The New York Mets visit the Atlanta Braves for the back half of a two-game series starting at 7 PM ET.

Both of these teams have fallen short of their pre-season expectations when they were expected to compete for first in the NL East. Instead they are struggling to stay out of last place with the Mets just a half game ahead of the last-place Braves.

The media sharks were circling in New York smelling a firing earlier this week when the chief operating officer met with the team managers. Nobody was let go, but it’s a long season.

The New York Mets (19-20, 5-12 away) snapped a five-game losing streak last night in a 3-2 win over Atlanta. They showed little to make Mets backers believe that they have left their losing ways behind as they were just 1 for 9 on the night with runners in scoring position.

Third baseman David Wright struggles against Atlanta. The Mets will need his bat to come alive to have a chance at winning. Wright is 2-for21 in six games against Atlanta. No one in the majors strikes out more than him as he has 52 strikeouts including six against the Braves.

The Atlanta Braves (18-20, 10-6 home) had managed to close the gap between them and the Mets by winning five of their last six and even briefly slipped ahead of them before last night’s loss.

Second baseman Martin Prado has been the biggest bright spot in an otherwise dull season for the Braves. Prado was the NL player of the week last week and he was 2-for-3 last night with a triple and an RBI.

The Mets send pitching ace Johan Santana (3-2, 3.88 ERA) to the mound. Santana is just 1-4 in seven starts versus the Braves, but he has had virtually no run support getting no more than two runs in any one game.

In just his second career start, Kris Medlen (1-1, 2.35 ERA) gets the call. Medlen has faced the Mets in a relief role four times striking out six and holding the Mets scoreless for 6 1/3 innings.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post