Final Score: Braves 4, Mets 3—Braves beat Mets, again

For the fourth time in seven nights, the defending National League champions played a baseball game against the worst club, in terms of record and talent, in that league. For the fourth time in seven nights, it was very difficult to tell which team was which.

This time around in Atlanta, the Braves topped the New York Mets 4-3 thanks in large part to an eighth-inning two-run home run from Adonis Garcia off Addison Reed. Before that long ball, things looked just about okay for the Mets. Matt Harvey had pitched well enough—six innings, two runs, three strikeouts. The offense was all right, stringing together seven hits for three runs. Nothing looked great, but the Mets did at least look, finally, like the more talented team against the Atlanta Braves, and seemed headed for a win.

That was before Garcia’s home run. What that one swing did, apart from drive in the tying and go-ahead runs, is remind the world that as of this moment, the talent gap between the 25-47 Atlanta Braves and the 38-33 New York Mets is painfully small, especially with so many Mets players struggling or infirm.

Gamethread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.