Braves 1 Mets 0
ATLANTA – So here it is, the same old story, the same formula. This Braves tale is a tired one for the Mets.
The Mets played good baseball last night, but the Braves played better. The righty Bobby Jones, Dennis Cook and Turk Wendell pitched well, allowing only one run, but Andy Ashby pitched better, shutting the Mets out last night.
Add it all up and the Braves beat the Mets, 1-0. Ashby, acquired July 12 from the Phillies where he struggled, is the latest to find Turner Field the cure for his pitching ails. How do they do it?
“If I knew that I’d just bottle it up and bring it wherever I was,” Bobby Valentine said.
Atlanta took two-out-of-three in the series and pushed their lead to six games in the NL East.
The Mets – who return home tomorrow for the first time since July 9 – ended this long, but eventful four-city, 11-game road circus quietly last night.
But how long ago does it seem since Melvin Mora made that ninth inning error at Fenway, which resulted in the second half opening loss? How about since Todd Pratt called the Red Sox Brian Daubach a “scab?”
How about Carl Everett’s eruption? Robin Ventura going on the disabled list? The naked women in the SkyDome hotel windows? Lefty Bobby Jones calling Valentine “a joke?” Edgardo Alfonzo’s bad hip?
And then the topper of them all, the Larkin watch, which ended with Melvin Mora still at short for the Mets and, to the astonishment of GM Steve Phillips, with Barry Larkin having a new contract with the Reds. There was also a 5-6 record between the craziness.
“It [stunk] for whole a gamut of reasons,” Todd Zeile said.
Outside of their offense, the Mets played well last night. In a scoreless game in the fifth, Derek Bell took a three-run homer off the board by bringing back a Chipper Jones shot, which was clearly over the wall.
Bobby Jones pitched solidly, giving up only run the of the game on a double by Wally Joyner line in the sixth. Jay Payton – batting third for the first time this season – just missed a homer in the fourth.
Afterward, Zeile was tired and frustrated and pointing fingers for the loss – at himself.
“[Ashby] did a good job,” Zeile said. “But we should’ve won that game with my contributions.”
Zeile had two opportunities, which he felt he should have come through on. After Payton’s double – which hit the top of the wall in left – the Mets had runners at second and third. Bell didn’t score from first and the Braves intentionally walked Mike Piazza. Zeile grounded into a double play.
In the ninth, Payton led off by reaching on a throwing error by Ashby. But Payton advanced no further than second as Piazza grounded out and Zeile sharply lined to short before Ashby ended the game by inducing Benny Agbayani to ground to shortstop Rafael Furcal.
“He did what other Braves pitchers do,” Zeile said of Ashby. “He threw with movement off the outside part of the plate.”
The only non-frustrating part for the Mets last night was Bell’s catch. With two men on and two out, Chipper Jones launched a fly ball over the wall in right field.
But Bell ran back and leaped, not particularly high, but high enough to extend his 6-foot-2 body and snag three runs off the scoreboard, which he was right in front of.
Bell skipped toward the dugout with his glove held high as if he was carrying the Olympic torch and zeros for both teams remained until Bobby Jones gave up the run in the sixth.
That is all Ashby needed. The latest Braves acquisition pitched his second consecutive complete game.
Valentine said, “We’ve played them seven times this year and it’s 4-3.”
The Braves are still a little better.
