Braves 6, Mets 1 (4-4, 3 GB)

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

I was pretty excited that the game didn't get washed out last night. Now I wish it had. I hope the weather had something to do with Tyler Yates' (0-1) performance. That 3rd inning was brutal. Those five runs felt like ten. Hopefully he'll bounce back in his next start. I'll reserve judgment on this start in the cold and rain until seeing how he reacts in his next start Monday. Maybe he'll have a big Trachsel-like bounceback.

Another sidebar coming out of last night's game was that apparently Mike Piazza wasn't told by Art Howe that he was starting at first base instead of catcher. The newspapers are trying to make a big deal out of it, but Piazza says it's not a big deal. Hopefully they leave it at that. The Mets don't need manufactured controversy over stupid little stuff like that. Save it for the inevitable controversies they'll create themselves this season.

Nice outing by Jae Seo yesterday - I wonder if he falls into the same category as 2001's Ichiro and this year's Kaz Matsui. They both had poor springs before breaking out during the regular season. Seo lost his starting job late in spring training, and he wasn't pitching well, but maybe it was because he felt he would save his best stuff for the regular season. Maybe it's part of a mentality players from the Far East have. Let's see how he pitches when he gets the start on Sunday.

Notes: Encouraging to watch the solid outing by the bullpen. Seo (2.2 IP), Dan Wheeler (2), John Franco (1) and Grant Roberts (1) combined for 6 2/3 scoreless innings to give the offense a chance to get back in the game. It was especially good to see Roberts not give up a run. He needs the confidence boost....I think I need to ban my future wife from watching Mets games with me. She's watched the past two Wednesday games, and the Mets have lost by a combined score of 24-11. She doesn't seem too upset by my threat.