Mets 4, Braves 2: All Your Braves Are Belong To Us

The Mets salvaged a sliver of dignity in Atlanta tonight, taking game four of the series after dropping the first three. This was a strangely satisfying win. I haven't felt this into a game for several months. Maybe it was the sight of Chipper Jones on SNY, smirking his way through a Kevin Burkhardt interview. Maybe it's that incessant tomahawk chop blaring on my teevee set. Regardless, I'll take it, even if it hurts my dream of the Phillies not making the playoffs.

Johan Santana was strong through five innings but left the game with a strained pectoral muscle. No word yet how severe the injury is, but he was tossing mid 80's fastballs shortly before being removed. David Wright was the batting hero against starter Tim Hudson, going 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk. David touched 'em all, and he deserved it. Carlos Beltran notched a Little League home run (copyright Howard Megdal, see poem below), hitting a triple and advancing home on Omar Infante's throwing error in the first inning. Hisanori Takahashi shut the door in the ninth, inducing a Melky Cabrera groundout to end it.

Some random game notes:

• The spindly Joaquin Arias nubbed an RBI infield single in the first inning, his first base knock as a Met. Even more notable, it came with the bases loaded. He was acquired. He was clutch. He is counted.
• Lucas Duda went 0-for-5 and is now 0-for-8 to start his Mets career. No bother, Darryl Strawberry was 0-for-11 before recording his first MLB base hit.
• Beltran led off the top of the third inning. Here is a brief rundown of the action on the field and the booth during the at-bat. Thank you GKR:
  
  Keith: "Cabrera's not a center fielder. He doesn't run well enough to be a center fielder. He's a corner outfielder in my estimation."
  
  Beltran hits a soft liner to center field
  
  
  
  Melky makes a nice catch
  
  Gary: "So Melky makes liars out of all of us."
  
  Ron: "He giveth and he taketh away."
  
  Keith: "Is that Biblical?"
  
  (For the record, I agree with Keith's assessment -- Melky is not a good center fielder. Hmm, a corner outfielder with a poor bat. Sounds like the Mets might be interested.)
  
  
• Ron Darling was the trivia answer on the Braves broadcast:
  
  
  
• Pedro Feliciano faced Matt Diaz in the seventh inning with no outs and a runner on first. It gave me flashbacks to, well, Feliciano vs Diaz. Luckily this round went to Pedro, as Diaz hit a soft liner to Ike Davis, who stepped on first base, completing the double play. 

The Mets are now 12 games back of the NL East leading Braves and 10 games behind the Wild Card leading Philth. A weekend series at Wrigley Field begins Friday afternoon at 2:20. R.A. Dickey faces struggling Cubs right Randy Wells.

Poem by Howard Megdal

Santana gets pec'd
Beltran's Little League home run
Gets Mets within 12!

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Talking Chop Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Johan Santana +18.0% (as pitcher), David Wright +15.3%
Big losers: Henry Blanco -11.5%, Luis Castillo -8.2%
Teh aw3s0mest play: David Wright solo home run +13.7%
Teh sux0rest play: Brian McCann solo home run -11.0%
Total pitcher WPA: +37.9%
Total batter WPA: +12.1%
GWRBI!: David Wright

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by aparkermarshall; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.