Once again Pedro Martinez didn’t have it. He gave up four runs over six innings including three in the first inning. He’s consistently leaving the Mets in the hole after the first inning.
Pedro did have the only offensive spark of the game hitting a two run double in the fifth. And that was all the offense that the Mets could muster.
The Mets may drop out of first place with the Phillies currently leading the Marlins 3-2 in the eighth inning.
New York Mets (86-67 Road: 41-38) at Atlanta Braves (67-87 Home: 41-38) 7:10pm
Pedro Martinez (5-5 5.47) vs. Jorge Campillo (7-7 3.79)
What to watch: Pedro has lost two games in a row now and looked pretty bad doing it. This very well may be one of his final starts as a Met. If John Maine is able to pitch there’s no way we’ll see Pedro if the Mets make it to October. The Mets try to hold their slim .5 game lead over the Phillies tonight in the NL East.
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It wasn’t Oliver Perez’ best start but he worked hard to get through six innings giving up four runs (three earned). Again, the shaky bullpen took over in the seventh and it took four pitchers to get through the inning while giving up the one run lead to the hapless Braves. I feel like I could write this same description of every game.
The difference in this game was that the Mets came up with some late offense scoring four runs in the eighth inning. The key was a two-run double by Daniel Murphy to left center scoring Carlos Delgado and Argenis Reyes. That opened the flood gates.
Jose Reyes was the player of the game having a monster offensive night. He led off the game with a home run for the second time in three games. He went 3 for 4 with 3 runs, 2 RBI’s, and his 52nd stolen base of the season.
New York Mets (85-67 Road: 40-38) at Atlanta Braves (67-86 Home: 41-37) 7:35pm
Oliver Perez (10-7 4.09) vs. Jo-Jo Reyes (3-11 5.50)
What to watch: Perez had a terrific game in his last start against Atlanta. The Mets need to take this series from the Braves to keep the pressure on the Phillies and Brewers in the playoff race.
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The Atlanta Braves have now played their last game ever at Shea Stadium. I’ve heard a lot of people talking about the great rivalry of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. And it really was a great one. It’s lost some luster in recent years but I have a feeling it’ll be back in the very near future.
I have to give a plug to my friend JB from the Braves Launching Pad. In my mind, it’s the best Braves site out there. I try to keep up with enemy blogs as part of my research.
JB put together a list of his five best Braves-Mets games at Shea and it’s certainly worth a read. Check it out here.
I’ve made no bones on this site about my feeling that Shea is the worst stadium in baseball and the fact that we deserve better. But now that the final regular season games are nearly over, I am getting a little sentimental about the end of Shea especially when I read about the great games this stadium has seen since 1964.
The culprit was Luis Ayala today and Pedro Feliciano threw some gas on the fire in the ninth inning blown save.
The shame of it is that a monster game by David Wright was wasted. Wright was 4 for 5 with 3 RBI’s and 2 home runs.
Oliver Perez wasn’t terribly sharp early on, but he battled through to end up with a pretty good line of 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K.
I know this sounds like a broken record but Carlos Delgado continued mashing again today going 3 for 5.
The story of this game may very well end up being the downfall of the 2008 version of the Mets. Not having a stopper at the back of the bullpen is an extremely difficult problem to overcome. As the last two weeks of the season draw to a close the Mets need someone from the bullpen to prove that they can consistently handle the pressure of the ninth inning.
Atlanta Braves (65-83 Road: 25-49) at New York Mets (83-64 Home: 45-28) 1:10pm
Jorge Campillo (7-7 3.70) vs. Oliver Perez (10-7 4.15)
TV: CW11 Radio: WFAN
What to watch: Perez was horrible in his last start against the Nationals. Campillo hasn’t pitched badly, but he hasn’t won a game since Aug. 8th. The Mets and Braves play the rubber game of the series today.
Visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans.
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