After a thrilling late-inning victory on Friday, the Braves bats were silenced (for the most part) on Saturday and Sunday. No offense to either pitcher, but Dillon Gee and R.A. Dickey shouldn't be shutting this offense down. Yes, they're missing Jason Heyward and yes, Dan Uggla isn't hitting, but this club simply has more talent than the Mets and should have won this series with little problem.
Here is the Good, Bad and Ugly from this weekend's series at Citi Field:
The Good:
The Braves rally late on Friday night - The team wasn't hitting well and despite a decent start from Derek Lowe, they still trailed 3-1 after seven innings. Chipper Jones hit a mammoth home run to left field to reduce the Mets lead to 3-2 and Dan Uggla came around to score the tying run after a Jose Reyes error. Eric Hinske hit the go-ahead home run in the 9th and Freddie Freeman delivered some much needed insurance with a 2-run double to give Atlanta a 6-3 lead. Craig Kimbrel shut the door in the bottom half of the ninth and the Braves took the first game.
Jair Jurrjens - The kid deserved to win. He was in a groove until Alex Gonzalez committed an error in the seventh inning which was the opening of the flood gates. The next four batters reached base and Jose Reyes capped the inning off with a 3-run triple to make the score 5-0. More on this in a little.
Diory Hernandez's 3-run homer - There were approximately six Braves fans still watching at the time of the home run, but Diory came to the plate in the ninth and kept the game alive. We didn't win, but he at least made it interesting. Props for hitting off Francisco Rodriguez. He's almost as bad as Jose Reyes and Shane Victorino.
The Bad:
Alex Gonzalez's error - It's already been covered above, but this play completely changed the game. Jair was comfortable on the mound and was breezing through the Mets lineup. He had to pitch out of the stretch and was clearly distracted. Gonzalez has been great this year, but that one hurt.
Tim Hudson - Huddy settled down a bit as the game carried on, but his sinker wasn't sinking in the early going and he paid for it. The Mets scored five runs off him in just four innings and he allowed seven hits and a walk.
The Ugly:
Jordan Schafer's Injury - Thank goodness he's OK, but it was pretty terrifying to watch as the play unfolded on Friday night. The Braves have already been hit hard by injuries and the last thing they need is for yet another player to go down to injury. He was back in the lineup for Sunday night's game.
Fredi Gonzalez - We've all criticized him for preaching aggressiveness at the plate, his addiction to bunting and his insistence on stealing bases despite our success rate of like 0.04%, but his bullpen management in the seventh inning of Saturday's game was awful. With a score of just 1-0 and the bases loaded, one would imagine it was the perfect opportunity to bring in Jonny Venters, who might just be the best reliever in Major League Baseball. Instead, he brought in Scott Proctor who has sucked since....well, 2005. The result? Proctor promptly gave up a bases clearing triple to Jose Reyes. Nice call, Fredi. Literally every Braves fan in the entire country saw the disaster coming the moment Proctor came into the game. This one isn't even on the reliever. It's on the manager for his piss-poor bullpen management.
Up Next:
The Braves have an off-day on Monday and will continue their road trip in Florida against the Marlins.