Atlanta Braves drop second straight game to New York Mets

Good news! The Atlanta Braves scored a run. Two runs, in fact. Bad news, they gave up four runs, so it didn’t matter. More bad news, Mike Minor left the game after just one inning with a shoulder problem. I’m not sure if it’s anything serious, but most of you know by now that I don’t like Minor, so at this point, it is tough to summon panic. What I do care about is that the Braves got embarrassed yet again at home by the stinking New York Mets.

The Mets scored in the first inning, the second inning, and the eighth inning. The Braves also scored in the eighth inning when Freeman singled with the bases loaded, but they couldn’t get any closer than 4-2 since Justin Upton and Chris Johnson both grounded out. The Braves got two runs on nine hits, the Mets had four runs on eight hits. There’s something to be said for economy of hitting, and the Braves certainly don’t convert those hits to runs like other teams. The Braves went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and Emilio Bonifacio went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, but that was the extent of the “positives”.

In the end, the result is the same. The Braves lost. That puts them two below .500 now on the year, and they are literally a stones throw from ending up in 3rd or 4th place in the division at this pace. I mean, even the Phillies can catch them to put the Braves in dead last if you really want to get technical about it. That’s where we are as a team. Even worse, Fredi Gonzalez had to burn five pitchers in the bullpen since Minor only went one inning. Better hope that Ervin Santana can go deep tomorrow in the Sunday game.

For those of you still watching these games, God bless you. For those of you who have given up, I don’t blame you. I’ll be at the game tomorrow to enjoy some sunshine and the ballpark. Any other kind of fun will be purely accidental, but definitely appreciated. Let’s hope the Braves can just avoid getting swept by the Mets.