NEW YORK -- As soon as Barry Bonds belted his record-breaking 756th homer late Tuesday night, Chipper Jones felt goose bumps and thought about how he'll one day tell his kids and grandchildren about the emotions he felt while watching this historic moment in the confines of his Manhattan hotel room.

Unfortunately, Jones also quickly came to the conclusion that these conversations won't be as innocent as the ones he and his father shared while talking about the night Hank Aaron became baseball's home run king. These kids are likely going to what to know about the steroid era and why Bonds was considered its central figure.

"It's unfortunate for the game that there is such a cloud hanging over [Bonds]," Jones said. "Hopefully, everything will come out in the open and Barry will be cleared. Then we can all say Barry is the true home run champ and that there's no asterisk and nothing tainting it.

"There's nothing any of ballplayers would want more than him to be cleared. I'm playing in the steroid era. Everything that I do is going to be judged. It's the same with a lot of good ballplayers."

Even if Bonds defies common belief and somehow escapes proof that he ever used steroids or any similar illegal performance-enhancing substances, Jones knows simply playing with an era that encompasses the past 20 years creates the likelihood that his statistics will be among the many that are scrutinized.

While Bonds is the poster boy of the era, he's not among the group of players at both the Minor League and Major League levels who have tested positive. With this in mind, Jones is among the many who have given more credence to the rampant performance-enhancing allegations that Jose Canseco made in his 2005 book entitled "Juiced."

"There have been a lot of validations to what Jose Canseco has said over the years," Jones said. "At first when he came out, people didn't want to give him a lot of credit for it. But a lot of it has been proven true. Now when he opens his mouth, people listen."

Both Jones and Braves teammate Andruw Jones believe simply playing in this era will force Alex Rodriguez to encounter some finger-pointing if and when he makes his expected march toward Bonds' homer record.

"People want to see records broke -- and on the other hand, they don't -- because nobody thinks anything is legit anymore," Andruw Jones said.

Both Jones boys said they have no reason to believe A-Rod has used performance-enhancing substances. As for Bonds, Chipper says he's going to allow everything to play out before declaring a definitive belief.

"I'm going to reserve judgment," Jones said. "I will say that Barry Bonds is the best player I've ever seen put on a baseball uniform. Do I think he's a first-ballot Hall of Famer? Yes, cloud or no cloud."

A.J. dropped to seventh: With right-hander Orlando Hernandez starting for the Mets on Wednesday night, Braves manager Bobby Cox loaded the top of his lineup with left-handed bats and put Jeff Francoeur's hot bat ahead of Andruw Jones' inconsistent one.

Francoeur, who entered Wednesday hitting .386 in his previous 35 games, batted sixth, and Jones, who is hitting .239 since the All-Star break and .217 on the season, was put in the seventh position -- marking just the second time this season that he's hit this low in the batting order.

Although he managed to collect a hit in four at-bats in Tuesday night's series-opening win over the Mets, Jones says his left elbow still was bothering him and that he expects it to be a problem throughout the rest of the season. The Gold Glove outfielder received a cortisone shot in the elbow late Friday night and has since realized minimal relief.

Frenchy's on fire: With his third four-hit game of the season on Tuesday night, Francoeur raised his batting average to .310, which is 50 points higher than the mark he posted last year. The 23-year-old right fielder entered Wednesday with 17 multi-hit games in his past 35 games. He totaled just 23 in his first 78 games this year.

Hampton throwing: Mike Hampton, who is missing a second consecutive season while recovering from left elbow surgery, accompanied the Braves to New York to continue a throwing program that began Monday. For the rest of the month, the 34-year-old hurler will throw on flat ground on an every-other-day basis and then possibly begin throwing bullpen sessions in September.

Hampton hopes to be able to pitch in the instructional league and then possibly prepare for next season with work in winter beague. Despite all of his recent injury woes, the veteran southpaw plans to continue playing after his current contract expires following the 2008 season.

Coming up: The Braves will conclude their three-game series against the Mets at 12:10 p.m. ET on Thursday. They'll send Tim Hudson (12-5, 2.95) to the mound to face John Maine (12-6, 3.27).