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When Bobby Cox moved Marcus Giles in the batting order, he wasn't necessarily hoping to increase his second baseman's power numbers.

But if that is indeed the end result, you're not going to hear Cox complain.

Giles has doubled his season home run output since moving to the second spot in the batting order three games ago. His 400-foot homer into the left field seats during Wednesday night's 3-1 win over the Brewers at Miller Park was his fourth of the season and second in as many nights.

"It doesn't matter where you put him in the order," Cox said. "He's going to get his hits."

Cox's primary reason for moving Giles was that Andruw Jones, who batted second during the season's first 25 games, did not exactly fit the description of a No. 2 hitter. His team-high 30 strikeouts prevented him from doing the things he needed to do to be successful at that spot in the order.

Hitting coach Terry Pendleton says every team has different needs from their No. 2 hitter. But he thinks he understands his team's needs.

"We need a guy that takes a strike to give (Rafael) Furcal a chance to steal and get into position to score," Pendleton said. "That guy also has to be able to hit with two strikes if it takes Furcal a whole at-bat to try to try to get to second base. We need a guy willing to bunt and hit to the other side. The guy has got to do a lot"

When Pendleton won the batting title in 1991, he batted second behind stolen-base threat Otis Nixon. While Pendleton won the batting title with a .319 average, Nixon stole an Atlanta-best 72 stolen bases in just 124 games that season. Furcal, the Braves current leadoff hitter, has often been referred to as someone who has the potential to break Nixon's mark.

"It was a joy hitting second behind Otis Nixon," Pendleton said. "I was willing to take strikes and with him on the basepaths I knew I was going to see a fastball at some point in the at-bat. That definitely made my job a lot easier."

Pendleton says he has spent much of the last few days schooling Giles on the approach he should be taking to the plate. But Giles, who before this week was batting seventh and eighth, seems to already have a pretty good understanding.

"If Furcal gets on, he needs to score and it's my job to do whatever it takes to make that happen," Giles said. "I like that responsibility. I feel a little more involved."

The right-handed hitting Giles, who is batting .278, said he understands the importance of being able to hit the ball the other way with runners on scoring position. In fact, he says it's a sign he's seeing the ball and making good contact.

"If you see me ground out to the left side, chances are I'm not swinging good," Giles said. "But right now I feel things are coming around. I feel better than I did about a week ago. There's no question about that."

This is not a completely new role for Giles. He has batted second and third throughout the majority of his career since being drafted by the Braves in the 53rd round of the 1996 First-Year Player Draft.

"I've got a lot of confidence batting second," Giles said. "If I had my choice, I'd bat second instead of eighth. But the bottom line is that it's not my choice."

It's Cox's choice and the Braves skipper hopes it will be the solution to the offensive problems his team suffered through in April. They ended the month ranked 12th in the National League in team batting average and runs.

Scoring early hasn't been a problem for the Braves. They scored 46 of their 101 runs in April during the first three innings. But there were many games when their bats were silent in the final innings. On Tuesday night, they scored three runs in the first inning and then, had just three hits the rest of the way.

Their inability to produce in the late innings has brought many puzzled faces to the Braves clubhouse. But nobody seems to have a solution.

"I know we just have to continue to play for nine innings and do the little things as much as possible," Pendleton said. "We need to whatever we can to get runners in scoring position and then drive them in. You need to do those things to be successful, especially when you are struggling to score runs like we are." Five of the six runs the Braves have scored in the past two games have come via home runs. So they're not exactly doing the little things needed to score runs. But when you're struggling, you'll also take them any way you can.