The Mets get swept in Atlanta to open the second half

The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves by the score of 6-1 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. The Mets were unable to avoid the sweep and are not off to a good start in the second half of the season. The Mets had a good first half but a lot of people question if they could keep it up, they need to bounce quick and not let this get out of hand. Johan Santana started for the Mets and pitched poorly. Ben Sheets started for the Braves and pitched well. Andres Torres led the Mets offense. Chipper Jones led the Braves offense in hits and Freddie Freeman had the most RBI. 
Santana pitched five innings giving up eight hits and six runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Santana is now 6-6 on the season. Ramon Ramirez pitched two innings giving up two walks and striking out one and Miguel Batista pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Sheets earned his first win of the season pitching six innings giving up two hits and no runs with a walk and five strikeouts. Kris Medlen pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with a walk, Eric O’Flaherty pitched to one batter and retired him and Anthony Varvaro pitched one inning giving up a hit and struck out one.

Ruben Tejada had a hit, Daniel Murphy had a hit and David Wright drew two walks. Scott Hairston had a hit, Torres had two hits and an RBI and Josh Thole had a hit. Murphy, Hairston and Tejada each had a double. The Mets were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.

Michael Bourn had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Martin Prado had a hit and an RBI and Jason Heyward had a hit and an RBI. Jones had two hits, Freeman had a hit and three RBI and Brian McCann had a hit. Matt Diaz had a hit, Sheets drew a walk and Ben Francisco drew a walk. Prado, Diaz and Bourn each had a double. Freeman hit a homerun. The Braves were 3-8 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning. The Braves scored all six runs in the fifth. Bourn hit an RBI double, Prado hit a sacrifice fly, Heyward hit an RBI single and Freeman hit a three run homerun. It was 6-0 Braves. The Mets would score their only run and the final run of the game in the seventh inning. Torres hit an RBI single.

The Braves swept the three game series from the Mets. The Mets record fell to 46-43 and the Braves improved their record to 49-39. The Mets will have an off day on Monday and then head to Washington to take on the Nationals in a three game series.

Slow Day in Baseball

I didn't get up any posts yesterday, as it was a really uneventful day. The one bit of news that emerged was Jerry Hairston Jr. on a XM radio show saying that he never got an offer from the Yankees. The reason is the story though, he said it is because the Yankees were waiting for Johnny Damon to come to them and his price to drop. Yankees GM a little while later shot down that rumor but I would think it is probably true. If Johnny Damon comes to the Yankees and says he will take a one year deal for 5 million are the Yankees really going to say no?? I mean if they go a few million over budget is it going to kill them, I don't think so this is the Yankees. The Angels also signed Joel Piniero to a 2 yr deal worth 16 million. This is another guy the New York Mets missed out on. I really wonder who the Mets may get now, Jon Garland, Ben Sheets?? I think this was a good move by the Angels, they had to do something to counter what Seattle has been doing plus he is a pretty steady veteran pitcher.

Ben Sheets Hurt your kidding

Ben Sheets the free agent pitcher that has been out there all offseason and people couldn't figure out why, is having surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. He decided it was better to just get this fixed now and hope to come back in the second half of this season. He had agreed to a 2 yr deal with Texas and this came to light during the physical. Sheets was told he could try and pitch through it but that it would go at anytime. This is being reported by Si.com. It was also noted at si.com that the Yankees had offered Andruw Jones a minor league deal with an invite to spring training but he turned it down. The Ben Sheets story should tame all the fans that were wondering why the Yankees or Mets didn't go after him, now you know why.