8
2012
Who Needs Reyes?! Tejada With Four Hits As Mets Complete Sweep of Braves
An article by 
Recap:
It was a beautiful day for baseball as the Mets completed their 3-game sweep over the Bravos with a 7-5 victory. Jon Niese started off the Easter Sunday matinee dealing, as he took a no-hit bid into the seventh before hitting trouble.
Following the seventh inning stretch, working at a high pitch-count and history on the line, Niese issued an 8-pitch walk to Dan Uggla. Freddie Freeman finally ended it, singling on a grounder to right field, making it 7971 consecutive games for the New York Mets without a no-hitter. After that it started to get ugly, but Manny Acosta finally put the inning to bed, but not before the Braves tallied four times to pull within three runs at 7-4. Niese ended the day with a line of 6+ innings pitched, two hits, four runs (2 earned) while walking four and punching out seven.
Brian McCann hit his first home run of the year in the following frame, making it 7-5, but the ‘pen was able to avert any further damage.
The Mets were able to hold on following the disastrous seventh inning by piling on the hits early and often. The majority of the offense came off the bat of Ruben Tejada, showing their is indeed more to him than simply an above average glove. Tejada went 4-5 on the day with a pair of doubles, two runs and two RBIs, providing that “spark” this offense was supposed to be lacking without Jose Reyes (who went 1-5 today in a Marlins loss).
Frank Francisco came on yet again and pitched a flawless ninth to earn his third save in as many games and preserving the Mets perfect 3-0 record to start the year.
Notes:
- With an RBI sac fly in the first, David Wright now has driven in a run in each of the first three games of the season.
-Ike continues to struggle as he once again went hitless today, someone PLEASE tell him to open up at the plate!
-Murphy seems to have found a home in the two hole as he also had two doubles and two RBI-steaks today as well. He is looking locked in so far offensively and defensively.
Hero Of The Game:
Ruben Tejada, for not only having 4-hits today, but showing those nay-sayers he is indeed a major-league shortstop on both sides of the diamond.
Up Next:
Have your aspirin ready! Mike Pelfrey takes on the Nationals tomorrow going up against newly-acquired Edwin Jackson.
Have a very happy Easter! Time for me to chow down! 
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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Pelfrey vs. Jackson could be three hours and 130 pitches for just six innings. Can’t wait.
told you he would improve
Niese for 6 innings was just dealing. Very nice to see. Props to Francisco on his 3 for 3 in save opportunities. Mets are 3-0 and have played well overall. Big test for Pelf vs a division rival tomorrow.
Nice way to kickoff a season.
LGM!!!
Loved to see Murphy hacking the first 3 games.Very scary to see him make a pivot at second base.Have to pray he doesn’t get injured again.We cannot afford to lose his bat.
Looks like Ike’s ankle issue from last year really did have long term effects. Not surprising to me. Let’s see if he can make some changes, if not they should make a move sooner rather than later and move Murphy to 1B where he won’t hurt the defense
Could be a team of destiny-wellllllll it could happen. I was always a fan of Tejada. Do you think Alderson didn’t make a better run at Reyes because he had a lot of faith in Tejada?
It’s the third game of the year…Ike Davis will be fine.
I notiice when Ike struggles he is in a lot of 0-2 counts. He just has to jump on some first pitch fastballs and the word will get around. He is being very passive right now. Once he launches a few they will be very careful with him and he will get ahead in the count more.
Problem is he hasn’t seen first pitch fastballs. All breaking balls away.
Atlanta had his number. Great scouting! So now Ike needs to adjust. Hitting in front of Bay, Ike had no protection.
Bay not hitting is a drag on the offense. I almost couldn’t believe it when he got the ball up in the air on the SAC fly plus his defense in LF looked a bit shaky today. If that plummets from average to below average he may not even stick in a platoon.
Just one game and very early in the season but if that goes downhill……………
actually, he has gotten plenty of fastballs–on the outer half. He cannot ignore that side of the plate. He will get nothing but if he does. Ike can go the other way. It is obvious he is waiting for some pitcher to put it on a tee for him. He is too touchy feely right now.
Like spring training, Ike will not find his swing till the end of April or early May. No pitcher is 100% throughout spring training. You go from building arm strengths to tired arm near opening day. Ike, just needs at bats, he missed most of last season. Same thing for hitters but in Ike’s case he has missed a year at the major league level.
I was most impressed with Ruben Tejada this weekend. I think we can all breathe easier now.