On the Mets beat

The Final: Mets 4, Braves 3
Wagner is the one sure thing in the Mets universe these days. In the ninth today, he retired Martin Prado on a fly to deep center, Brent Lillibridge on a called third strike, Matt Diaz (amid a chant of "Let's Go Mets") on a grounder to Reyes. Today, Mets fans go home happy.

3:58
"Enter Sandman." BIlly Wagner is entering, going for his "no-hitter" He has pitched eight hitless innings so far. He comes into a 4-3 game trying to preserve an uplifting, upbeat day for the Mets and their fans.

3:50

Interesting that during the Mets telecast Friday night, the fan poll asked which was the most important ingredient for the club: Jose Reyes performing well, the bullpen being consistent or Carlos Delgado bouncing back. The bullpen won in a landslide, to which Keith Hernandez pointed out that there are some very astute fans.

Felociano and Duaner Sanchez pitched a scoreless eighth, ending with a double play induced by Sanchez. Still 4-3.

Fans booing a little, this time for the announcement that the Jets had picked Gholston of Ohio State.

3:39
Jorge Campillo does the best pitching of the day: Three Mets in the seventh, three called third strikes. Pedro Feliciano is coming in for the eighth. Still 4-3.

3:30
A walk and a stolen base but no harm done, .Still 4-3 and set up for Sanchez and Wagner.

3:21
Nice play by Teixeira at first base, snagging the grounder by Jose Reyes an3:3d throwing home from his knees to get Angel Pagan, who had tripled witn one out in the sixth. But did he really "get" Pagan? Replays showed that it was awfully close and maybe Pagan was in there. Then again, maybe Wright was out when he was called save in the third. Still 4-3 and Scott Schoeneweis is coming in.

3:13
Aaron Heilman had them in the palm of his hand for a minute. Two tough batters, two quick outs. Mark Teixeira grouhds out, Brian McCann strikes out. Just what he needed to win over the fans. But then he gave up a double to Jeff Francoeur and a run-scoring single to Martin Prado. Then he heard boos. They even booed him after he ended the inning by retiring Brent Lillibridge on a grounder to second. Mets 4, Braves 3.

3:01
Doesn't it seem like decades ago when Royce Ring was the Next Big Thing for the Mets, the phenom they acquired by trading Roberto Alomar. I remember heading out into the concourse here at Shea so I could hear his college coach's voice on the phone for a quick scouthing report.

Of course, it never turned out that way. How many of those mid-season salary dump deals really do give you someone who really pans out? In any event, Ring came in this game with one out and Wright on second (single and steal) here in the fifth. He walked Ryan Church and retired Carlos Delgado on a fly to deep center, with Wright racing to third.Then with righty batter Damion Easly coming up, Ring was replaced by Jeff Bennett.

Speaking of lefties and blasts from the Mets' past, the Braves game notes today report that Mike Hampton began yet another injury rehab stint last night with three scoreless innings at Triple A.

It's still 4-2. Aaron Heilman, who got loose during the long bottom of the fifth, is in.

2:43
A momentary scare had Willie Randolph and head trainer Ray Ramirez raced to the mound after John Maine stopped in mid-delivery and grabbed something in his lower back or upper leg during what would have been his 99th pitch. He was OK, finished the at-bat with a strikeout of Kelly Johnson and walked off without a problem with a 4-2 lead through five. Nobodyh's warming up, either.

2:32
Buddy Carlyle is the new Braves pitcher, and he made quick work of the Mets in the fourth.

2:27
So much for that earlier comment on Hudson being exceedingly tough. Now he's gone. Bobby Cox lifted hm in the top of the fourth for pinch hitter Ruben Gotay (who received a nice ovation for a second straight day from Mets fans who didn't want to see him go). Gotay struck out. Still 4-2.

2:16

This got folks excited. They started chanting "Let's Go Mets" after David Wright punched a single through the hole to rightfield, following Endy Chavez' line single to right. The hit snapped an 0-for-19 slide for Wright and seemed to get things going at Shea.

Carlos Beltran followed with a double to the centerfield wall, both runners scored (Wright just slid past Brian McCann's tag). I guess it's true that Jose Reyes is the Mets' catalyst, but let's face it. If the Mets are going to do anything, Wright is going to have to be in the middle of it He can get a team going with the best of them.

More proof: Ryan Church hammered a triple to the rightfield corner, making it 3-2 Mets and getting the crowd excited for a Carlos Delgado at-bat, of all things. His dribbler to first actually brought in a run, and evoked cheers! I'm giving credit to Wright for lifting the mood of the whole place. Mets 4, Braves 2..

2:01
Maine put himself in a jam, starting with the single he allowed to Hudson, going through a one-out walk to Mark Kotsay and a two-out walk to Mark Teixeira. He looked like he was just about out of it when he fired two fastballs past Brian McCann. Then he threw a wild pitch that allowed Hudson to score. Not horrible, considering the game could really have gotten away from Maine there. But not perfect, either. You can't keep giving Hudson more breathing room.
Braves 2, Mets 0.

1:46
Well, they gave him a chance. Mets fans gave Carlos Delgado mostly cheers when he came to the plate in the bottom of the second. But after he quidkly flied out to centerfield, they quickly booed him pretty loudly.

There were nothing but plaudits from the crowd for Gustavo Molina, who is currently batting 1.000 as a Met. He drilled a 3-and-2 pitch through the right side for a single, sending Damion Easley (running with the pitch) to third. But Maine struck out. Still 1-0.

1:35

Nothing new to report on the game. Still 1-0 Braves in the middle of the second. Got a kick out of between-innings feature on DiamondVision. It was sponsored by Newsday, by the way, and consisted of remarks by another Newsday alumnus, Marty Noble, remembering Jack Lang. Noble listed three things we should all know about Jack Lang:
1) He deserves to be in the Hall.
2) He was a real character
3) No one on the planet did more for the Baseball Writers Association of America than Lang did.

Good inning from Maine. Three up, three down, two Ks.

1:30

Someon was kidding Jon Heyman that maybe he should try to talk to Tim Hudson, too. The guy (3-1, 2.93 ERA entering today) usually is tough. HItless first inning.

1:23
Maybe it would have been a bigger top of the first had Chipper been playing. As it was, Mark Teixeira (the guy Heyman did wind up interviewing after Chipper came up sore) drove a double to left center, scoring Kelly Johnson after John Maine had retired the first two batters.
Braves 1, Mets coming to bat

No Chipper
Chipper Jones is not in the Braves lineup. Reporptedly, he said he was fine when he got to his favorite stadium (the one he named his son after). But his back seized up. One report that I heard indicated that it happened right at the start of an interview with none other than Jon Heyman, the Newsday alumnus now with Sports Illustrated. Not that Chipper is blaming him or anything, but Mets fans might vote him star of the game.

Pregame on Jack Lang Day

This already has been a good day and the game hasn't started yet. The Mets had a short, classy ceremony on the field honoring the late Jack Lang, the veteran sportswriter who worked for the Long Island Press among other papers. The club officially dubbed today Jack Lang Day and showed a video tribute to his Hall of Fame career, which included covering the expansion Mets in 1962 and being the one who called 44 great players and telling them that they had been elected to the Hall in Cooperstown.

No it's not provincialism, that Lang was one of our own here in the press box and a Long Islander and a mentor and friend to me. Lang represents the honorable nature of this profession in that he always saw himself as an advocate for the public. He got to go where fans can't, and he believed it was his purpose to be their eyes and ears. He did it splendidly, and made a name for himself in the process.

We all owe him a debt--writers, readers, baseballl people. It was nice that Ed Charles, Ed Kranepool and Rusty Staub were on the field for the ceremony (Staub was so close to Lang that he spoke at Jack's funeral last year). They were joined by two of Jack's children, Randy and Victoria. Those two were joined by siblings Craig and Brian to unveil the countdown placard in centerfield, showing that there are only 71 games left here at Shea (including this one).

That was a nice touch to the tribute, considering this was Jack's second home.

(From Mark Herrmann, reporting for you with the hope of being at least a tiny bit like Jack)