Mets 6, Braves 5

Ah, Mets vs. Braves at the end of August. Prior to the season, a Met fan looks at his schedule and sees this series with a little bit of hope that it'll mean something. That the two teams will be battling over the NL East. Okay, maybe that's a little strong. That the Mets will be trying to make a 1969-esque Miraculous Comeback from eight to ten games back while still having the Wild Card to fall back on. Yes, once upon a time these were the kind of series that Met fans looked forward to, hoping the New Yorkers could score enough runs to keep Armando Benitez the hell away from the mound. Hoping that Larry "Chipper" Jones would trip and break his ankle on the way to the ballpark. But this year, all of that is gone. The playoff hopes. Benitez. Okay, the Larry hate is probably still there.

So with nothing on the line, the Mets went out and beat the Braves. Jae Weong Seo won his third consecutive start, going five innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out five and walking none to even his record at 8-8. The Met bullpen was a little shaky in trying to preserve his win, as Mike Stanton gave up a home run in the nine to narrow the lead to the slimmest of margins before finishing off his fourth save of the year.

But as has been the case on numerous occasions during this rivarly in recent years, Mike Piazza did the heavy lifting for the Mets, driving in three with a home run in the first. Timo Perez drove in two more with a double in the sixth and later scored the sixth run on a balk. Jose Reyes had a single in four at bats, scoring a run. Ty Wigginton had a double and a walk in four plate appearances.

Tomorrow it's Al Leiter (12-7, 4.47) against Horacio Ramirez (8-4, 4.26).  ¶ joe | 1:10 AM |