Game #2: Mets 4, Braves 2

NY Mets right fielder Lucas Duda rounds the bases after his seventh-inning homer at Citi Field Saturday afternoon. (NYDailyNews.com)

Baseball's newest power plant may reside at Citi Field, and the ol' Home Run Apple is getting its work in early into the 2012 campaign.

Lucas Duda slugged 2 home runs and David Wright added another, providing a cushion for R.A. Dickey and giving the Mets a 4-2 win over the Braves.

The Good Stuff

• David Wright picked up where he left of Thursday, drilling a solo homer to right center in the bottom of the 1st. He finished the day 3-5 and would've had a double in the 8th if not for a great defensive play by Juan Francisco at third base. Wright has 5 hits in 8 at-bats so far and is looking great at the plate. He also had back-to-back nice putouts in the 7th.
• Also looking great at the plate was one Lucas Duda. The Big Dude had the first longball of the new Citi Field, a solo jack in the 4th, and he added another on a line drive in the 7th that would've been out everywhere in the majors.
• Also making a splash with their bats were Josh Thole, who went 2-4 and drove in the go-ahead run in the 6th, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who went 2-4 in his major league debut.
• All that offense meant smiles after the game for R.A. Dickey, whose 13th consecutive quality start gave him his first W of 2012. The majors' last knuckleballer went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 3. His lone mistake was an errant fastball in the 5th to Martin Prado, who turned it into a 2-run homer.
• After Dickey's departure, the revamped Mets bullpen took care of the rest: Bobby Parnell and Jon Rauch were each perfect in the 7th and 8th, and Frank Francisco buckled down to pick up his second save in as many games.

The Bad Stuff

• The only negative on today's game was New York's inability to turn 13 hits into more runs: they hit 1-8 with RISP and stranded 12 men on base.

Final Analysis
Just another solid day at the, *erhem*, "bandbox" that is the new Citi Field. Great hitting + great pitching = win #2 and a happy ending for the 39,526 who came out to Meet the Mets.

MM