Moyer, a pitcher as wily on the mound as Jones is discerning at the plate.

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As a younger man, Jones might have channeled the previous night's energy and tried to hit a ball clear to Buckhead. But on the first pitch Jones saw, he kept his hands behind a ball on the outer half of the plate and poked a textbook liner to right, like he did it every day of his life.

In his second at-bat, he again hit a ball outside the other way, this time a slicing fly that landed on the track in the corner and bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double.

When Jones steps to the plate, Ozzy Osbourne bellows "all aboard!" out of the Turner Field loudspeakers, the opening line from the song "Crazy Train." This is indeed a crazy trip Jones is on. "I'm going to ride the wave as long as I can," he says.

And when that ride ends, Berkman's phone will ring.

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