Five years ago, the Atlanta Braves took a gamble. They

needed another bat in the lineup, and Texas made first baseman Mark Teixeira available.

Scott Thorman had failed at first base after Atlanta traded away Adam LaRoche. The Braves had tried catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia at first, but it was obvious he was a catcher playing first base. So the Braves traded five young pros-pects to the Rangers for Teixeira and left-handed reliever Ron Mahay.

Teixeira had the rest of 2007 and all of 2008 left on his contract. The Braves hoped Teixeira, who played college ball at Georgia Tech, would want to stay in Atlanta and sign a long-term contract.

But that never hap-pened. Teixeira put up good numbers, but the Braves struggled. They tried to get him to re-sign, but Teixeira was looking for a landmark contract, so he was trad-ed away for two players who are since long gone.

Four of the five play-ers who were traded to Texas have turned out pretty good. Shortstop Elvis Andrus is a two-time All-Star. Neftali Feliz became the Rang-ers’ closer and helped them make two straight World Series trips. And Matt Harrison is having one of the best seasons for any pitcher in the AL this season.

Saltalamacchia was also in the deal. He has moved on to Boston, and ‘Salty’ is finally turning the corner with a great season for the Red Sox.

So the Braves went for it in 2007, and it back-fired. They did not make the playoffs with Teix-eira in the lineup. They did not re-sign Teixeira, and most of the players they traded for him have turned out to be pretty good players.

That trade almost has become a moniker for teams that want a lot in return for a player who will soon be a free agent. For instance, when Miami put starter Josh Johnson on the trade market last week, word got out that the Marlins wanted a “Teixeira-like return” for their ace pitcher.

Four days ago, I wrote the Braves didn’t need to panic. I thought they were about to do that if they had traded Randall Delgado, who has made 17 starts this season, to the Chicago Cubs for Ryan Dempster. The Chicago right-hander is a rental, as his contract is up at the end of this season. The 35-year-old Dempster blocked the trade, and thankfully Delgado is still with the Braves.

On Friday, the Braves lost out on another available pitcher, when Milwaukee traded Zack Greinke to the Los Ange-les Angels. Greinke will be a free agent this fall, right when he turns 29.

By MICHAEL A. LOUGHmlough@macon.com

Intensity and focus won’t be issues for Vincent Han-cock.

After all, it wasn’t all that long ago that doubts were growing that he

would be able to defend the gold medal in men’s skeet that he won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He was tired, in the

middle of a growing fam-ily, battling a shoulder injury and just wasn’t himself.

“There were definite-ly some moments of concern,” said his wife Rebekah, who married Hancock in May of 2008, only a few months before the games in Beijing. “I was really wondering if he would be able to keep things going. He seemed to lose all drive and deter-mination to shoot.”

By SETH EMERSONsemerson@macon.com

ATHENS — Too many times this offseason, Mark Richt has fielded uncomfortable phone calls. Or the Georgia head football coach has had to sigh and look over anoth-er news release, announcing the departure of another one of his players.

“There’s more attrition in the last couple years than there’s been since I’ve been at Geor-gia,” Richt said last week, in his understated manner. “But you know, sometimes that hap-pens. We’ll still have plenty of

guys to field a team.” This week Richt and his

staff finally get to start mold-ing what’s left — and they be-lieve they have plenty left.

The Bulldogs saw a num-ber of transfers and dismiss-als, none more notorious than tailback Isaiah Crow-ell, following a June arrest. They enter the preseason with fewer than 70 players recruited on scholarship, well below the NCAA lim-

it of 85. And yet Georgia is still the consensus pick to

ALSOn More

Olympics, 6-7C

C

SportSSports Editor Daniel Shirley | dshirley@macon.com | (478) 744-4227Sunday July 29, 2012

LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL, 10CGeorgia gets its first win in the

Southeastern Regional Tournament, beating Alabama.

Bill Shanks

Telegraph File Photos

Walker, Wright

a TREE&The

NUMBERSGame

A look at Middle Georgia’s all-time greats

This week’s installment of The Numbers Game, looking at athletes who wore jersey numbers in the 30s while in high school, features a heavy emphasis on basketball, including one of the Atlanta Hawks’ all-time greats.

Pages 8-9C.

Braves 2,Phillies 1

Next: vs. Phillies,1:35 p.m., Sunday(Fox Sports South)

ALSOn Georgia Tech gears up

for start of practice, 12C

SEE HANCOCK, 12C

BUTCH DILL/Associated PressGeorgia head coach Mark Richt’s team opens practice Thursday.

Georgia moves forward with what’s left of roster

SEE GEORGIA, 12CSEE SHANKS, 12C

Hancock set to begin chase for second gold

Braves trying to avoid Teixeira repeat

By CHARLES ODUMAP Sports Writer

ATLANTA — Mike Minor struck out nine and combined with Craig Kimbrel on a four-hitter, Jason Heyward had two hits and drove in a run, and the Atlanta Braves edged Joe Blanton and the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Saturday night.

Minor (6-7) allowed one run on four hits and no walks in

eight innings. His nine strike-outs matched his season high. He retired the final 13 batters he faced.

The Phillies’ only run came on Chase Utley’s homer in the fourth.

Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth for his 30th save. Utley was caught looking at Kimbrel’s 99 mph fastball for a strike to end the game.

The Braves, who lost 12 of 18

games to the Phillies in 2011, are 6-2 against Philadelphia with five straight wins in 2012. At-lanta swept a three-game se-ries July 6-8 at Philadelphia and will try to complete an-other three-game sweep on Sunday.

Minor made his longest start since lasting eight innings in a win at Arizona on April 19. He has not allowed more than two runs in any of his four starts

in July.Blanton (8-9) gave up two

runs on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in seven innings.

Blanton and Minor began the night ranked first and second, respectively, among NL pitchers in home runs al-lowed. Minor matched Blan-ton’s 22 homers allowed on Utley’s blast into the center field seats.

Minor sharp in win over Phillies