Game #113: Braves 4, Mets 0

Two bad pitches on the home end plus less by the visitors. That's all it took to bury New York tonight.

Matt Harvey rebounded after a rocky start but Paul Maholm only needed 95 pitches to give the Braves a 4-0 victory over the Mets.

The Bad Stuff:

• Maholm could've gone an extra three innings at the rate he pitched, delivering a complete-game, 3-hit, no-walk, 5-K shutout in less than two and a half hours.
• New York got runners on in the first two innings (error and Daniel Murphy single) but rally-killing double plays quickly dispelled any hopes of runs.
• Ruben Tejada's 14-game hitting streak was snapped with an 0-4 performance at the plate.
• Matt Harvey gave up a quick 2-run homer to Jason Hayward in the 1st as the home team played from behind almost immediately.
• Josh Edgin put the game out of reach in the 8th by serving up a Dan Uggla 2-run homer.

The Good Stuff:

• Despite a rough first couple innings Matt Harvey was solid in his first career start at Citi Field. Harvey limited the damage to those 2 runs on those 2 hits in 6 innings. He walked 5 and only struck out 3 but found the plate in the second half of his outing, retiring the final nine Atlanta hitters to face him.

Final Analysis:
The only good thing you can say about this game is that at least it was over quickly. The Mets couldn't get anything going at the plate and were doomed in this one from the very start. The only thing to do now is get a good night's sleep and give Johan Santana some more offense for his return from the DL tomorrow night.

MM