Mets start week of do or die with loss

By Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Atlanta, GA (Aug 2) – The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves tonight by the score of 4-1. This started a week of series against the Braves and Phillies back-to-back and at the end if the Mets have a poor week they will be out of the race and not playing meaningful baseball in September.

The Mets could be looking at next year as early as next week. Johan Santana started for the Mets and pitched seven innings giving up nine hits and four runs with 2 walks and 11 strikeouts. Bobby Parnell pitched an inning giving up two hits and striking out two.

The Mets offense once again did not show up on the road and that has been their problem all year. The Mets just cannot get anything going offensively on the road especially lately and are not able to win games because of that. The Mets had eight hits and not one person in the lineup had more than one hit. Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis, Jeff Francoeur, Henry Blanco, Chris Carter, and Luis Castillo each had a hit. The only RBI came from Beltran who also walked twice. Davis also drew a walk, the Braves struck first with three runs in the first inning.

The Braves started the game with a single and a walk, after a force out the Braves had runners at the corners and one out. Matt Diaz doubled home a run and put runners at second and third with one out. Alex Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice and the runner was thrown out at home but after a walk Rick Ankiel singled home, two runs and the Braves would have all they needed.

The Mets would get a run back in the fifth inning on a Beltran double. The Braves had the last score of the game, with a run in the seventh inning on a Chipper Jones home run. The Mets would have first and second two outs in the eighth inning but Josh Thole grounded out and the Mets went 1-2-3 in the ninth against former Met Billy Wagner.

The Mets and Braves will play game two of their three game series tomorrow night. The Mets need to get a win tomorrow before they totally collapse on this road trip. The Mets are now seven and a half games behind the Braves for first place in the NL East. The Mets though have to worry about other teams, as they are now in fourth place a ½ game behind the Florida Marlins. They are 4 ½ games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for second place in the division and eight games back of the wild card.

Posted by gmarchesej on August 3, 2010. Filed under Mets,News and Sports with Gary W. Marchese Jr.,Sports,US Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.