Liveblog: New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves-5/22/07
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by user Tmizzle
I'm live-blogging the Mets-Braves game tonight. This is my first live-blog ever, and I'm doing it tonight for two reasons: 1) The Mets have lost only three series the entire season, and two of those were against the Braves, and 2) the NBA Draft is tonight at 8:30, and I'm kind of hoping people will not notice my lame attempt at live-blogging.
Pitching Matchup:
Anyway, it's Jorge Sosa (3-0, 2.25 ERA) facing off against Kyle Davies (1-2, 5.17) tonight. Since coming up from Triple-A New Orleans to replace the injured Orlando Hernandez, Sosa has been absolutely spectacular. In his most recent start, he went 7 innings and gave up only 1 run against the Cubs. He's coming back to Atlanta for the first time since he was traded to the Cardinals at the trade deadline last year. Davies has been less than stellar this year, although his 5.17 ERA is actually a run lower than his career ERA of 6.13, and he's at best a 4th or 5th starter.
Player to Watch:
Atlanta: Larry Jones, 3B- If you're a Mets fan, you have nightmares about this guy. I know I do. Larry (yeah, his real name is Larry, I never call him Chipper) absolutely destroys the Mets, and I'd put the stats up, I really would, but they just depress me. So anytime a guy is referred to as a "Met-killer," they get to be a player to watch.
New York: David Wright, 3B- Look at that, it's two third basemen. Anyway, I've been waiting for Wright to get started for a month, and he finally got going this weekend against the Yankees, hitting 3 home runs during the series. In Saturday's game, he was intentionally walked 3 times. That's Barry Bonds territory. Hopefully Carlos Delgado follows in his footsteps and finally gets going. I'm not used to seeing Delgado bat .214.
The guys I have in the booth for this game are the SNY crew. Gary Cohen is the play-by-play man (who I am a big fan of), the analysts are Keith Hernandez (who I may ridicule from time to time) and Ron Darling (who won an Emmy for best New York analyst last year, according to SNY), and sideline reporter Kevin Burkhardt, (who replaced Chris Cotter from last year). Pretty good crew, even though Hernandez is borderline mentally retarded.
7:36- Right before the first pitch, Darling gives us this: "When Davies is good, which is not very often..." I love Ron Darling.
7:38- Davies walks Jose Reyes to start the game. I'm guessing this is going to be one of those not good days for Davies.
7:39- Seriously, who doesn't love Endy Chavez? Well, besides Scott Rolen. (I link to this video any chance I can; it helps the ending of that game seem less soul-crushing.)
7:42- Reyes on 3rd, Beltran on 1st, Delgado at the plate. Maybe Delgado's going to break out here...nope, inning-ending double play. Please just strike out next time.
7:43- Nice play by David Wright on a bunt by Kelly Johnson. That's the way my Player to Watch should play. Yes, it's egotistical that I'm congratulating myself about that. I'm ok with it.
7:48- Sosa strikes out the next two hitters (including Larry), and looked very sharp doing it. It might be a long night for the Braves if he keeps this up. Interesting note: Larry Jones has hit 37 home runs against the Mets in his career. Thanks, Gary, we didn't know that.
7:51- Wright flies out to start the second. What a loser, get rid of the guy. Oh wait, I'm a Mets fan, not a Yankee fan. Shawn Green is up, and I'm extremely pleased at how he's played so far this year. That makes Lastings Milledge even more expendable, and I hope they expend him soon. I like Carlos Gomez better anyway.
7:58- Brian McCann hustles out a double on a bad throw by Endy Chavez. And the Mets still don't have a no-hitter in their 45-year history. Come on, we had Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, David Cone, and we still couldn't get one? The Diamondbacks have been around for about 2 years and they have one.
8:00- The double by McCann is followed by a double by Francoeur and a single by the supposedly struggling Andruw Jones, and it's 2-0 Braves. Just 12 minutes ago I thought it would be a pitching duel. I'm an idiot.
8:01- Fortunately, I'm not the only one. Keith Hernandez just asked if Jorge Sosa was wearing pearls around his neck. Just great analysis by Hernandez on that one. Give that man your Emmy, Ron Darling.
8:03- Seriously, the Mets and Braves are playing for the division lead, and you're giving us pearls, Keith? Well, at least he's not making derogatory comments about women. Yet. Oh yeah, double play, Mets are out of the inning.
8:06- Even more proof that Andruw's not the fielder he used to be: He just dove and missed a ball. He used to always (and I do mean always) make those sorts of plays. He's still a very good centerfielder, just not all-time great anymore.
8:13- Fantastic, Sosa just walked the opposing pitcher to lead off the third. And it's not like it was Mike Hampton up there swinging the bat, it was Kyle Davies, who is 0-12 this season and 4-50 for his career. Throw him 3 fastballs down the middle of the plate.
8:18- 10-pitch at-bat to Kelly Johnson ends up in an opposite-field double because Endy Chavez misread the ball. Good thing the pitcher was on first, so he hasn't scored...yet.
8:20- Follow this one: Sosa just walked Edgar Renteria, so either he's got no control tonight or he wants to pitch to Chipper Jones with the bases loaded and no outs. I'm going to go with the no control answer. This could be trouble.
8:22- Wild pitch that didn't end up scoring a run. Why, you ask? Because the pitcher is on third base. This walking the pitcher thing seems to actually be working out OK.
8:23- Sac Fly for Chipper, it's not 3-0 Braves. It's not looking good, but I don't count out the Mets until they're down by 5 runs. Too bad it's 4-0 now on a single by McCann.
8:25- Keith Hernandez: "I think he (Sosa) is in labor right now." I'm not even going to make a joke here, because it's just too easy.
8:28- Somehow the Mets get out of the 3rd inning only giving up 2 runs. I still think they're in the game, because of their outstanding offense, but they've got to get something going in this next inning. They also need to get Sosa out of the game, because he just doesn't have it tonight. The Mets have their 3-4-5 hitters up, so it's the perfect time to get something going.
8:34- So much for the big inning for the Mets: Beltran flies out to left, Delgado grounds to third at second base (big shift on), and Wright strikes out swinging.
8:36- Willie Randolph makes a questionable decision by sending Jorge Sosa out to pitch the 4th. Maybe he won't give up any runs this inning, but if he gives up anything else, this game could get really out of hand fast.
8:39- Scott Thorman hits a leadoff home run, and he absolutely destroyed that pitch. Letter-high fastball and he crushed it. Good thing we put Sosa back in there.
8:40- Willie Harris flies out to the warning track in dead-center. The last two balls hit by the Braves have traveled about 800 feet. Maybe it's time to bring in Aaron Sele?
8:42- The Mets get out of the 4th without any further damage. They head into the 5th down by 5. Outstanding.
8:45- Just as Gary Cohen is mentioning that Shawn Green kills the Braves, Green hits a chopper that somehow eludes both Johnson and Renteria. Now Gary's talking about how LoDuca kills the Braves. If everyone kills the Braves, why haven't they gotten a run yet against a very mediocre pitcher? Ok, so they both single. Maybe he's on to something.
8:48- First controversial play of the day. Damion Easley hits a grounder to Renteria, who throws to Johnson, who in turn drops the ball. Umpire rules that the ball was dropped in transfer. This means that instead of bases-loaded, nobody out, the Mets have 1st and 3rd, one out.
8:50- The Mets finally get a run on a fielders choice. David Newhan, pinch-hitting for Sosa, runs hard down the line to beat out a double play. 5-1 Braves.
8:52- Davies walks Reyes for the second time in the game. They just showed Sosa's line for the night: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. His ERA jumps from 2.25 to 3.75. You know you've had a bad outing when your ERA increases by a run and a half.
8:59- Sele comes in and gives up absolutely nothing, getting the Braves 2-3-4 hitters in order in the 5th. The Braves had previously scored runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings. Glad they put a stop to that.
9:04- Delgado looks really lost at the plate right now. I mean, I don't know what's wrong with him, whether it's the surgically repaired wrist that he fixed during the offseason or if it's just a mindset thing, but he has looked very bad in his last couple of at-bats, striking out on a breaking ball down and in.
9:10- This is where Keith Hernandez is actually useful. He just pointed out that for struggling hitters, it's better to be an excellent defender, because they can feel more useful to their team. That's the point he made about Andruw Jones, and along those lines, it's got to be a little tougher on Delgado, who is primarily an offensive player.
9:16- I originally intended to live-blog the entire game, but I've decided now that it needs to stop. Kyle Davies, he of the lifetime average of .078, just hit a 3-run HR. Yeah, I'm officially done with this for tonight. That's just ridiculous.
P.S. I'm going to my first-ever major-league baseball game at Shea next Wednesday (It's not that pathetic, I'm only 19). Anybody got any suggestions for what I should check out while I'm there?
