Gameday Live 4: Mets vs. Braves
Night all. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Top of 9th - The hard-throwing Rafael Soriano finished up for the Braves. Marlon Anderson, pinch-hitting for Figueroa, ripped the ball to right and into the glove of Francoeur. Reyes struck out on a nice offspeed pitch and Castillo flew out to the shortstop Escobar. FINAL: Braves 11, Mets 5.
Bottom of 8th - Nelson Figueroa, who was called up to take Pedro's roster spot, is in for the Mets. Figueroa gave up a two-out single to Teixeira, then walked McCann. Francoeur hit a soft shot to center that Beltran dove to get, but he couldn't come up with it and the ball went under his glove. Two-run double. Braves 11, Mets 5. The Braves have been potent today with two outs. Last licks for Mets.
Top of 8th - First, Chris, I agree with you. Reyes did not look good on those bunt attempts. I don't have a problem with advancing the runners. Just don't like Reyes as the guy trying to do it. But you're right. He's got to be able to execute that play. Anyhow, former Met Royce Ring is in for the Braves. He gave up a leadoff double to Beltran and then another double to Delgado, scoring Beltran. Church grounded out, 3-1. Pagan's sac fly to left scored Delgado. BTW, I think Pagan has been a nice surprise early on. The guy's got six RBI already. Schneider ended the inning with a groundout to Prado. Braves 9, Mets 5.
Bottom of 7th - Well, the wheels have come completely off. Let's recap. Jorge Sosa on for the Mets. He struck out Teixeira to start, but gave up a double to McCann and then a single to Francoeur. Sosa got a big strikeout of Diaz on a slider after falling behind 2-0. Not sure why Sosa was so worried about Francoeur at first. He was throwing over to first base when all he needed to do was worry about getting Prado out. He ended up walking Prado to load the bases. Kelly Johnson pinch-hit for Moylan and hit a grand slam on a full count. Oh yeah. There was also a bit of a delay during the inning. The misty conditions in Atlanta caused the mound to get a little slick. Sosa slipped or lost his balance during the Teixeira at-bat. So the ground crew had to come out, Sosa had to take some warmup tosses, and you get the picture. Braves 9, Mets 3.
Top of 7th - Peter Moylan relieved Hudson. We'll see how the overworked Braves bullpen can finish. Schneider leadoff the inning with a single. Prado was eaten up by a hot shot by pinch-hitter Endy Chavez (ruled a hit). Questionable decision by Randolph to have Reyes try to move the runners over. He fouled off two bunt attempts and ended up flying out to center on the next pitch. What did you all think of that? Castillo grounded out to first and advanced the runners. But Wright grounded out, 6-3. Missed opportunity. New pitcher coming for the Mets.
Bottom of 6th - Big run for the Braves. Ruben Gotay pinch-hit for Hudson and singled off Smith (ouch!). Escobar sacrificed him to second. Scott Schoeneweis relieved Smith and gave up a single to right by Kotsay. Gotay scored and Kotsay was out at second when he tried to take the extra base on the throw home. Jones was finally retired on a popup to end the inning. Braves 5, Mets 3.
Top of 6th - Mets wasted a leadoff single by Beltran. Hudson is over 100 pitches so he's probably done. For those who are still alive in NCAA tourney pools, UCLA-Memphis should be starting soon. Don't worry. Check in with me. I've got your back.
Bottom of 5th - Joe Smith relieved. Nice change of pace with his sidearm, sinking style. Braves go down in order.
Top of 5th - Huh? How could the umps miss that call? Well, at least they fixed their mistake. With the bases loaded and one out, Jose Reyes lined to center and Kotsay clearly trapped the ball. But Reyes was called out and the Braves got an 8-2-4 double play. Willie Randolph immediately ran onto the field, the umps huddled for a bit and realized they made a very bad call. Bobby Cox counter-argued that Angel Pagan passed Ryan Church on the bases during the play, but Church held up because the ump had signaled an out. The solution they came up with was to award Church home plate and move the runners up a base. Church and Pagan singled to start the inning. Brian Schneider had a fielder's choice and Brady Clark, who pinch-hit for Maine, was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Reyes.Castillo followed with an RBI groundout. Wright ended the inning with a groundout, 5-3. Maine's out. He definitely had too much time off and was a little too strong today. Braves 4, Mets 3.
Bottom of 4th - Maine needed a nice, quick inning. Didn't happen. It doesn't matter how hard you're throwing. Control and location, control and location. Escobar drew a one-out walk, Kotsay was retired on a flyball, but Jones (3 for 3) delivered again with a two-out single, putting Escobar at third. Teixeira followed with an RBI single. But that was it. Maine hasn't been able to get Jones or Teixeira out today (Teixeira is 1 for 1 with two walks). I don't see Maine lasting much longer. He's at 96 pitches. Braves 4, Mets 1.
Top of 4th - Hudson (69 pitches through four) has settled in nicely. He retired the heart of the Mets' order (Wright, Beltran, Delgado) pretty easily. Still 3-1.P.S. Maine is actually at 74 pitches.
Bottom of 3rd - Maine got himself into another jam again. Jones got a one-out single (his second single of the game) and Teixeira walked (for the second time). Maine got McCann on a flyball to Beltran, but Francoeur singled to center to score Jones. Matt Diaz then singled to center to score Teixeira. Maine's control is not great today and he's already up around 70 pitches. He's given up six hits and two walks. BTW, that "Tomahawk Chop" is a bit annoying. I had to sit through it for four-plus hours at the Orange Bowl when Penn State played Florida State. Drove me crazy through four quarters and three overtimes. At least my team won. Braves 3, Mets 1.
Top of 3rd - Mets go down in order, including two strikeouts by Hudson. Commenter Chris brings up a good point - Maine looks like he is overthrowing.
Bottom of 2nd - No damage. Maine faced four batters, with second-inning goat Prado getting a bloop single. Maine did pick up two more strikeouts - Hudson on a failed bunt attempt with two strikes and Escobar for the second time. He's got four Ks now. BTW, I hate it when players try to bunt with two strikes.
Top of 2nd - Some good fortune for the Mets. Carlos Delgado hit a one-out single and Ryan Chruch followed with a single. For some odd reason Delgado, who doesn't run well, took off for third. Luckily, his ridiculously bad slide got in the way of the throw from Kotsay and he collided with Jones, sending the ball to the Mets' dugout. (Delgado is very lucky he did not get hurt). Then Angel Pagan hit a sure double-play ball to Escobar, but second baseman Martin Prado couldn't get the ball out of his glove. Delgado scored and Pagan reached base. Tied 1-1.
Bottom of 1st - Things started promising for Maine (strikeout of leadoff hitter Yunel Escobar), but Mark Kotsay and Chipper Jones singled, Mark Teixeira (who Maine let get away) walked, and Brian McCann hit a sac fly to score Kotsay. Maine did get Jeff Francoeur on a strikeout to end the inning. Maine has brought the gas today. He hit 95 pretty regularly on his fastballs, and hit 96 and 97 on fastballs to Teixeira. But he's got to do a better job locating his other pitches. The Braves are waiting for that fastball. Braves 1-0.
Top of 1st - Hudson's a groundball pitcher. The Mets went down in order - on three groundballs. BUT they fought Hudson and made him work. Hudson threw 20 pitches, including an eight-pitch at-bat to Luis Castillo. Again, that Atlanta bullpen is exhausted.
Pregame chatter
Mets (2-1) at Braves (1-3) for the start of now a two-game series after Friday night's postponement.
Greetings Mets fans!
Back for my third shift of blogging Mets games. The Mets are 2-0 on days I blog. But I'm not that lucky. This won't last forever.
Now: Big series begins today in Atlanta. Good pitching matchup as John Maine (0-0, 0.00) makes his season debut against Atlanta's Tim Hudson (0-0, 2.57). Johan Santana will face John Smoltz, making his 2008 debut, in the finale on Sunday. Mike Pelfrey, who would've pitched today if not for the postponement, gets bumped to Wednesday. Yes, the postponement definitely helped the Mets in terms of pitching (It also helped the Braves; see below).
Coming and going: Oliver Perez pitched six shutout innings and had eight strikeouts during Wednesday night's Fish Fry (a 13-0 win over the Marlins). Meanwhile, the Braves lost two of three to the Pittsburgh Pirates, including a 10-inning marathon Thursday night. Kind of a nautical theme here - Fish and Pirates.
Don't push the panic button: Keep saying that over and over, Omar. Perez showed a filthy slider on Wednesday night. You read it here on Wednesday night that the best way to get over Pedro's hammy is for Ollie to step up. He did, big-time. Now it's Maine. It's been widely written, including on this blog, that Maine is ready for a breakout season. He had a spectacular spring training. In fact, some baseball people feel Maine has the stuff of a No. 2 pitcher. I think he's a pitching stud. Let's see what he does today. If he gives the Mets an Ollie-type outing then all is fine until Pedro or El Duque (whoever makes it to the healthy finish line first) make it back.
Today's key: The postponement definitely helped what has to be a weary Braves bullpen. But the Mets would still be wise to get to that bullpen. Atlanta pitchers have made an incredible 22 appearances in four games. If Hudson is out early and the Braves need to go to the bullpen, you may see Bobby Cox calling for a lefty or righty out of the crowd. If the Mets can get to Hudson, I like their chances. Especially since the Mets' bats are alive and well (Another big game by David Wright and he'll be on his way to wrapping up the MVP award by the All-Star break).
LINEUPS
METS
Reyes (ss)
Castillo (2b)
Wright (3b)
Beltran (cf)
Delgado (1b)
Church (rf)
Pagan (lf)
Schneider (c)
Maine (rhp)
BRAVES
Escobar (ss)
Kotsay (cf)
Jones (3b)
Teixeira (1b)
McCann (2)
Francoeur (rf)
Diaz (lf)
Prado (2b)
Hudson (rhp)
Be back after the game gets started.
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Comments (14)
You'd have to think that postponements would also help our pitching problems. He he he...
Well, I've been with you for all three games; and I definitely think this is going to be my routine this year.
I'm definitely not a panicky guy. I think Hudson is a great pitcher, so I think we're going to be in for a battle tonight. But, when it comes down to it, we have a better lineup. And they have a worn-out bullpen. So, I like our chances. Maybe Maine should pitch blindfolded. He seems to be pretty good at that.
Thanks Paul! Keep coming back. We'll be here all season.
Mike Rose (Mets blogger)
Hey I really liked your blog a lot. What do you think about mines in Mets Magic Team?
Well...theoretically, we could have our pitching issues resolved by the time of that double-header. Right on.
(Just sucks that I won't get more DW stats for my fantasy team this week...)
20 pitches. Wow...at that rate, he won't last 5 innings. I like that.
1-0 Braves
He he he...I'll take it, I guess.
Maine throwing heat... maybe over-throwing a bit?
People just don't know how to bunt anymore. Back in the day, it was good strategy; but it's a dying art form. Remember Butler on the Dodgers? That dude count lay one down.
Maine seems like a level-headed guy. I don't think that all the spring success/pre-season hype got to him. Today's difficult start (though still a close game at 3-1 bot 4), is probably more a result of the time off since his last start rather than anything else. He's just not sharp - releasing the ball too soon.
Mike: Why not a double switch when Schoenweiss came in? Chavez ends up pibch hitting and instead have to bring in another pitcher. Reyes bunting did not make sense. A hit starts a big inning. Bunting means that you want Castillo responsible to drive in the runs. I'm not crazy about Randolph's decisions.
Common Sense,
Makes sense to me, especially after the inning Sosa just had.
- MR
Although I'm not crazy about the decision to bunt those runners over, blame falls on Reyes there for not getting it done. Reyes continually proves he has no idea how to give himself up - has no idea the difference between bunting for a base hit & sacrificing a runner over. If he would have just sqaured around, instead of trying to drag it, you have runners on second & third and Castillo's ground out scores a run.
UN FREAKIN BELIEVABLE !!!!!