I was supposed to write a recap of the Mets/Braves game Thursday night, and had my ideas all laid out in my head, ready to blog about an unprecedented sweep at Turner Field. A 7-3 road trip was on the horizon, and the Mets were about to be OVER the .500 mark for the first time since the opening week of the year. Even Jason Bay was hitting the ball well! I was in a great mood- there was going to been nothing but positive vibes surrounding the club for the first time in a full calendar year.

Despite falling behind 6-2 early, the Amazins battled back, and tied the game on Scott Hairston’s 3-run bomb. They later took the lead, and added an insurance run, and went into the 9th inning with a seemingly comfortable 8-6 lead.

As the Mets 4-1 lead was trimmed to 4-3, and Chipper Jones came to bat in the 8th, flashbacks of the 80 losses the Mets have suffered at Turner Field flew around my brain. But somehow the fate was different, and for at least one night the Amazins got Chipper and beat the Braves on the road 4-3.

Jon Niese pitched another great game, mixing up his curve and cutter to the tune of 6 1/3 innings and 2 earned runs. After a David Ross double that cut the lead to 4-2, Niese left the game and put his outing in the hands of the shaky bullpen. Pedro Beato immediately came in and walked future Hall of Famer Joe Mather on 4 pitches, and I was pacing around my office at work thinking “here we go again.”