Touche
On Monday, the Braves had to sit and watch the Pedro Martinez love fest, as he picked up his 200th win in a party atmosphere at Shea. The crowd was going crazy, Pedro was going crazy, and the scoreboard was going crazy. Then, they had to answer questions from the New York media about these 10-2 Mets. Bobby Cox downplayed the importance of the series, while Andruw Jones pointed out which team still had an active streak of 14 division titles.
Suddenly, the sound of a sleeping giant rolling over and wiping the drool from its mouth could be heard.
The Braves are alive. The Mets still hold a 4 game lead, but anyone who thought they could run and hide this early in the season were mistaken.
Atlanta came out on Tuesday like a team that was angry. A team with something to prove. Their offense has been high-powered all year, scoring a major league leading 89 runs in their first 13 games. Although, their pitching staff has surrendered 83. Behind Jones’s 2 bombs, the Braves scored 7 runs against the increasingly hapless Victor Zambrano.
The Mets must make a move for a starting pitcher by the deadline. Zambrano has great stuff – a live fastball, sharp slider, and good changeup – but he will never learn how to pitch. He’s wild in and out of the strike zone, and just doesn’t seem to know what to do with what he has. Pitching Coach Rick Peterson has shown his mettle. The Mets have had solid pitching for the past 2 years under the guidance of The Jacketed One. But even he hasn’t been able to turn Zambrano around. And it seems no one can.
Besides Zambrano, one doesn’t know what to expect of Steve Trachsel, coming off a back injury that benched him for most of 2005.
If Oakland is out of the race in July, the Mets may renew their pursuit for Barry Zito. The A’s just might ask for Lastings Milledge in a deal. Would it be worth it? Depends on how sore Zambrano’s neck is by then, and if Zito is still the pitcher who won the Cy Young in 2002.
Coming into Tuesday’s game, the Mets’ lineup looked shockingly weak with the absence of Carlos Beltran and Cliff Floyd. Kyle Davies made it look even weaker.
The Braves prospect righted his personal ship by firing a 3-hit complete game. He struck out Carlos Delgado 3 times, with the aid of a couple of ankle-high strike calls by home plate umpire Marty Foster. Maybe Delgado should stage a sit-in next time Foster is behind the dish.
David Wright continued to struggle in the series, and Jose Reyes looks like an impatient, over matched rookie again. Logic suggests that both will get a hold of themselves and turn it around. They have too much talent not to.
And Jose Valentin looks like he’s swinging a Slinky out there.
But one must give credit to Davies. The Braves like this kid, and he could be another in a long line of successful Atlanta starters.
The Mets made a statement on Monday. The Braves made one right back. They are not going away. And we could be in for another wild race for the NL East title.
It’s Glavine vs. Hudson in the rubber game. For further musings, see metsfanintexas.mlblogs.com after the game!
Mets Fan in Texas 