MET NOTES
ATLANTA – The Mets will take six innings, two runs from Kevin Appier every time out.
“I pitched a pretty good game, certainly not great,” Appier said last night.
It was not great for Appier in his Mets debut because the Mets lost 3-2 in 10 innings to the Braves.
The Braves scored their two runs off Appier in the third inning thanks to a wild pitch. With one out, Appier struck out the right-handed Kevin Millwood, but the slider bounced in batter’s box on the first-base side and skipped past Mike Piazza. Millwood ended up on first. A single and walk sandwiched an out to bring Chipper Jones to the plate with the bases loaded. Jones hit a line single that just evaded Timo Perez’ forward dive.
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Although the first two games have been like October, the crowds have not. Turk Wendell has noticed.
“I thought it was brutal,” Wendell said.
The Braves sold 27,924 tickets last night, but Wendell thought there were about 18,000 in the seats. There were audible chants of “Let’s Go Mets” throughout the game . . . In the sixth, Todd Zeile dove for a B.J. Surhoff grounder and landed on the ball in the, um, groin. He recorded the out and was attended to by trainer Fred Hina. Zeile stayed in and is fine.
The Mets send Rick Reed to the mound against the Braves tonight. He is the man to pitch here because he is 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA in his five games at The Ted. If Reed and the Mets win, it will be their first series win in Atlanta since July 10-13, 1997. Reed has a sore throat, but will pitch. “I don’t throw with my throat,” Reed said.
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GM Steve Phillips will fly to Meridian, Miss. today to present Brian Cole’s family with his Single-A St. Lucie uniform and with his spring training major-league jersey. Cole’s No. 6 will be retired by St. Lucie as well. Cole was killed when his truck flipped last Saturday . . . Maxcine Agee, wife of the late Tommie Agee, will throw out the first ball at next Monday’s home opener against the Braves.
Tsuyoshi Shinjo on Hideo Nomo‘s second no-hitter last night: “This is not very much a surprise.”
Dennis Cook, who had a good spring, has looked good in both of his appearances. The Mets picked up lefty Justin Brunette off waivers. The 25-year-old Brunette is a 6-1, 200-pound off-speed reliever.
