Well, that was uglier than an Otis Nixon close-up. Wouldn’t you know that my one game to cover for Braves Journal would turn out to be not only a loss but a spanking. Don’t let the score fool you. The Mets got to young Capellan early and often. Seven runs out of the gate. Everything he threw looked flat, and the Mets, despite a rather crappy record, have some veteran hitters who know how to hit bad pitching. Pete and Don were full of anecdotes about debuts, conjuring up the Avery/Glavine first outings but forgetting that this was Cappy’s second start. So do we blame this on youth and inexperience or the fact that he was pitching on three days’ rest? Or do we simply tip our hats to the Mets for playing hard for a lame-duck manager?
So what about the game itself? After the Braves stranded two runners in the top of the first, the Mets came out swinging. I lost track of the hits, but they sent up 11 batters in the inning, seven of them scoring. Hidalgo and Zeile hit back-to-back bombs and quicker than Art Howe can fill out an unemployment form, this game seemed out of reach.
Bobby decided that one inning was enough humiliation for Cappy, so he brought in Travis Smith to start the second. Meanwhile, Trachsel all of sudden seemed unhittable and the Braves were hacking at everything as if ready to get out New York sooner than later.
The Braves did break through in the sixth and tried to make it a game in the seventh, but with the score 8-3 and the bases loaded, Julio struck out. At that point, Bobby had given up on the game, removing Furcal, Chipper and J.D. for Betemit, DeRosa and Wise. The Mets added a run in the bottom half and made it all a foregone conclusion.
The Marlins came from behind to win, so the Magic Number remains 10. Three with the Fish beginning tomorrow night–Paul Byrd against a guy called up last week from Class A ball who the Cubs shelled in his first outing. TBS has the game tomorrow; Turner South has the other two. Good chance to put a lid on this division. It would also be a nice time to wake up from this little bit of the doldrums.
That’s it for me. Mac should be back tomorrow night.
Thanks for taking one for the team, Jeff.
I swear, I didn’t just skip this game because Trachsel was pitching.
Thanks, Jeff. Everything seems pretty solid right here, and the winds are mostly down to a reasonable level. Unless something odd happens, I’ve been amazingly lucky. If I still lived in Birmingham, I’d probably be in the dark until maybe Sunday.
“At that point, Bobby had given up on the game, removing Furcal, Chipper and J.D. for Betemit, DeRosa and Wise.”
Wasn’t the score 8-4 when Franco struck out with the bases loaded?…and DeRosa scored the first run of 3 in the inning before (6th) and got a base hit that would have been an rbi for the 4th run of the game in the next inning, but they held up Perez (rightfully so) at third.
DeRo came to play last night!
I still can’t fathom why we’re sending people out on short rest with a large lead in september. Isn’t Byrd going on short rest today? You know, Paul Byrd, the guy coming back from major surgery? What’s the point of this?
Good writeup of an awful game, Jeff.
And the “Otis Nixon close-up” caused me to snort unexpectedly.