Dan Schlossberg, is the author of When The Braves Ruled the Diamond, Fourteen Flags Over Atlanta. In his book, he talks about the time when Atlanta reigned supreme. Not this year. Unless they are playing against the New York Mets. Atlanta has done just that in the last two games of this three-game series against the New York Mets. In the last two games, they have ruled the diamond and even shown they are actually better than the New York Mets.
What should have been two easy victories against the last place Braves, who are now 22-46, a whopping 20.5 games back of first place, has turned into an embarrassing debacle for the New York Mets who are now fighting to stay in second place. The Mets are currently six games back of the first place Washington Nationals and only a half-game away from the third place Miami Marlins.
Instead of securing those easy victories, the Mets are starting to look more like The Bad News Bears.
Cases in point:
Curtis, Curtis, Curtis: I really don’t think I understand Curtis Granderson. He has these shining moments and then these bumbling plays. One minute I’m cheering for him and the next minute I’m cursing him out. So this love-hate relationship actually gets two “Curtis, Curtis, Curtis” from me today. First, Little League teaches you that the play is not over until the ball gets thrown back in. In tonight’s 4 – 3 loss against the Braves, Jeff Francoeur hits a liner to Granderson in right. Instead of whipping that ball right back in so everybody stays still, Granderson took his sweet little ol’ time and Freddie Freeman, recognizing Granderson’s mistake, took off for third.
What does Curtis say in an interview, “I could possibly have made a harder throw. Might have changed the situation,” Granderson said.
Ya think?!
Work harder, push harder, throw harder, hit harder. Until the game is over!
Now on that note, some people may disagree with me on this one, because Granderson was trying to push a walk out, but why, oh why, would you not keep swinging when you have two strikes against you and two outs on the bottom of the 9th inning. Getting called out on strikes while you’re window shopping is ridiculous. Keep swinging. A foul is another chance. Come on Granderson.
Tim, Tim, Tim: No outs in the bottom of the 9th. Wilmer Flores on first, James Loney at the plate. Loney hits a double. Third base coach Tim Teufel’s sends Flores home from first. Dude, I could see from my living room couch that Flores didn’t have it in him to make it home. I mean the Braves catcher could’ve practically ran that ball around the bases again before Flores slid across the plate. Okay, not literally, but geez next time, give me Teufel’s cell phone number and I’ll send him a text if I think he should send someone home. Aggressive base running is one thing. That’s not what this was.
Bullpen, bullpen, bullpen: Pull it together. Addison Reed’s wild pitch sent Ender Inciarte across the plate with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of Atlanta’s 4-3 victory. Jim Henderson comes in and gives up a first-pitch home run to Tyler Flowers. Oy.
Battered and bruised: Henderson leaves only one batter later with a possible shoulder impingement. Now Steven Matz, who started the game and came out with a tender elbow, has been quoted as saying that his elbow isn’t a big deal to him, but we’ll have to wait and see. The Mets injured and hurt roster is getting long enough to equal and maybe surpass their game roster. If Matz is starting to have elbow issues and Henderson is impinged, this will definitely hurt the Mets.
We had high hopes in this game after leading 3 – 0. Cespedes lead off the bottom of the 3rd with a homerun and the Mets added two in the bottom of the 4th, but they still weren’t strong enough. Instead of being called potential playoff contenders, the New York Mets are melting down faster than an ice cream cone in the summer sun.
Time to get back to basics or take a seat and let the big boys go right by.
