By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Despite dropping a big one in their homestand against the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves have maintained a steady lead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals.

It’s a bit a miracle, to be quite frank, because the baseball gods should have made Atlanta pay for losing consecutive series against two last place teams. One of which, the O’s, is the worst team in all of baseball (and outside of Kansas City, it’s not even close).

But the Braves escaped from that abysmal stretch pretty much unscathed and have been plenty appreciative thus far on their current road trip, putting up big numbers in the first two games against St. Louis.

It’s a good sign that the Bravos can still beat good teams, because July is going to be a hell of test for Atlanta. Arguably this is a month that can prove that the Braves are for real or humble them in a big way.

Why? Because of who they are playing. The best records in the National League belong to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Atlanta Braves, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals.

Beginning with the current series against St. Louis and excluding Atlanta itself because, duh, the Braves play every one of those teams except for Chicago and Philadelphia.

Not that missing the Cubs is much of a relief, because instead of that club the Braves are traveling to the Bronx for a three-game set against the Yankees, who have a significantly better record than anyone in the entire National League anyway.

There’s a two-game set against Toronto in the mix as well, but even they managed a split against Atlanta earlier in the season.

So, when I tell you that July is an important month, you can take that to the bank. The Braves have to win these series. Especially, because the Nationals play Miami EIGHT times during the month in addition to a six-game road trip against Pittsburgh and the Mets.

Plus, Philadelphia gets treated to series against those same Reds and Orioles that Atlanta should have stomped. The Phillies get a home series versus the Padres and play the Marlins and Pirates as well.

This would be the time, if I were a writer for a publication in Pennsylvania, I would suggest that Philly needs to take advantage of the schedule discrepancy and put pressure on Atlanta. Especially, considering that the Phillies and Braves won’t play each other until two of the last three series of the season.

On the flip side, that is what makes it so important that the Braves come out of this month not having lost any ground to the teams below them, Philadelphia in particular.

Just as they won’t be able to control their own fate if they are behind, so too will the Braves lack the ability to widen the standings (or worse, make a comeback) in head-to-head matchups until the campaign is almost over.

Atlanta will play Washington in one series per month for the rest of the year, including in July. I would argue it’s actually more important that they keep Washington down by playing well during these dog days of summer.

The Nationals still feel like a sleeping dragon. If they manage to climb to the top of the standings and subsequently start playing at the level at which they are capable, they will be very difficult to unseat as division leaders.

Make no mistake, this is going to be a very tough month for Atlanta and me saying ‘they need to play well’ seems obvious and easy.

However, come October, this may prove to be the most important month of the season for the National League East.