“Hi, I’m pitcher Shane Reynolds. I can’t throw a fastball through a wet paper bag, I’m making the minimum, my ERA is heading towards six, and I just gave up three runs in the first inning to the dreaded Devil Rays offense. Think this will finally get me out of the rotation? Ha! I wound up with Keith Lockhart’s old locker, and you wouldn’t believe some of the pictures he left there.”
UPDATE: “Hey, now I’ve given up seven runs in the first three innings. Bobby probably thinks I threw well and was unlucky. Well, that’s what he’ll say, anyway.”
More telling his this split. First two starts, 12.1 innings, no earned runs, 0.00. Next 12 starts, 62.1, 50 earned runs, 7.22. But Jason Marquis, Andy Pratt, Trey Hodges, and Jung Bong don’t bring his great experience, I guess.
Anybody know what happened to Marcus Giles? I saw where he hit in the first, but DeRosa has been in the game since.
This is the fourth time in his last five outings that Reynolds has given up at least two baserunners per inning:
June 7 vs Pittsburgh: 7 H, 1 BB in 4 IP
June 17 vs Philly: 9 H, 5 BB in 4 IP
June 22 vs Baltimore: 5 H, 4 BB in 3.1 IP
Tonight vs Tampa Bay: 8 H, 4 BB in 3.1 IP
None of these teams is exactly an offensive powerhouse (Baltimore’s offense is slightly better than average, Philly’s is average, Pittsburgh and Tampa’s are well below). This isn’t excusable, and it’s time to throw Reynolds back onto the waiver wire where we found him.
Is Byrd coming back anytime soon?
Mac – maybe not at all this season:
http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/0603/29notes.html
If Byrds not returning, the hope is that Bobby will replace Reynolds with Hodges, Bong or Marquis. Since Bruce Chen couldn’t get starts when he was pitching well for Atlanta in 2000, while Burkett and Mulholland gave the team 40+ starts of 5-ERA ball, that’s far from a lock.