Mets vs. Braves Update!

Defensive Miscues Cost Mets Against the Braves

It’s Sunday, and that means that a weekend series is coming to an end. For the New York Mets, it meant that Tom Glavine was facing his old teammate John Smoltz for the second time this season. The two former teammates are both shoo-ins for the Hall of Fame, and the final game of the second series would live up to the hype as fireworks erupted in more ways than one. The game would see Bobby Cox get ejected, John Smoltz tie Cy Young on the all-time strikeout list, and Julio Franco face down John Smoltz for the first time ever.

On the very first pitch, Kelly Johnson took Glavine deep for a walk off homerun. Glavine quickly settled in to a rhythm afterwards and proceeded to dispatch Edgar Renterria, Chipper Jones, and Andrew Jones in succession. Smoltz then took the mound and retired the first three batters he faced. Jose Reyes hit to left field, but Diaz was there for the out. Paul Lo Duca was up next, and he hit to Wilson, but Smoltz showed that he still had some hustle in him by covering first base and getting the out on the throw from Wilson. Carlos Beltran came to the plate, hitting to Johnson, who quickly turned the play at first with a throw to Wilson for the out.

Glavine was back on the mound for what would turn out to be a nine-pitch duel with Brian McCann, who made Glavine work for the first out of the second inning. Glavine worked the inside during the McCann's at bat, but had difficulty getting the strikes. McCann fouled no less than four times during the at bat before finally striking out. This at bat would be a foreshadowing of things to come. By the third inning, Glavine had fifty pitches and three strikeouts. The fourth inning saw Smoltz tie Cy Young for 18th on the all time strikeouts list, while Glavine would get through the inning with only seven total pitches. Both teams would leave runners on base, but in the fifth inning, Shawn Green came to the plate and took Smoltz yard to tie the game at one all.

Smoltz then retired Jose Valentin, and then showed his hustle by taking a dribbler off of a Glavine hit barehanded and flicking it to first base to get the out. It was a highlight reel play and a fine example of Smoltz's defensive prowess. Jose Reyes would then hit past Edgar Renterria for a single, and a Lo Duca hit that bounced over the wall for a double would follow this. Reyes would go to third.

Carlos Beltran came to the plate next, and took a ball, then fouled to the right stands hard. He would get a called strike on a nasty slider from Smoltz, and then take a dubious called strike on an outside ball. Smoltz made it out of the fifth with a 1-1 tie. The Braves would answer Green's homerun with a rally of their own in the sixth inning that produced two runs off of a Jeff Francouer hit to right field that drove in Andrew Jones and Brian McCann to give the Braves a 3-1 lead. Francouer would then attempt to steal second, but he was thrown out.

However, the Mets weren't about to go away quietly. The sixth inning began with a Carlos Delgado single off of Smoltz, followed by a David Wright strikeout. Wright did not garner a single hit in the weekend series, but he did elicit a rather amusing commentary from the announcers over his shoes, which were a hideous mix of black with orange and white trim. Moises Alou stepped up to the plate next, and drove the ball to center field, where it dropped in front of Andrew Jones, who would misplay the ball badly. Delgado would go to second and Alou would stay at first.

Shawn Green walked calmly to the plate and took four consecutive balls for a walk. The final ball provoked a fiery response from Smoltz, who walked off of the mound towards home plate, which automatically drew a warning from the home plate umpire. Bobby Cox charged out of the Braves dugout, only to find himself quickly ejected by the umpire. The bases were loaded.

With Smoltz approaching ninety pitches on the day, Jose Valentin would hit a blooper to center that drove Delgado in to give the Mets their second run and keep the bases loaded. The Mets would then send the ageless wonder Julio Franco in to pinch hit for Tom Glavine. It was Franco's first time ever to face Smoltz. The encounter was brief, as Franco would fly out to center field on the third pitch from Smoltz.

The bases were still loaded, and the Mets had two outs. Jose "The Dominican Dynamo" Reyes strode towards the plate and took Smoltz's pitch down the right field line all the way to the wall, resulting in three RBI's as he cleared the bases and got a triple in a sensational display of clutch hitting. The score was now 5-3, and Paul "Captain Red Ass" Lo Duca was due up at the plate. Lo Duca had struggled of late with a hand injury, but he showed that he was recovering from the injury and getting back in a comfort zone when he hit the ball to left field and drove Reyes in with an RBI single to give the Mets a 6-3 lead.

Smoltz was pulled after 5 2/3 innings with six earned runs. However, the game wasn't over. Steve Collier would come in to replace Smoltz and he would get Carlos Beltran to pop up to Edgar Renterria for the third out.

Now to the seventh inning, with Ambriorix Burgos pitching for the Mets in relief. Burgos would get Diaz to hit to David Wright at third, who would turn the play to Delgado at first for the out. That would bring up Wilson, who would hit to Valentin for the second out. The Braves would send in Scott Forman to pinch hit, and Forman would knock the ball into right field, where Shawn Green would misplay the ball, resulting in a Forman double!

Remember the last time Smoltz and Glavine faced each other in Atlanta? Shawn Green had a key fielding error in that game as well. Burgos was pulled so that LHP Scot Schoeneweis could come into the game and face Kelly Johnston. Schoeneweis had not given up a single earned run this season, but he would walk Johnston and give the Braves the tying run on base.

Enter Edgar Renterria. After taking a ball, Renterria crushed Schoeneweis's next pitch deep for the three run homer. The game was now tied at 6 apiece, and Schoeneweis no longer possessed a perfect ERA. Schoeneweis would proceed to give up a second double in the inning to Chipper Jones, and he intentionally walked Andruw Jones during the next at bat. This gave the Braves two men on base, with Brian McCann at the plate. 21 pitches after he took the mound, Schoeneweis finally managed to get the final out by getting McCann to fly out to Carlos Beltran.

RHP Tyler Yates took the mound for Atlanta and proceeded to get the Braves out of the seventh inning with no damage whatsoever. He retired Delgado, Wright, and Alou.

The Mets sent Aaron Heilman to the mound in the eighth, and Heilman faced Jeff Francouer first. After a strike and a ball, Francouer broke his bat when he hit a ball to Jose Valentin. Valentin couldn't handle the nasty spin, and Francouer wound up with a base hit on what should have been a routine out. Diaz would come to the plate next, and Francouer would be forced out at second. The next batter would be Wilson, and he would be hit by a Heilman pitch, moving Diaz to second and putting the Braves in a go-ahead position with men at first and second.

Ryan Langerhan would pinch hit and strike out, but then Johnston would come to the plate and crush a three run homer that would effectively end the game and give the Braves a 9-6 lead. It was Johnston's second homer of the day. The Mets would find themselves in position to tie the game and take it to extra innings in the bottom of the ninth, but Edgar Renterria would field a Shawn Green hit for the final out.

Ultimately, the fielding errors in the game by Green and Valentin would be the difference. Schoeneweis did give up a critical home run, as did Heilman, but in all of the Mets' losses thus far this season to the Braves, fielding errors have provided the extra at bats that resulted in home runs for the Braves. The Braves have displayed a greatly improved bullpen this season, and this should be cause for concern on the part of the Mets. So far, we've dropped four of the six games in our two series to the Braves. Last year, the Mets managed to win the season series. However, given the fact that the wins were largely due to fielding errors rather than a dominant Braves performance, the Mets can justifiably take as much credit for the Braves wins as the Braves can. In every game lost to the Braves thus far, the Mets gave it away.

However, there's still plenty of ball to play this season, and the Mets remain only a half game behind the Braves in the N.L. East. With a deep batting lineup and the imminent return of pitching ace Pedro Martinez, the Mets can feel good about their performance thus far and their prospects for success throughout the season.

As always, GO METS!