FanHouse Roger McDowell

Just because Jo-Jo Reyes doesn't have a great "baseball name", doesn't mean he won't be successful in the bigs, especially his second time around. Reyes struggled badly last year, but was dominant in the minor leagues in 2008, prompting the Braves to call him and start him on Saturday.

Sample Size Alert time, but Reyes dominates left handed batter. He hasn't allowed a hit to one in the majors (admittedly 2.2 innings) and only allowed two hits to lefties throughout his run in Triple-A this year (again, only 7.2 innings). Although in fairness, he was pretty impressive against righties this year as well, holding them to a .228 BAA while posting a 1.76 ERA at Richmond.

Pitching coach Roger McDowell worked with him on his footwork before he headed back down to the minors this season, and it's apparently paid off.

'We moved last year to the third base side at the end of the year,' recalled Reyes, who began the season with a 20-inning scoreless streak. 'It was a big part of it. Just keeping my leg lift smooth and not so violent and that's helped a lot.'

Clearly, Reyes made a significant change in his physical approach to pitching. That should make a difference in your thoughts on rostering him as well. He pitched against Cincy on Sunday, going five and a third with five K's, while allowing four hits and walking three. The walk totals need to stay down, but the 3:1 ground to air out ratio is certainly a positive sign.

Long and short of it is that you can expect much better numbers than the 6.27 ERA and 1.69 WHIP he posted last year. You can also expect him, because of injuries to stick; and with the Braves bullpen quietly dealing and the offense being quite potent, he should have some nice fantasy value for owners as a back-end of the rotation guy.

Ah 1986 ... the days of Iran Contra, ALF, and the New York Mets, who swore, drank, and pillaged their way into your hearts. Oh yeah, and they won the world championship as well (which is how their swearing, drinking, and pillaging became public knowledge).

They were music stars as well, as August of that year saw the debut of "Lets Go Mets Go", their response to the Chicago Bears who starred in "The Super Bowl Shuffle" earlier that season. Check out not only the players clowning around, but the celebrity cameos near the end, including Tony Bennett, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and a very young (and very hairy) Howard Stern. Joe Piscopo made a memorable cameo as well. Piscopo recently admitted he was a life-long Yankee fan, which basically means that I can never look at this video quite the same again. But it's still a fun watch.

For the first time in practically a year and a half (technically a year and three days), the Atlanta Braves have returned to the tip top of the N.L. East with their late inning 3-2 victory over the Mets. Who knows how long they will stay there ... but beating the defenders of the division two out of three certainly makes a statement. The statement, in case you thought I was just throwing out the "statement" cliché, would be that they now have the bullpen to shut down people in the late innings in Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano, and Bob Wickman. Meanwhile the Mets have to do at least a little bit of worrying about theirs, as it was Aaron Heilman who gave up the lead in the eighth to Atlanta on three straight doubles to help give them their victory.

The bad news for Atlanta is that Mike Hampton's recovery might not be as quick as first thought, as a sore throwing elbow curtailed his bullpen session today...

"We shut down due to discomfort in his elbow," Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell said. When asked if Hampton was frustrated, McDowell said "Probably so. I think anybody would be."

With starters five deep in Smoltz, Hudson, James, Redman, and Kyle Davies who pitched well today, the Braves aren't going to miss Mike Hampton all that much as long as their bullpen keeps pitching as well as they have been. Mike Hampton will merely make a good team better when (if?) he makes his grand return in 2007.