The Mets and Braves renew their longstanding rivalry tonight at Turner Field in Atlanta, and with John Maine and Tim Hudson starting on the mound for the Mets and Braves, respectively, runs should be at a premium.
Maine was one of the best pitchers in all of spring training, going 3-1 with a 1.53 ERA in 29-1/3 innings. Even more impressive was Maine’s 33-to-5 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. With Pedro Martinez now out at least 4-6 weeks with his mild hamstring strain, the starts by Wednesday’s winner Oliver Perez, as well as Maine, take on even more importance for the Mets.
At the plate, the Mets were led in Florida by strong performances from Carlos Beltran and David Wright. Beltran is 5-for-12 (.417) with an RBI; oddly, all five of Beltran’s hits have been doubles. Wright is 6-for-13 (.462) with a home run and six RBIs.
Hudson started the Braves’ opening game Sunday night in Washington, and though the Braves wound up losing on Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off home run in the ninth, Hudson was very good, allowing two runs on three hits in seven innings, striking out three and walking none.
The Braves have struggled this week. After losing the opener, they dropped two out of three games (both in extra innings) to the Pirates. The second of those losses came yesterday, 4-3 to Pittsburgh.
Longtime Mets killer Chipper Jones has started the season on a tear, going 8-for-18 (.450) with a home run and six RBIs this week.