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What is happening with Rafael Soriano? Every time he pitches they're hitting him hard, and he has already allowed 11 home runs this season. If it's fatigue, why does manager Bobby Cox keep using him?
-- Tomas M., Cartegena, Colo.

Let's get this part out of the way: If I really knew why Soriano was serving up homers as frequently as he used to record perfect innings, I'd be doing something other than answering this question. But seeing how Cox still hasn't offered me a spot on his coaching staff, I'll gladly try to explain why I believe many of you have recently had Dan Kolb flashbacks every time Soriano enters the game.

First of all, let's remove fatigue as a potential culprit. With Soriano having already made a career-high 54 appearances, it's logical to wonder if he's feeling tired. But his fastball has still been consistently clocked around 96 mph, and the worst of his two-month struggles have come since he had the opportunity to gain five days' rest with the help of the All-Star break.

In the 4 1/3 innings he completed in his first five appearances after the break, Soriano surrendered six earned runs and eight hits, including three homers. He worked back-to-back days just once in that nine-day span.

With the reason he provides regarding about most every struggling pitcher, Cox says Soriano's problems are a matter of bad location. As for pitching coach Roger McDowell, he says the mechanical issues the right-hander was struggling with about a month ago have been fixed, and he's recently seen improvement with pitch quality.

Unfortunately, this still hasn't prevented Soriano from surrendering homers in both of his past two outings. Nine of the 19 homers the right-hander has surrendered in 181 2/3 innings as a reliever have come in the 24 innings that he's completed in his past 25 appearances.

McDowell brings up the reminder that power pitchers like Soriano can be doomed by the power that their live arms can generate. With this in mind, there was a 25-game stretch last year (May 3-July 4) during which Soriano also proved susceptible to the long ball. But the five homers and .237 batting average he surrendered during that span are Cy Young-like statistics compared to the ones he's currently compiling.

Along with the nine homers he's surrendered in his past 25 appearances, Soriano has also seen opponents hit .289 with a .598 slugging percentage. How can this happen to a reliever, who in his first 29 appearances this year, limited opponents to a .115 batting average and two homers?

Oh yeah, I forgot I'm the one answering the question. Thus, I propose that some of his early season dominance could have stemmed from the fact that he was facing National League opponents who weren't familiar with his live fastball and nasty slider. Unfamiliarity might have been the reason he managed to limit opponents to a .162 batting average and two homers in the 53 innings he completed in 2003 -- his first full one as a reliever in the Majors.

Regularly you hear big league pitchers talk about how they need to make necessary adjustments as games and seasons progress. This is the challenge facing Soriano. My guess is that he won't be as dominant as he was at the beginning of this season. But things will get better, if for no other reason than the fact that they can't get much worse.

Now that Mark Teixeira is a Brave, we can talk about the possibility of a contract extension. Is Teixeira the kind of guy who would tell his agent, Scott Boras, to "forget free agency, I want an extension?"
-- Josh A., Palmer, Ga.

No, the only guy who ever did this and lived to tell about it is Andruw Jones. But just like Jones isn't going to once again self-negotiate a hometown discount -- if there is such a thing for a guy hitting .214 -- for the Braves at the end of this year, I don't see Teixeira providing an adopted home discount for the Braves at the end of 2008.

It's easy to get excited about the fact that Teixeira's wife's family is from the Atlanta area and that he completed his successful collegiate career up the street at Georgia Tech. But when it comes time for him to test the free-agent market at the end of next season, Boras is going to promote him as the game's premier first baseman and likely demand an annual salary above $20 million.

It still remains to be seen where the Braves payroll will be under the direction of their new, more flexible owners, Liberty Media. Mike Hampton's salary will be erased by then, and both Chipper Jones and John Smoltz have vesting options for the 2009 season.

When can we expect prospects like Van Pope and Kala Kaaihue in the Majors? Will the Braves call up a top prospect when the rosters expand in September?
-- Brooks P., Lake Providence, La.

Pope's rise toward Atlanta certainly has slowed with the .221 batting average he's compiled in 104 games with Double-A Mississippi. As for Kaaihue, he put up impressive numbers at Class A Myrtle Beach this year and has since struggled in his first 16 games at the Double-A level.

As a third baseman, Pope's ascension toward Atlanta will be slowed if Chipper continues his recent production. As for Kaaihue, he's a strong first baseman with definite defensive weaknesses.

The Minor League players most likely to be around at least by the time September arrives will be Martin Prado, who is currently on the Atlanta roster, Brayan Pena, Royce Ring and Pete Orr.

Why isn't Cox resting Brian McCann? He's caught a bunch of games, plus all of the extra-inning games. Give Corky Miller some playing time. McCann's going to start burning out.
-- Walt B., Kaneohe, Hawaii

There was a point during that latter part of July when McCann worked a heavy workload. But that was primarily because the Braves knew they were going to trade Jarrod Saltalamacchia and needed to prevent him from getting injured.

Over the course of the past 14 days, McCann has caught a total of 11 games. I think this is a manageable workload for a 23-year-old. The .293 batting average he's compiled in August shows no sign of fatigue.

What is the status on Tanyon Sturtze? Will he be with Atlanta this season?
-- Anne Claire A., Brookhaven, Miss.

Sturtze didn't exactly impress in his debut with Triple-A Richmond on Saturday night, and there's certainly reason to wonder if he'll ever pitch in Atlanta. It's taken him much longer than expected to recover from the surgical procedure he had on his shoulder in May of last year.

But as long as Octavio Dotel's right shoulder injury doesn't keep him sidelined more than the next two weeks, the Braves still seemingly have a bullpen plenty strong enough to help them make their postseason run in September.