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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Do Braves need psychological jump-start?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Unfortunately, this trip is holding to form so far. Maybe one of the recent posters on here was right and it has gotten in the guys’ heads now; it’s almost as if they’re waiting for something bad to happen late in these games.
That wouldn’t be surprising, since they’ve somehow managed to lose 10 of their past 12 road games.
Jo-Jo Reyes certainly did his part last night, though. If he’d had any support — and I do mean ANY — it could have been much a different story. The young lefty allowed only two hits over seven scoreless innings, retiring 14 consecutive batters at one point and striking out a career-high nine.
Then he walked the lead-off batter to start the eighth, and that was the end of that.
A colleague has suggested that the Braves should try to trade Reyes now, because his value will never be higher. But what, exactly, would you trade him for? Someone who can hit on the road?
He throws strikes (he threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 25 batters he faced last night) and has impressed the coaches and his teammates since being moved into the rotation. Did you see the reception he got in the dugout in the eighth?
I think quality starting pitching is too crucial to trade a promising youngster for another question mark, which is all you’d get for Jo-Jo at this point. The Braves did learn something from the Adam Wainwright trade, right?
So what do you think? Do the Braves need to make a move, even if it’s just to shake up the team psychologically? Or should they just ride this out and hope whatever is causing the road funk works itself out?
Upcoming TV Schedule
Thursday: at Brewers, 1:05, SportSouth
Friday: at Reds, 7:10, SportSouth
Saturday: at Reds, 3:55, FOX
Sunday: at Reds, 1:15, SportSouth
Monday: vs. Marlins, 7:00, SportSouth
Tuesday: vs. Marlins, 7:00, Peachtree TV
Wednesday: vs. Marlins, 1:00, Peachtree TV
Thursday: vs. Marlins, 7:00, Peachtree TV
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