Kyle F'in Davies?

Well, a sweep is out of the question now. Jorge Sosa came back down to earth as the Braves smacked the Mets around, but good last night to the tune of 8-1. Sosa, who had done quite well his first 3 starts, opened the game with a 1-2-3 first, but things went downhill from there. Fast.

Walks were the key here. You cannot, repeat, cannot walk the opposing pitcher. This never turns out well. Sosa had 3 walks in all, and allowed 2 runs in the second and third and 1 run in the fourth. Aaron Sele, who alas is not Darren Oliver, gave up the last three in the 6th on a home run by Davies (a career .096 hitter for fucks sake) to deep center field. At least Burgos escaped unscathed, so we got that going for us. Davies dominated, going 8 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 BB's and 1 run. Wickman finished it up.

Now, it is easy to fall into the "Braves own us" mood. They have now won 5 of the 7 games between the two teams this year, and have won three of them going away. But remember, it was bad defense and poor relief that cost them a couple of the games, not a curse. Remember, we won the season series last year. The Braves are chasing us now, not the other way around, and they showed it last night. The Mets did not. Several players are in slumps, be they moderate (Beltran, Reyes) or worse (Delgado). At some point, you gotta think the offense is going to start firing on all cylinders. Let's just hope it is tonight.

Ollie goes for the Mets against Chuck James. Ollie has done quite well against the Braves since he joined the Mets last year, including two wins this year. The first was in an 11-1 drubbing where he allowed 5 hits in 7 innings. In the second, they won 7-2, as Ollie went 6.2, but allowed 9 hits. The bats helped there. They need to help tonight.

Delgado in the paper today said the problem is not related to any injury. He says he is simply not getting his front foot down in time, because he is starting his swing too late. I'm glad to hear he is not injured, but sad at the same time, since that would give a tangible reason for his struggles to date. Here's to hoping that he starts his swing a little early. He is getting beat badly on pitches low and outside. There is a concern that his struggles are allowing teams to pitch around Beltran, leading to his slump (Beltran has some issues with the breaking ball).

They still have a chance to take 2 in this series. Ollie needs to bring the good Ollie again, and Glavine has to forget that his good buddy is pitching and throw a good game. I am a little concerned that if the Braves take this series that some guys are going to get a little tight about them. We are the hunted, but we are also the hunted for a reason, we are the champs. Time to show that, and put the foot down on the Braves.