EVERY SINGLE TIME this season that the Mets lead in the National League East has dwindled to a couple of games or so, usually at the hand of losing a series to either the Phillies or the Braves, the Mets have responded well to these challenges by coming together as a team and taking care of business.
After the disastrous four game sweep at the hand of the Phillies that ended last Thursday, a series full of pitching mishaps, well-meaning baserunners, and missed opportunities at the bat galore, the Mets limped into Atlanta to face the Braves, and if the Mets had any inclination to roll over and let those clowns down in Philly take the division lead, they were put aside by a wonderful pitching performance from the staff who, very recently, were the ones who couldn't throw a strike to save their jobs. A shocking statistic today from the series, in which the Mets outscored the the Braves 15-4, was that of the 14 hits the managed in the series, only one, a double by Brian McCann in the bottom of the ninth in today's game, was the only extra base hit of the series; it's kinda hard to score a lot of runs on singles, walks and errors.
That McCann double which opened the home half, was given up Billy Wagner, the closer under fire for blowing saves left and right as of late. The Mets lead was 3-1 at that point, but it took some slick defense to hold the Braves to just one run, particularly by first baseman Carlos Delgado on a bunt by Pete Orr between first base and the pitching mound. Delgado charged the ball and fired the ball to pick off Kelly Johnson, who had singled in the runner, created by McCann's hit, to bring the Braves to a 3-2 deficit with none out. A couple of ground balls to second base later, and the Mets hold on to claim a rare series sweep down in Atlanta, a sweep made all of the better by the fact that the Phillies lost to the Florida Marlins for the second day in a row, blowing a 5-0 lead to lose 7-6 to the Fish, their ninth inning rally just not quite enough, and while they finished their series with the Mets trailing by just two games on Thurday, as of now on Sunday evening they find themselves behind by four games, with the Braves a distant third at 7 and a half games.
No matter that while the Braves and Phillies may fight over the rights to who dominates the Mets better (until this series at least), the fact that these teams have made NO INROADS WHATSOEVER in totally overtaking the Mets is no surprise; apparently that's the main focus of both teams seasons. Well, congratulations on that front, I suppose, Mets fans will probably be laughing in a month when they're sitting home for the playoffs, yet mumbling to themselves, "Bastards.........we won the season series! How the hell can they be in the playoffs? " Too bad, so sad.
METS RECAP
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