Atlanta starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens is fast becoming a Mets killer as he once again dominated the Amazins who fell to the Braves 3-1 last night.

In four games against the Mets, the 23-year old Jurrjens is 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA. On the season, he is now 13-10 with a 2.70 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.

Poor Nelson Figueroa was no match for the Braves’ stud right hander. The Mets have lost seven straight games to the Braves who have beat them for the twelfth time this season.

“They have pretty much dominated us,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “For the most part, you have to give them credit.”

Figgy deserved a better fate last night and pitched seven strong innings allowing just two runs on two hits. It was a solid performance, but realistically Figgy may not even be on the opening day roster next season. For some reason I get the sense the organization is not very high on him. Quite honestly, I don’t see a problem with having Figgy in the back of the bullpen.

Sean Green relieved in the eighth inning and quickly put two runners on and needed to be rescued by Pedro Feliciano who got the third out.

The closer formerly known as K-Rod pitched the ninth and allowed a double and the final Braves run to score. Will Rodriguez ever pitch a 1-2-3 inning again for the Mets?

Offensively, there was not much happening… Luis Castillo and Brian Schneider had two hits a piece and that sums up your hitting highlights.

Gary Sheffield made a rare appearance when he entered the game as a pinch hitter and drew a walk. Earlier in the day he took some shots at the team and said the Mets had no identity. Wow, really? You think?

The Braves clearly have owned the Mets this season, but this is nothing new. When you look at that rotation and see Jurrjens with a 2.70 ERA, Javier Vasquez with a 2.90 ERA and rookie phenom Tommy Hanson with a 2.85 ERA all you can do is tip your hat. That’s some serious pitching and I didn’t even mention Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson.

When I look at the Marlins, Nats, Phillies and Braves rotations, I see several young top of the rotation pitchers that came up through their systems in Josh Johnson, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ, John Lannan, Jordan Zimmermann, and the two young Braves I mentioned already. And the Nats may unleash the best of them all when Stephen Strasburg makes his debut.

Who do the Mets have?

Mets former first round pick Mike Pelfrey will be entering his fifth season in 2010 and is coming off a terrible year that saw his ERA soar to 5.10. I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to doubt that Pelfrey will ever become the top iof the rotation guy the Mets think he is. Bobby Parnell, who arrived amid all this hype and was deemed untouchable at the trade deadline, has already been bounced from the rotation. Misch, who was the flavor of the month in August, was officially bounced from the rotation yesterday. Who’s next? 

Pelfrey actually takes the mound tonight against Tim Hudson. I bet he pitches a gem… Of course I’m betting Monopoly money, not real money.