Bad things have happened to the Braves when facing the New York Mets of late. First, they lost Tim Hudson for the year; next, they lose Jason Heyward for a month. Whether it's the Mets themselves or Citi Field, the Braves and their fans hope no such misfortune befalls another Braves player in a Labor Day series in Atlanta, the final series of the year between the two. The Braves had their six-game winning streak snapped Sunday and will try to end this nine-game homestand on a high note as they push closer to a division title.
The Mets at this point in the season are playing for next year, which is evident in their signing of Daisuke Matsuzaka. The beleaguered pitcher has been shelled in each of his two starts with the Mets, but since they're thin on pitching with Matt Harvey suddenly lost for the rest of the season, he's about as viable an option as any for them at this point. New York's pitching in August was pretty good overall with a 3.31 ERA. Dillon Gee held Atlanta scoreless over seven innings in his last start against them and Carlos Torres tossed five scoreless after giving up a leadoff homer in his July 23 start against the Braves. Gee's road ERA, however, is almost double his home ERA and he's given up 10 more homers away from home. His K/BB ratio, on the other hand, is better than 3/1 in road games.
Another move the Mets made was recalling outfield prospect Matt den Dekker. The 26-year-old made his debut August 29 and has three hits including a homer, which was a second-"dekker" in DC (Sorry). Taken in the 2010 draft, den Dekker hit .279 in 373 minor-league games with a .795 OPS and has 151 extra-base hits (88 doubles, 23 triples, 40 homers). He's also swiped 57 bases in 77 attempts.
The season may already be over for the Mets, but perhaps also for Ike Davis. He suffered a strained oblique on Saturday and at the time, had posted a .435 OBP since returning from his demotion July 5. Lucas Duda and Josh Satin are expected to fill in at first base in his absence.
David Wright has been out since August 2 with a hamstring injury, but has pretty much refused to be shut down despite his team's predicament. "It's pretty much against everything I believe in to shut it down," he said. Now that Marlon Byrd and John Buck have been shipped to Pittsburgh, Wright takes over the team lead in home runs; Daniel Murphy becomes the new team RBI leader. Murphy has been on a hot streak with four straight multi-hit games and 15 hits in his last 10 games.
Monday, September 2, 1:10 p.m. ET - SportSouth
Tuesday, September 3, 7:10 p.m. ET - SportSouth
Wednesday, September 4, 12:10 p.m. ET - SportSouth