In the first two nights at Shea to open the second half, the Mets split a pair of games with the Braves. That probably doesn’t sound overly impressive or overly disappointing, merely adequate.
But through 18 innings against their division rivals, it’s worth pointing out that the Mets are playing the Braves much differently than they played them earlier this year.
Essentially, they’ve played the Braves evenly.
In ths first nine games the Mets and Braves played against each other this year before this series, the Braves not only won seven of them, but they often won convincingly. Atlanta took five consecutive games against the Mets heading into Thursday night, the last two by shutout. Overall in the nine games, the Mets were outscored by Atlanta 41-28.
But maybe the last two games at Shea have shown that the Mets and Braves are more evenly matched than expected. Both games were tied going into the eighth inning – on Thursday, the Mets won, 6-3, on Mike Piazza’s eighth-inning, three-run homer. Friday, the Braves won, 2-1, when Wilson Betemit’s eighth-inning grounder to short took a bad hop and became an RBI single.
“We’ve played well, we’ve played hard. I think any time after you’ve played two games in a series and it’s 1-to-1 and both teams can make an argument for why they should have won both games, it tells you how evenly matched things are,” Tom Glavine said after Friday’s loss. “Certainly this is the kind of baseball we need to continue playing, the kind of baseball that [the Braves have] played for so many years that just made them what they are.”
As it is, the Mets headed into last night’s game against the Braves – the third game in a four-game series – still 5½ games behind Atlanta for the wild card.
Still, the way they’ve played so far in the series is a pretty good sign for the rest of the season. After all, the Braves are almost certainly going to be a team that the Mets will have to play well against to get where they want to get this year. And there are still six games against Atlanta after this weekend.
“These guys are very resilient,” David Wright said Friday night of the Braves. “They find a way to come back after [Thursday] night. They came out and played a good solid all-around ballgame, and that’s what they’re known for. That’s why they have so many consecutive divisional titles. They go out and they don’t beat themselves. They take advantage of situations if you make mistakes and like I said, they don’t shoot themselves in the foot.”
The Mets, though, have been better of late as well. They have committed only one error in the two games – though granted it was a big one, as Wright’s miscue on Thursday turned into a two-run inning. They’ve also made a slew of fine defensive plays – Wright’s diving catch of a popped-up bunt, Cliff Floyd’s toppling-over-the-wall grab in foul territory, Jose Reyes’ diving stop of a bases-loaded grounder. Meanwhile, the Met pitchers have permitted just four earned runs in 18 innings.
Of course, one way to view all of that is the Mets have played two good games and still only come away with a split. But the Mets could have also easily won both, maybe a promising sign for both the rest of this weekend and the rest of their games against Atlanta.
New attitude
The last time the Mets posted a winning record against the Braves was 1997, when they went 7-5. Here’s a look at how Mets have fared vs. Atlanta each year since then:
Year W L
’04 7 12
’03 8 11
’02 7 12
’01 9 10
’00 6 7
’99 5 13*
’98 3 9
*-Includes 4-2 loss in divisional playoff series.
2005 results
Date Score W/L
Apr.8 3-1 L
Apr.9 6-3 L
Apr.10 6-1 W / h
Apr.25 5-4 W / h
Apr.26 4-3 L / h
Apr.27 8-4 L
May23 8-6 L
May24 4-0 L
May25 3-0 L
July14 6-3 W / h
July15 2-1 L / h
Braves lead season series, 8-3.
Home games in blue.
