Braves Report

Some may say these games don’t matter. We’ve been eliminated from the playoff, we have the B lineup in, we don’t even have a chance to play “spoiler.” But, I gotta say, winning is always better than losing. If we win the last 2 games, I will be happy.

Jo-Jo may have earned himself a longer look for a starting job next year with the way he has pitched these last few games. Our starting five is somewhat uncertain, so it never hurts to go out on a high note. Jo-Jo had a solid outing today, keeping the ball in the park and walks to a minimum. Both are things he has struggled with this season. He went 6.2 innings, only allowing 2 earned runs. Along the way, he allowed 7 hits. In the seventh, he got into a little 2-out trouble and Devine had to try to get him out of it. Devine did walk one, something that must be a bit of a worry, but got the out he needed without allowing the runner at third to score. Yates pitched the 8th perfectly with 1 K. Dotel was the closer of the day, he was also perfect with 1 K.

With our being eliminated from the playoffs, Bobby took the opportunity to rest some of the players who really deserved to be rested. So, we didn’t exactly expect to score a lot of runs. Regardless, we scored more than enough. Escobar, batting seventh, had 2 hits, both doubles, and scored every time he was on base. Woodward, an unlikely source, logged 2 hits of his own, one a double, scoring once. The big run producers of the night were Frenchy with a home run, 3 RBI and Brandon (not Andruw) Jones with 3 RBI of his own.

Tomorrow’s game, 7:05 PM, not nationally televised.

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