DEL.ICIO.USThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/14/08
Anaheim, Calif. — The Braves finally won a game without Chipper Jones in the lineup Friday, but he and they had no interest in seeing if the Braves could do it two nights in a row.
Jones, the major-league hitting leader, returned to the lineup Saturday night against the Angels, bearing a reddish welt under his right eye and some swelling in his jaw from the ball that ricocheted off a batting-cage support bar and hit Jones during batting practice Friday.
 AP | ||
| Braves' Terry Pendleton, Chipper Jones and Mike Hampton view game from dugout Friday night. Jones fouled off a pitch during batting practice Friday, and the ball ricocheted off the crossbar at the top of the batting cage and struck him just under his eye. He returned to the lineup Saturday in Anaheim. | ||
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"It's OK, I've had a couple of sucker punches that were worse than that," quipped Jones, who was at a nearby hospital for most of Friday's 5-2 Braves win in a series opener against the Angels.
Until Friday, the Braves had been 0-7 without Jones in the lineup this season.
But they rapped out 15 hits Friday, including two or more hits from six different players, more than enough offensive support on a night when left-hander Jo-Jo Reyes, a Los Angeles-area native, pitched eight strong innings in his first major-league start in his hometown.
Jones, 36, was struck in a freak accident when a ball he hit caromed back so sharply that he had no time to get a hand up to deflect it. The injury was announced Friday as a left-eye contusion, but it was actually his right eye.
He was taken to the hospital Friday for a CT scan and thorough examination because Jones reported blurry vision when an Angels physician did some tests immediately after the incident. He checked out fine in the battery of tests at the hospital, and the blurred vision was only temporary.
When he was tested again two hours later, his vision was clear and back to his 20-15 level.
Jones' .415 average entering Saturday was 52 points above the next-highest in the majors. He was 13-for-27 (.481) with three homers in his past seven starts.
Talk about eventful days ...
Reyes' performance against the Angels provided the perfect ending to an unforgettable day for the young pitcher from West Covina, Calif.
Earlier he accompanied his pregnant wife, Jamie, to their doctor in Riverside, Calif. "I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time," Reyes said Saturday, smiling broadly.
The couple's first child is due Sept. 1, and Jamie plans to have the baby in Atlanta.
Also Friday, Reyes went to the couple's new Riverside home for the first time since it was furnished. "It was a fun day," he said.
Not for most Angels hitters. Reyes (3-4) allowed five hits and two runs in a career-high eight innings.
"He's becoming what we thought he would be, it just takes patience," manager Bobby Cox said of Reyes, who was 0-1 with a 9.62 ERA in his first six starts as a rookie last season. He's 5-5 with a 3.97 ERA in 14 starts since then, including a 3.18 ERA and .198 opponents' average in his past four starts with 26 strikeouts and eight walks in 28-1/3 innings.
After Howie Kendrick's two-out RBI double in the third inning, Reyes didn't allow another runner to reach second and faced the minimum 15 batters over his final five innings.
"He was very aggressive and kept throwing his fastball," said Angels shortstop Maicer Izturis, who was hitting .395 in 10 June games before going 0-for-3 against Reyes (Izturis had a ninth-inning single off Jeff Bennett).
Izturis told the Orange County Register, "Not having seen him before, maybe we thought he would change his plan [after early hits]. But he didn't. He stayed right with it."
Angels designated hitter Garrett Anderson had a single in three at-bats against Reyes.
"It's that typical Braves pitching — keep the ball down, stay on the corners," he told the Register. "That's what he did to me all night. He pitched off his fastball. I didn't pose any threat to him at all."
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