Bobby Cox not giving up on Reyes, loser of 9 in a row

PHILADELPHIA — Jo-Jo Reyes has lost his past nine decisions and recorded one win in his past 22 starts, but Braves manager Bobby Cox isn’t ready to give up on him.

“He’s so close to being good,” Cox said of the left-hander, charged with eight runs (four earned) on five hits including three homers in five innings of Friday’s 10-6 loss to the Phillies, the Braves’ only loss in four games.

“We certainly don’t want to give up on him. We’re going to stick with him and see if he can get through this.”

Reyes is 0-9 with a 6.61 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) since mid-June 2008. He has allowed 102 hits in 83 innings during that skid, with 43 walks and 51 strikeouts.

But the 24-year-old has made significant strides in Cox’s view, working with pitching coach Roger McDowell to become a pitcher rather than a thrower. Instead of trying to overpower hitters with fastballs like he once thought he could, Reyes changes speeds and uses a full repertoire of pitches.

Cox noted how Reyes “dominated some of their best hitters” for much of the night Friday, striking out Chase Utley twice (before Utley homered off Reyes in the fifth inning) and Ryan Howard twice. It’s those flashes that keep the Braves from discarding or demoting him.

But it’s unclear how patient they would be before Reyes might be replaced, by Tom Glavine if and when the 43-year-old comes off the disabled list, or by an up-and-comer such as top-rated prospect Tommy Hanson from Class AAA Gwinnett.

Bloggers and callers to talk shows have been clamoring since spring training for Hanson, and Reyes’ struggles have raised the volume of those requests. Reyes is scheduled to start again Wednesday against the Mets at New York, and Cox said there were no plans to change that.

There are obviously flaws with the lefty, including a proclivity for getting hurt by the big inning, giving up three or four runs to negate the good work he’s done in previous innings or that he might do in subsequent innings. Instead of damage control, Reyes seems to let errors or a poorly timed walk lead to more mistakes, whether from losing his focus or pressing too much.

When he has pitched well in his winless streak, he often has received scant run support. The Braves have scored two or fewer runs while he has been in the game in 10 of his 17 starts during the 0-9 skid, including no runs at all while he was in seven games.

On the other hand, Reyes lasted 4 1/3 or fewer innings in four of those seven games.

Chipper streaking vs. Phillies

With a hit in Sunday’s series finale against the Phillies, Chipper Jones would become the sixth player in 55 years to hit in at least 30 consecutive games against a single opponent.

The third baseman’s eighth-inning single Saturday gave him a 29-game hitting streak against the Phillies, extending what was already the longest such streak in 55 years by a Braves player against any single opponent, and the longest such streak against the Phillies by any player.

“It’s important to play well against these guys,” said Jones, who has hit .380 with 11 homers, 25 RBIs, 21 walks and a .490 on-base percentage in 29 games against the Phillies since April 5, 2007. “To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. They’ve won the last two division titles and the World Series.”Trent McCotter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) has done the research in this category only as far back as 1955. He said that in that period, the next-longest streaks by Braves were Dale Murphy’s 24-gamer against the Cubs (1981-83) and 22-game streaks by Hank Aaron (vs. St. Louis) and three different Braves — Eddie Mathews, Ralph Garr, Marcus Giles — against the Cubs.

The longest streaks against the Phillies during that period had been 25-game streaks by Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Pete Rose.

The longest streaks against one opponent since 1955 were Vladimir Guerrero’s 44-gamer against Texas, and Ken Griffey Jr.’s 35-gamer against Cleveland.