Turner Field has always been a house of horror for the New York Mets. Regardless of whether the Mets are good are not, Turner Field has never been kind to the boys from Flushing. So now the Mets come to Atlanta for basically a 5 game series…the prospect of winning any of the 5 games wasn’t looking good. Yet as of June 21st the New York Mets leave out of Atlanta having won 3 of the 5 games against the Braves. Mostly behind good pitching. The final win was costly though, starter Jonathan Niese left the game in the 4th inning due to shoulder discomfort. Xrays and MRI are forthcoming. So the Mets had to tax their bullpen to grind out a win against the Braves.
Niese, who gave up eight hits and three runs with five strikeouts in 3 1-3 innings, will fly to New York on Friday and visit an orthopedist. He said he felt fine until facing Pastornicky.
”It’s never good when you have to leave a game, but on a good note, the doctor (at Turner Field) did some tests and everything was negative,” Niese said. ”It just felt really weak. I think the tendinitis kind of flared up again.”
David Wright knows the importance of the Mets winning 3 of 5 against the Braves.
”It’s a good feeling to come in here and take this series against this team,” Wright said, ”because they’re obviously one of the elite.”
Wright, who went 3 for 4, has 32 homers against Atlanta – his most against any opponent – including 18 at Turner Field.
”He’s a really good hitter,” Minor said. ”I threw a fastball over the middle of the plate. You can’t do that. It was up and over the middle and then a hanging curveball that was up and over the middle.”
In his last 14 games, Wright is hitting .407 with four homers and eight RBIs since June 5. It was his 20th multihomer game and second this season.
”The solo home runs kept us in the game, gave us a little momentum, but it came down to the bullpen, defense and that big hit by Satin,” Wright said.
Next for the Amazin’s is Philadelphia who are struggling with ironically pitching, the one thing they were supposed to be good at. Yet when you look at the series against the Braves it was timely hits and pitching that gave the Mets wins in a place that has never been kind to them. Can they do the same thing in Philly? We shall see.
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