"Chipper Jones' fifth-inning homer off Tim Lincecum on Thursday accounted for all the of the scoring in a big 1-0 Braves win against the Giants, and it moved Hoss past Vlad and real close to Bags on the career homer list, and not far behind Yaz.

It was the 447th homer for Chipper, moving past Vladimir Guerrero into sole possession of 35th on the all-time list. He's two homers behind Jeff Bagwell and five behind the great Carl Yastrzemski.

Yes, Atlanta's 39-year-old 3B is in some serious company, and the only other active player (other than Guerrero) with a shot at passing Jones anytime soon is Albert Pujols, currently tied with Andre Dawson for 38th with 438 homers.

The other active players behind Chipper with as many as 375 homers are Jason Giambi (427), old friend Andruw Jones (415) and Paul Konerko (393).

As most Braves fans probably know, Chipper has one more year on his contract at $14 million in 2012, plus a $9 million option in 2013 that becomes automatic if he plays in 123 games next season or averages 127 games this season and next.

He's played in 92 of the team's 124 games this season, even with a string of nagging injuries and a stint on the 15-day DL for arthroscopic knee surgery. If he comes back next season - and I think he will - he could certainly muster 123 games for the option to kick in.

That option for '13 would increase to $10 million if he played in 128 games next season, $11 million if he played in 133, $12 million if he played in 138, and $13 million if he played in 140."