David Wright prepares to receive the ceremonial first pitch from a youngster who was a guest of the David Wright Foundation at Shea Stadium for the Friday, April 25 Mets game against the Atlanta Braves. Photos Dan Miller/DMD Images

Mets Drop Opener To Atlanta, Take Two More Home Games 

By Dan Miller 

The New York Mets returned home to Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park on Friday April 25 to face their National League East nemesis Atlanta Braves. The Mets entered the contest tied for second place in the East, trailing the first-place Florida Marlins by one and a half games. Atlanta began the series in fourth place, trailing the Marlins by two games.

The Braves drew first blood in the top of the first inning. A walk to Kelly Johnson, a sacrifice bunt by Escobar, a walk to Chipper Jones, the league’s leading batter, and a single to Mark Teiseira brought in the first run of the game for the Braves.

 The Mets rallied in the third when Anderson singled and went to third on a hit and run single by catcher Raul Casanova. The Mets caught a break when four batters walked, scoring three runs. Atlanta manager Bobby Cox was tossed from the game for arguing a called ball four to David Wright. Angel Pagan struck out with bases loaded to end the Mets rally. The Mets scored three runs on only two hits, helped by four walks, compliments of Atlanta’s starting pitcher, Jair Jurrens. That turned out to be the only scoring for the Mets. The only hits in the game for them were in this inning.

 The Braves added another run to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Jim McCann and Jeff Francoeur. Atlanta went ahead in the very next inning. Jurrens singled and scored when leadoff batter Kelly Johnson hit a home run over the right field wall into the Mets’ bullpen. Randolph brought in Scott Schoeneweiss, who ended the inning on a strikeout.

 In the seventh the Braves mounted a threat with two out. Randolph made a double switch, bringing in Pedro Feliciano from the pen and switching Endy Chavez for Jose Pagan in left field. Kelly Johns promptly singled just past the diving Luis Castillo to knock in the Braves’ sixth run and extend the Atlanta lead to 6-3. That was all the scoring in the game.
The winning pitcher was Jair Jurrjens (3-2) and the loser was Mike Pelfrey (2-1), his first loss of the season.

On  Saturday, April 26, the  Mets defeated the Braves, 4-3. Wright broke his 0-for-19 slide with a single and then scored on Carlos Beltran's two-run double in the Mets' third-inning rally, which included Ryan Church's RBI triple. John Maine held the Braves to two runs and three hits.

On Sunday, April 27, the Mets beat up John Smotlz for four runs and Carlos Delgado hit two home runs to defeat the Braves, 6-3 in the rubber match on the three-game series at Shea Stadium. Figueroa went 5.1 innings, giving up seven hits and three runs while striking out three and walking three to raise his record to 2-1. Right Fielder Ryan Church caught his ankle under the center field wall and sustained a slight ankle sprain while racing down a long drive to center field for an unbelievable catch that eluded centerfielder Carlos Beltran.