NEW YORK - Atlanta has rallied from disasters before, you know, like the fire and the poorly hosted 1996 Olympics. So it's only a matter of time before the Braves gather themselves, repair their bruised egos and pitching arms and put away the Mets months from now in the anticipated fight for the National League East.
Or at the very least, the Braves will make the Mets work for this.
They will.
Won't they? Ordinarily, you'd think. Especially a team such as Atlanta, which owns the deed for the division. And there's plenty of baseball left, obviously. But the Braves are making it harder for Mets fans, and maybe even the Mets themselves, to fear them anymore. With every Mets victory, and with each mile they put between themselves and the Braves in the standings, it's only getting easier to suspect This Is the Year.
More evidence to support that notion was supplied the last two days, when the Mets beat the Braves the way the Braves used to beat them. Twice, the Braves couldn't hold a seventh-inning lead. Two nights ago, in a back-and-forth tug of war that nearly took five hours to finish, the Mets erased four Atlanta leads and won in the 14th inning on David Wright's RBI double. Then less than 24 hours later, they pulled away on a Kaz Matsui double in the seventh and won on the strength of their weary bullpen, which was pressed into early duty when starting pitcher Victor Zambrano tweaked his right elbow after 26 pitches.That's now four out of the last five against the Braves this season, but more important, the Mets look in their rearview mirror today and suddenly notice how the Braves seem smaller than Tom Glavine's ERA. For the first time in 13 years, the Braves are nine games back in the standings and barely a step above the basement, a place where folks in Atlanta usually find the Hawks.
“We're struggling,” Braves ace John Smoltz said. “It's not for a lack of scrappiness or desire. It's just not working for us right now.”
The Mets, meanwhile, have won 21 times this season, most in the majors, and prosperity carries a certain high level of confidence against an enemy with a history of kicking you in the behind. Take Willie Randolph, for instance. The Mets' manager totally dismisses any special significance or potential morale boost in these games against the Braves, winners of the last 11 NL East titles and constant crushers of many a Mets dream.
He called it “jibber-jabber.” To hear Randolph, the Braves are no different than the Marlins.
“The way you become a winner is you don't give a lot of thought to that kind of stuff,” Randolph sniffed. “Thinking about beating them for what they did in the past to us, that's a weak approach. We know who we are and know who we're playing. But if it was Philly, it would be just the same to us.”
Wow. For the last two decades, nobody would ever confuse the Braves with the Phillies. Shea Stadium knew exactly who the real threat was, except this year, Randolph is correct in a sense. There really isn't much difference between Philly and Atlanta. Both are treading water with the rest of the division, the weakest in the majors.
Meanwhile, the Mets keep cruising with no hint of losing their grip on first place anytime soon.
Actually, it wouldn't be a stretch to suspect the Mets might go wire to wire in first place, especially how their top two starting pitchers and middle relievers have sparkled here in the early season.
And that's not all that impresses Braves Manager Bobby Cox.
“They've got an American League lineup,” Cox said. “You make a bad pitch to them, and it gets crushed.”
With Glavine and Pedro Martinez in a groove, Carlos Delgado smacking homers at a Piazza pace and Wright and Jose Reyes meeting all projections so far, we can admit it: The division is the Mets' to lose.
That doesn't mean they will win it. But the Braves must fix their sloppy bullpen and find consistent offense, then go on a serious run to make the Mets nervous. That's not the case right now, and may never be this season.
“We'll see when we put everything together,” Braves outfielder Andruw Jones said. “We'll see what happens then.”
By then, it might be too late.
Powell is a sports columnist for Newsday
They will.
Won't they? Ordinarily, you'd think. Especially a team such as Atlanta, which owns the deed for the division. And there's plenty of baseball left, obviously. But the Braves are making it harder for Mets fans, and maybe even the Mets themselves, to fear them anymore. With every Mets victory, and with each mile they put between themselves and the Braves in the standings, it's only getting easier to suspect This Is the Year.
More evidence to support that notion was supplied the last two days, when the Mets beat the Braves the way the Braves used to beat them. Twice, the Braves couldn't hold a seventh-inning lead. Two nights ago, in a back-and-forth tug of war that nearly took five hours to finish, the Mets erased four Atlanta leads and won in the 14th inning on David Wright's RBI double. Then less than 24 hours later, they pulled away on a Kaz Matsui double in the seventh and won on the strength of their weary bullpen, which was pressed into early duty when starting pitcher Victor Zambrano tweaked his right elbow after 26 pitches.That's now four out of the last five against the Braves this season, but more important, the Mets look in their rearview mirror today and suddenly notice how the Braves seem smaller than Tom Glavine's ERA. For the first time in 13 years, the Braves are nine games back in the standings and barely a step above the basement, a place where folks in Atlanta usually find the Hawks.
“We're struggling,” Braves ace John Smoltz said. “It's not for a lack of scrappiness or desire. It's just not working for us right now.”
The Mets, meanwhile, have won 21 times this season, most in the majors, and prosperity carries a certain high level of confidence against an enemy with a history of kicking you in the behind. Take Willie Randolph, for instance. The Mets' manager totally dismisses any special significance or potential morale boost in these games against the Braves, winners of the last 11 NL East titles and constant crushers of many a Mets dream.
He called it “jibber-jabber.” To hear Randolph, the Braves are no different than the Marlins.
“The way you become a winner is you don't give a lot of thought to that kind of stuff,” Randolph sniffed. “Thinking about beating them for what they did in the past to us, that's a weak approach. We know who we are and know who we're playing. But if it was Philly, it would be just the same to us.”
Wow. For the last two decades, nobody would ever confuse the Braves with the Phillies. Shea Stadium knew exactly who the real threat was, except this year, Randolph is correct in a sense. There really isn't much difference between Philly and Atlanta. Both are treading water with the rest of the division, the weakest in the majors.
Meanwhile, the Mets keep cruising with no hint of losing their grip on first place anytime soon.
Actually, it wouldn't be a stretch to suspect the Mets might go wire to wire in first place, especially how their top two starting pitchers and middle relievers have sparkled here in the early season.
And that's not all that impresses Braves Manager Bobby Cox.
“They've got an American League lineup,” Cox said. “You make a bad pitch to them, and it gets crushed.”
With Glavine and Pedro Martinez in a groove, Carlos Delgado smacking homers at a Piazza pace and Wright and Jose Reyes meeting all projections so far, we can admit it: The division is the Mets' to lose.
That doesn't mean they will win it. But the Braves must fix their sloppy bullpen and find consistent offense, then go on a serious run to make the Mets nervous. That's not the case right now, and may never be this season.
“We'll see when we put everything together,” Braves outfielder Andruw Jones said. “We'll see what happens then.”
By then, it might be too late.
Powell is a sports columnist for Newsday
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