Mets 6, Braves 1: Jammed Fingers for Everyone!

With the size of the crowd at Turner Field, this felt more like an intimate club gig than a ballgame. Those few souls who made the trip were treated to a tidy affair in the early going, each pitcher looking on top of his game. Dillon Gee had one difficult inning, loading the bases on a walk and two hits in the bottom of the second, then ceding a run on a fielder's choice. Tommy Hanson looked even better, but victimized himself by walking Kirk Nieuwenhuis to lead off the top of the third, then throwing away a pickoff throw. The Mets tied things up shortly thereafter on a sac bunt and a groundout.

All was quiet for a while, save an amazing play by (wait for it) Jason Bay to rob a homer from (wait for it) Jack Wilson. Then in the top of the sixth, Hanson gave up a double to Ruben Tejada. With two outs and first base open, the Braves intentionally walked David Wright and paid for it when Ike Davis belted a Hanson curve ball for a three-run homer, putting the Mets on top, 4-1. They tacked on another run in the seventh thanks to two singles, a sac bunt, and a wild pitch, then padded their lead on a Jason Bay solo shot against Livan Hernandez in the ninth. If both Bay and Wright are going to play this well after their recent injuries, maybe the whole team should jam their fingers. (Pause.)

Gee, meanwhile, threw scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh, despite a catcher's interference call in the latter inning that put two men on with nobody out. He escaped that mess unscathed, and Jon Rauch negotiated the closest thing to a mess he's had all year, a leadoff single in the bottom of the eighth. Tim Byrdak retired three batters easily in the ninth, and the Braves fans in attendance--all 12 of them--were sent home unhappy.

No truth to the rumor tomorrow's game will be relocated to a local VFW hall.