Games #142 & #143: Braves 6-5, Mets 5-1

Justin Turner reaches for a grounder on the Mets' 6-5 loss to the Braves in game one Thursday (NYDailyNews.com)

In the September callup period, you generally see fresh new faces around the ballpark, doing their best to make an impact. Unfortunately for the Mets, it was the oldest of nemeses that packed the biggest punch.

Chipper Jones went 3-9 with a home run and 3 RBIs, getting the best of Nick Schwinden in Game 1 and Dillon Gee in Game 2, helping to dropping the Mets in both games, 6-5 and 5-1.

The Bad Stuff:

• Aside from the usual gut-wrenching, Met-killing performance of ol' Larry, other things went wrong for New York in these 18 innings. Nick Schwinden picked a bad time to make his major-league debut, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings.
• The Mets were still in the second game in the later innings, but Pedro Beato let it get away by surrendering 2 runs in his 2 innings.
• The team hit a combined 1-10 with RISP and stranded 15 men.

The Good Stuff:

• Jason Bay is back in a hot streak: he hit a grand slam in the 1st inning of Game 1 and drove in the team's only run in Game 2.
• Jose Reyes went a combined 2-5 in both games (he came off the bench to pinch hit in the 9th of Game 1), keeping his average at .335. Ryan Braun struggled on the day and now sits 5 points back at .330.
• Another callup made his season debut: ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration, Mr. Valentino Pascucci, who had a pinch-hit single in the 8th, giving him a rare and strange-looking 1.000 batting average. He's now tied for the single-season hitting record. Think it will last?

Final Analysis:
The worst part about losing both ends of a doubleheader is that it wipes out the progress of not one but two previous days. Now, instead of 1 game back of the .500 mark, the Mets are right back at 3 games back again.

Lucky for them, they get a sort of health-spa in the midst of this crazy end-of-season stretch: the hapless Chicago Cubs make their trip to Flushing on this 9/11 weekend, and then Davey Johnson and the Nationals stop by for 4 games after that. Best case scenario: 5-2. Worst-case scenario: well, I don't like to think about that. Let's hope we're closer to 5-2.

MM