(Writer's note: I covered the April 21, 2007, Braves-Mets game for the Morris chain of newspapers. For the purposes of this entry, I will use the Gwinnett Daily Post's final versions of my stories. --Denis Gorman)
Hudson guides Braves to win over Mets04/21/2007
By Denis Gorman
Morris News Service
NEW YORK — The bases were loaded. Two outs. Early-season NL MVP candidate Jose Reyes was standing at the plate with an opportunity to get the Mets back into the game. The Shea Stadium crowd was roaring its approval.
It was the type of situation John Schuerholz envisioned when he traded Juan Cruz, Dan Meyer and Charles Thomas to Oakland for Tim Hudson following the 2004 season.
Hudson didn’t disappoint, inducing a ground ball out to Kelly Johnson that snuffed out the best chance the Mets had in the Braves’ 7-3 win last night. At 11-5, the Braves are tied for first in the NL East with the Mets.
Prior to the game, manager Bobby Cox, pitching coach Roger McDowell and John Smoltz lamented the depth of the Mets lineup, which had scored 28 runs in its last three games. Hudson put their fears to rest, shutting down their National League East rival’s bats. Hudson had a no-hitter until the fifth when he allowed back-to-back singles to Moises Alou and Shawn Green. The right-hander threw eight shutout innings, striking out three while only allowing five hits and two walks. He lowered his ERA from 0.86 to an almost unfathomable 0.62.
“Just shutout stuff again. He’s been on quite the groove so far this season,” marveled Cox after the game. “He was on top of his game, getting ahead of the hitters, tremendous movement (on his pitches). Huddy’s the type of guy who can throw a no-no. He can get strikeouts and ground balls.”
Hudson was ably assisted by the Braves’ bats, which made Mike Pelfrey’s night miserable. The highly regarded rookie Mets right hander allowed four earned runs on six hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out three. The bats started early. With one out and second baseman Kelly Johnson standing on first base, Chipper Jones hit a first-pitch fastball over the right-centerfield wall for his fifth home run of the season. “He has always hit good at Shea Stadium. I recall him hitting well here,” said Cox.
The Braves struck again with two outs in the third. Following a walk to Chipper Jones and an Andruw Jones hit-by-pitch, catcher Brian McCann hit a double to right that scored the Braves third baseman. Pelfrey then uncorked a wild pitch that scored the Braves centerfielder and moved McCann to third. It was vitally important for the Braves to jump on Pelfrey early and the 4-0 lead was exactly what Andruw Jones wanted to see.“It’s a guy we (have) never faced before,” the Braves centerfielder said after the game. “To score first, it’s huge. We were trying to see what he had. We just let him make mistakes.”
The seventh inning was a theater of the absurd. Mets’ relievers Pedro Feliciano and Ambiorix Burgos combined to allow three unearned runs on one hit. Following an Edgar Renteria one out double to left center, Chipper Jones was awarded first on a throwing error by Reyes. Feliciano walked Andruw Jones on five pitches to load the bases. After striking out McCann, the Mets’ left-hander walked Jeff Francoeur, scoring Renteria.
With the bases still loaded, Cox pinch-hit Craig Wilson for Scott Thorman and Mets’ manager Willie Randolph replaced Feliciano with Burgos. Randolph might have had better success had he replaced Feliciano with former Brooklyn Dodgers reliever Ralph Branca, who was at the game honoring his late teammate Jackie Robinson.
Burgos walked Wilson on five pitches, which scored Chipper Jones.Burgos, then, unleashed a wild pitch with Ryan Langerhans at the plate and Andruw Jones scored. Langerhans eventually walked. When Burgos popped-up Hudson to end the inning, the New York crowd gave the Mets’ reliever a sarcastic cheer, no doubt duly impressed that the Braves were able to increase their lead to 7-0.
With Endy Chavez on second and Jose Reyes on first with one out in the eighth inning, Hudson forced Mets’ catcher Paul LoDuca to ground into a 1-4-6 double play to end the inning and send the crowd of 47,547 headed to the exits.
Rafael Soriano struggled in the ninth, giving up a leadoff triple to Carlos Beltran, who scored on a fielder’s choice, and a two-run home run to Green.
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Braves notes:Cox discounts idea of two-team division race04/21/2007
By Denis Gorman
Morris News Service
NEW YORK — Less than a month into the season, and it’s looking as if the National League East race will be a two-team battle between the Braves and the Mets. Clearly, the Mets and Braves are the two best teams in the division. The Nationals have holes throughout the lineup and rotation.The Marlins are young. The Phillies have a stacked lineup but lousy pitching.So, do the Braves look at these series with the Mets with an added importance?
Not if you ask them.
“It’s more than that. Philly hasn’t gotten untracked yet. They’re real good. There’s a lot of clubs close to each other (in the standings),” said manager Bobby Cox.
The Mets-Braves rivalry has cooled in recent years, but it’s still alive. However, it is not the blood feud that it was in during the Bobby Valentine-era. When Valentine was the Mets manager, he delighting in tweaking Cox and the Braves. Now, with Willie Randolph as the Mets manager, Cox believes it has changed to a “professional rivalry.”
Did the Mets-Braves division races and playoff series in the late 1990s ratchet the enmity between the two organizations? “Because of the playoffs and all, that’s when it sort of became a rivalry,” Cox said. “If it can create a rivalry. Who knows?”
HomecomingFor Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell, trips to New York allow him to catch up with his teammates on the 1986 World Series World Champion Mets.
“Obviously there are very fond memories here. Times pass a little bit. It’s nice to see some guys (I’m) familiar with, like (Mets first base coach) Howard Johnson and (Mets TV analyst) Keith Hernandez. It’s nice to see people you had really good times with.”
McDowell said there was “no comparison” between the Mets teams he pitched for and the 2007 edition.
Gonzalez updateBefore the game, Cox said that setup man Mike Gonzalez could pitch as soon as Sunday, following an MRI that showed no structural damage to the reliever’s pitching elbow. “I’m looking forward to (pitching on Sunday). The elbow’s doing good, it feels good,” Gonzalez said. “It was just inflamed.”
The right-hander from Robstown, Texas, firmly believes that the cold weather coupled with pitching every day put a strain on the elbow. “It was the weather. In spring training, we didn’t throw in weather that cold. It’s just an adjustment to make (and) not a big deal.”
Gonzalez said that he does not think that the elbow inflammation will be a season-long issue.
On deckToday’s starters are LHP Chuck James (2-1, 2.25) and LHP Oliver Perez (1-1, 3.72). In the Mets’ 11-1 win over the Braves on April 6, Perez allowed five hits and one run in seven innings. On Sunday, RHP John Smoltz (2-1, 3.12) will take on close friend (LHP) Tom Glavine (3-1, 2.70). It’s a start that Smoltz isn’t eager to make.“I don’t look forward to it in the sense that I really don’t look forward to facing that lineup,” dead-panned Smoltz. “But out of respect for what we (Smoltz and Glavine) go through, we’re going to go about doing things professionally. We’re both professionals and we’ll do our jobs.”
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