ARE THEY ALLOWED TO HAVE THAT MUCH FUN?

Whether you love them or hate them, you have to give the Braves one thing: they clearly have a lot of fun playing baseball and working with each other. The I'm-having-a-lot-of-fun award must be shared between three players: Marcus Giles, Andruw Jones, and Jeff Francoeur, with honorable mentions for John Smoltz and Chipper Jones.

Andruw looks like he's about fifteen years old. His baby-fat smile is a favorite of broadcast camera men. He's an easy target: he smiles when he makes a smoov play in the outfield, he smiles when he's at bat, he smiles when he's on base. It's not an I-don't-have-any-brain-cells smile. The guy's clearly having a ball.

Marcus Giles and Jeff Francoeur -- equally photogenic -- are little adrenaline junkies, bopping around the dugout like kids on a sunny day who've been told to go out and play. I'm not sure I've seen so much laughter and glee, even when the team's chips are down.

I wonder if the team's collective joy has anything to do with the fact that they are the Braves. Nobody in the Cubs or Nationals dugouts ever seems to be having any fun.