Live Blog: Mets vs. Braves, Saturday, July 10

FINAL SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

WP: Tim Hudson (9-4)

LP: Mike Pelfrey (10-4)

Bottom 9th: Wagner puts the Mets to sleep 1-2-3, including striking out Davis.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Top 9th: Fernando Nieve relieved Takahashi. Nieve squandered two runners in a long inning of work. Last chance for the Mets coming up and it's coming against a familiar face: Billy Wagner.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Bottom 8th: Johnny Venters relieved Hudson. Despite the pitching change, the Mets were still snuffed, rolling over three grounders to make life easy for the Braves.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Top 8th: Takahashi got the job done for his third inning of relief: 1-2-3 and no hits.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Bottom 7th: Hudson kept the Mets hitless...again. He plunked Bay to start the inning, but sent Franceour, Barajas and Cora down with ease. He's thrown 92 pitches thus far, so expect to see him in the eight.  A complete game is questionable for Hudson. He'll have to have a quick eight inning to go the distance, as he's only thrown more than 110 pitches one time this season.  

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4 

Top 7th: Reyes was taken out of the game after throwing out Glaus to start the inning. There is no news as to whether he was taken out for reasons related to his recent oblique and rib cage injuries. Matt Diaz laced a pinch-hit double off the left-field wall, replacing Hinske in the game. Takahashi worked out of trouble, however, getting key ground outs from Infante and Hudson.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Bottom 6th: Pagan singled to center to lead off the inning and then stole second. He's been the only bright spot today, notching his 18th and 19th stolen bases of the year and has gone 3-for-3 so far. Hudson continues to embarrass the Mets, however. Reyes threw his bat, striking out on an inside slider. He then walked Wright, but induced a 4-6-3 double play from Davis to end the inning and keep the Mets scoreless. 

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Top 6th: Hisanori Takahashi relieved Dessens. In the first breather for the Mets, Takahashi had a 1-2-3 inning. The Mets have the top of the order coming up--time to show some fight.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Bottom 5th: The Mets finally got a hit from someone not named Pagan. Barajas led off the inning with a single to shallow right for the team's third hit off Hudson. Cora then lined out to Glaus, who tagged Barajas for a double play. Jesus Feliciano pinch hit for Dessens, but grounded to the pitcher. 

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Top 5th: Pelfrey's luck ran out this inning--just too many mistakes. Pelfrey gave up five consecutive singles to begin the inning, with Glaus driving in Chipper and Infante driving in McCann for the first runs of the game. Pitching coach Dan Warthen came and Barajas came out to talk to Pelfrey, but it was no use. Big Pelf was shrunken and crestfallen after giving up the fifth straight single. Elmer Dessens replaced Pelfey to pitch with the bases loaded and no outs. Dessens got Escobar to ground into a double play, allowing Glaus to score on the third run of the inning. The bad luck was not over, however. Hudson threw his bat out to punch an outside curveball into the right field corner for a double, driving home Infante. Prado flew out to finally end the onslaught. Pelfrey's final line: 4 IP, 12 hits, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K (3.58 ERA). Pelfrey has now allowed 15 earned runs in his last 13 and 1/3 innings pitched. 

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 4

Bottom 4th: For the second consecutive game, boos rained down on Bay. He wasted a leadoff walk to Davis by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. Franceour flied out to end the inning.

Pitching wrap: Pelfrey and Hudson have kept the game scoreless with divergent performances today. Hudson has been conservative with his 56 pitches and snuffed the Mets, giving up just two hits. Pelfrey has been all over the place, a lot of his 77 pitches falling outside the zone and has left eight ducks on the pond.  

 SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0 

Top 4th: It's déjà vu all over again. Pelfrey has been able to clean up every mess he has created today. Pelfrey surrendered consecutive singles to Infante and Escobar for the second time today. Hudson popped up a sac bunt, but Davis was unable to catch it on a diving attempt in front of the pitcher's mound. Also for the second time today, Pelfrey started a double play with the bases loaded. Cabrera then grounded to first to end the inning, throwing his bat into the ground in anger. Pelfrey has stranded eight runners in the game, but who knows how much longer the magic can last. 

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

Bottom 3rd: Pagan doubled with one out, but neither Reyes nor Wright could bring him home.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

Top 3rd: Pelfrey is playing Harry Houdini today, escaping out of jams in every inning. This time he started the double play off a McCann grounder that nulled a leadoff walk to Chipper. He then walked Glaus, but struck out Hinske to end the inning. Pelfrey has been effectively wild today, throwing about half of his pitches for strikes. The biggest problem is his pitch count, now at 63 through three innings. Expect to see Fernando Nieve or Raul Valdez soon.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

Bottom 2nd: Were it not for a grounder by Barajas through Chipper's legs, Hudson would have breezed through the Mets lineup 1-2-3 this inning. Hudson had not a ball to Bay, Franceour or Barajas. He bounced back from Chipper's error to get Cora to ground out and end the inning.  Hudson is on his game today and is pounding the zone, which spells trouble considering Pelfrey has thrown 43 pitches through just two innings. 

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

Top 2nd: Pelfrey escaped a two out, bases loaded jam to keep the game scoreless. This is shaping up to be another shaky start for the right-hander. Consecutive singles and a two-out walk loaded the bases, but Pelfrey got Cabrera to ground out to him to end the inning. At 43 total pitches, this will be a short afternoon for Big Pelf if he keeps up this pace.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

Boittom 1st: Mets couldn't get anything going after a lead off single by Pagan. Pagan then stole his 18th base of the year as Reyes struck out for the first out of the inning. Then Wright flew out to right and Davis grounded to second.

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

Top 1st: Pelfrey worked out of trouble, surrendering one walk and one hit and squandering two base runners. Pelfrey's curveball looks good today, with a 20 mph speed difference from his fastball, which has hit 95 mph today. 

SCORE: Mets 0, Braves 0

With two games remaining before the All-Star break, below is a chart of the Mets record during the first half of the last five seasons:

Braves lineup:

1. M. Prado 2b (.332, 10, 39)
2. M. Cabrera cf (.263, 3, 24)
3. C. Jones 3b (.253, 6, 33)
4. B. McCann c (.267, 10, 37)
5. T. Glaus 1b (.257, 14, 57)
6. E. Hinske lf (.273, 6, 34)
7. O. Infante rf (.321, 2, 23)
8. Y. Escobar ss (.237, 0, 19)
9. T. Hudson p (8-4, 2.44 ERA)

Mets lineup:

1. A. Pagan cf (.304, 6, 40)
2. J. Reyes ss (.277, 6, 33)
3. D. Wright 3b (.317, 14, 65)
4. I. Davis 1b (.257, 10, 39)
5. J. Bay lf (.268, 6, 44)
6. J. Francoeur rf (.255, 8, 42)
7. R. Barajas c (.240, 11, 32)
8. A. Cora 2b (.228, 0, 19)
9. M. Pelfrey p (10-3, 3.39 ERA)