The Mets will try and prevent a three-game sweep from Atlanta tonight with Mike Pelfrey (2-4, 4.17) on the mound. He'll face Braves' RHP Jair Jurrgens (4-3, 2.87), as New York attempts to rally around embattled manager Willie Randolph and show some semblance of consistency, most of which seemed to disappear after the Mets' morale-boosting Subway Series sweep.
Feel free to comment on Willie's future, the Mets' playoff chances, Ryan Church's head, whatever, just keep it clean!
Top 1st
Reyes leads off with a base hit, and earns his 13th stolen base of the year with David Wright up to bat. With two outs and Beltran hitting cleanup (Endy Chavez in the 2 hole for Church), however, the Mets fail to strike first.
0-0
Bottom 1st
Two away and Pelfrey walks Chipper Jones. Next batter Mark Teixeira sends one deep to the right gap. Endy Chavez chases it to the warning track, though, and keeps the game scoreless.
0-0
Top 2nd
Delgado walks, and Schneider reaches first after Kelly Johnson's fielding error. Double play on Pelfrey's grounder sinks another Mets scoring opportunity.
0-0
Bottom 2nd
With one out, Francoeur walks after being hit with a pitch. Next batter Kelly Johnson singles for the Braves' first hit of the night. Two on, one out. Pelfrey strokes out Blanco and Jurrgens grounds out to squander a scoring opportunity for the Braves.
0-0
Top 3rd
Reyes now 2 for 2 for the night, and that's his second stolen base for the evening as well. With Reyes at third, Wright drives in his 35th RBI this season and the Mets get on the board.
1-0 NY
Bottom 3rd
Two out and Pelfrey walks Chipper again. Teixeira hits a bouncer to Castillo, whose slight hesitation allows Teixeira to reach first. McCann then rips a two-run double to the right gap to put the Braves up 2-1. Pelfrey can't seem to contain, as Frnacoeur hits a DEEP RBI triple for a two-run Braves lead.
3-1 ATL
Top 4
1-2-3 inning for Jurrgens
3-1 ATL
Bottom 4th
Two away and Infante hits a blooper for a base hit. Kotsay hits a grounder for the force at 2nd.
3-1 ATL
Top 5th
Reyes gets on base for the third time to rob Jurrjens of another three-and-out inning, but Mets still trail 2.
3-1 ATL
Bottom 5th
Chipper Jones homers to deep center and Francoeur drives in an RBI to extend hte lead. Feliciano comes in for Pelfrey, but not before another run scores as Atlanta bats around and gives the Braves a 5-run lead.
6-1 ATL
Top 6th
Jurrjens continues a strong inning and outing, holding off the Mets from mustering a comeback.
6-1 ATL
Bottom 6th
With two outs, McCann keeps the inning alive by slipping one past David Wright. Next at bat and Francoeur hits a two-run shot to center. Mets are getting carved up here, and you can bet Willie's starting to sweat.
8-1 ATL
Top 7th
Castillo and Tatis get on base with a hit and Reyes' grounder scores Castillo, as the Mets try to crawl back into it.
8-2 ATL
Bottom 7th
Joe Smith in now from the Mets' bullpen, his first appearance in three days. Well, that was short-lived. After two walks, Scott Schoeneweis comes in and beans Chipper Jones. Some bad fielding by the Mets. Three more runs this inning. Yikes, this one is gonna hurt in the morning.
11-2 ATL
Top 8th
David Wright singles to short, and a Carlos Beltran-double scores him, trimming the lead to a mere 8 runs. Yawn. Beltran adds another on Delgado's ground-out. OK so there's still hope. Kind of.
11-4 ATL
Bottom 8th
In quite possibly the best Mets' performance of the night, Billy Wagner pitches himself outta trouble from a bases-loaded no-out situation. ERA still clean. Not bad, especially considering coming in to pitch in these type of games is not Wagner's forte.
11-4 ATL
Top 9th
1-2-3 to wrap it up. Mets at .500 (22-22).
11-4 final
Comments (7)
FIRE HIM TODAY !!
BAD CONTRACTS .... POOR TRADES....OLD MEN...NO STAFF... NO BULLPEN.....NO HEART .... DIVIDED RACES....
Beltran comes through in the clutch to bring them within 8, great. What has happened to this team since last June? Did Willie just become a bad manager? They showed ptrogree his 1st 2 years, then this What changed??
Its time to do what should have been done after the collapse blow this team up and start all over again. The always perceptive Hernandez repeated tonight what he said at the beginning of last season their best shot came in '06' . A talented team was put together and individually they are good caring guys a but as a group for whatever reason they are losers. This is supposed to be baseball and this is supposed to be fun but following this team is like mental root canal. The tension is like a vise gripping tighter and tighter. This is far more difficult to watch then the Art Howe era. Sure blowing this team up with their shattered farm system might mean 50 win seasons for a while but at least you will see hustle and guys that appreciating every minute what they are doing.
Do not need to completely blow the team up...They need a blockbuster trade that sends Reyes or Wright to a team with a loaded system....Get their kids and replace the person traded with a dirt dog type player that will poor his heart on the field for the team..........FIRE OMAR.......
All u need to do is look at the Red Sox....They fired Duquette and traded their franchise player Nomar..........Now they are on a historic dynasty run !!!
This team has NO HEART....FRACTURED LOCKEROOM....NO CLUTCH PLAYERS....ZERO CONFIDENCE.....OLD PLAYERS.....BAD BULLPEN.....BAD YOUTH IN THE ROTATION.......ETC. ETC.
FIRE OMAR TODAY....MAKE THE BLOCKBUSTER TRADE.
For all those guys who think Willie is a good manager, let's look at the line up yesterday. When I saw Chavez batting 2nd I was thinking oh I guess Castillo has the night off, ok makes sense. Then I see him on the field. Why is batting 8th? Willie says he loves him batting 2nd, blah blah blah. So they have Chavez who really has been bad he whole year (including spring) at the plate and hasn't really gotten a lot of bats lately and you have him batting 2nd? Good decision, he left 4 guys on base and didn't have any productive AB's.
And to FIRE OMAR-all you are doing is copying and pasting the same comments you do daily...
Hey espo...I have forgotten more baseball than you will ever learn. I am stating the facts daily to get a point accross. Better than jabronis like you that talk about who is hitting in the two hole, when the whole team is in shambles.
Try and look at the bigger picture chief !
OMAR has got to go. Bring in a new GM and let him pick his onw mgr. Than make a blockbuster trade and send one of these so called stars packing !!!!!
Call them 'Los Ancianos" .......the old men! Did Pedro say he would retire 2009 or was 2008? Four more years of Castillo? "El Duque" who? Did Omar clean out the "nursing home" in Santo Domingo or is there more? Let's get Valentin on the roster to babysit Reyes............yeh right! ..Alou hurt himself going out to left field........work one week, off 3 weeks. "These es a good yob"! Delgado.....can't hit a ball since his child was born... Weird!
"Que malo"!