Post-game Wrap-Up: Braves 9 Mets 2 - David Ross' GS Chops Down The Mets

The Mets lost to the Braves by the score of 9-2 tonight at Turner Field and fall 2 games below .500 for the first time since May.

After both teams went scoreless for the first three innings, the Braves got on the board in the Bot of the 4th. After a Martin Prado lead off double, Derek Lee singled to LF driving Prado in from 2nd and giving the Braves a 1-0.

The Mets would come right back in the Top of the 5th and gain the lead. With the bases loaded and no outs, Jeff Francoeur hit a SAC fly to CF scoring Luis Castillo from 3rd to tie the game at 1-1. Then after a BB to Ike Davis re-loaded the bases, Henry Blanco hit a SAC fly also to CF, scoring David Wright, giving the Mets the lead 2-1.

The Mets lead would disappear quickly in a big way. After Nate McLouth lead off the Bot of the 5th by being hit with a Jon Niese fastball, Omar Infante hit an easy double-play ball right at Luis Castillo. Castillo however let the ball skip under his glove setting the Braves up and opening the flood gates. Jason Heyward quickly capitalized on the mistake and lined a ball to the gap in left-CF driving in both McLouth and Infante, putting the Braves ahead 3-2. After a Prado single and a Lee BB, Alex Gonzalez singled to RF scoring Heyward increasing the Braves lead to 4-2. On the play, Prado tried to score from 2nd, but was gunned down at the plate by Jeff Francouer. This was only the beginning of the inning however. The next hitter Melky Cabrera walked, setting up the stage for David Ross. Ross crushed a lined drive over the wall in Left Field for a Grand Slam, his first HR on the year, and broke the game open. The inning would finally end with the score 8-2 ATL.

The Braves would add their 9th run of the game in the Bot of the 7th on an Melky Cabrera RBI double.

Another horrible display of baseball by the Mets tonight. This team is defeated before even taking the field. This game was icing on the cake to what has been a disasterous 2 months of baseball. Luis Castillo's error in the Bottom ofthe 5th opened the flood gates and the Braves never looked back.

Jon Niese, although not having his best stuff tonight, deserved better. He wiggled out of a few tough jams in the first few innings, but couldn't get past the Castillo error in the 5th. On his 41st pitch of the inning and last of his outing, Ross took him deep for the Grand Slam. He threw 106 pitches over only 4 2/3 innings. He allowed 3 ER, 10 Hits, 2BB, and struck out 6 while taking the loss.

Here are a few baffling stats regarding the Mets:

David Ross' Grand Slam tonight was the 10th given up by the Mets this year, the most in baseball, while the Mets offense has not hit one all year.

The Mets batting average with the bases loaded this year is .194 (21-108), which is 100 percentage points less than when the opposition loads the bases.

David Wright is now 0-28 at Turner Field this year.

The Mets are now 9-52 VS Atlanta at Turner Field when the Braves score first.

The only words that can describe the above statistics are absolutely terrible. The Mets continue their 4 game series with the Braves tommorow night at Turner Field. The starting pitchers will be RHP Mike Pelfrey for the Mets opposed by RHP Tommy Hanson of the Braves. Game time is 7:10PM.