Braves general manager Frank Wren recently took the time to discuss a number of issues surrounding the team. After finishing, he grinned and noted, "That should be enough for several notebooks."
Mostly, Wren was excited about the young starting pitchers -- or not so young, but new to the role in the majors -- who have kept the Braves in the division race in the absence of right-hander John Smoltz, left-hander Tom Glavine and left-hander Mike Hampton. "They're all going to have their hiccups," Wren says of his makeshift rotation of Jair Jurrjens, Jorge Campillo and Jo-Jo Reyes. "You look at guys who have won 20 games, they're going to have games where they just don't have it. All in all our pitching has done a good job. It's a total makeover from what we anticipated. We've kind of used all of our assets that we gleaned over the winter to get through it, but they've done a good job. You really can't ask for anything more."
And in the silver-lining department, their performance so far bodes well for the future.
"You have four guys with zero-plus years of major league service in the rotation today," Wren says, "and they're pitching well and competing well. That's good for the future."
That's the good news. The tribulations of right fielder Jeff Francoeur remain the bad news.
"I think Jeff's going through a time now where he's trying to do a lot of things," Wren says. "He's trying to get on track and he's just human. And it bothers you. He's been so successful and so good for so long. You just have to persevere and fight through it."
Wren's advice to Francoeur? "Just keep playing. That's all you can do at this point."
BLUE JAYS 1, BRAVES 0: The Braves struck out 13 times -- most of them swinging -- which not only wasted another good start by LHP Jo-Jo Reyes but also brought their road record in one-run games to 4-21.
