AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > May > 23 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTomahawks still in Mets’ minds
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Nobody in baseball hits, scores or runs better than the New York Mets, owners of a Big Blue Machine.
As for the National League, only the San Diego Padres pitch better and only the Colorado Rockies field better.
If that isn’t impressive enough, the Mets currently have the league’s best record after winning the NL East last season by 12 games. They even watched their eternal nemesis from Atlanta go from reaching the playoffs 14 straight times to finishing 18 games behind themselves in third.
Still, you wonder. You wonder if visions of tomahawks continue to rattle around the heads of the Mets. You wonder as much, because the slumping Braves are just a victory away tonight at Turner Field from snatching a third series this season against their supposedly big and bad foes.
Mostly, you wonder if the Mets are still chasing the Braves. Not in the standings but in their minds.
“When we came down here and had that good series against them last year, I think we kind of felt like we put all of that to bed,” said Tom Glavine, the former Braves turned Met, referring on Wednesday night to a stretch from late July to early September that saw the Braves dropping five of six games to the Mets.
Even so, the Braves are the only team this season with a winning record against the Mets. What’s up with that?
“I don’t know,” said Glavine, pausing, in the visiting clubhouse before the Mets’ 3-0 victory in this one. Then he mentioned that most of the games have been close. “In the other two series we played against them, we were leading late in the rubber matches. We just let them get away, and that hasn’t been typical of what we’ve done all year.”
Which is my point. You wonder if the Mets are still intimidated by the Braves or something. Such also was the case for the Phillies, the Reds, the Giants and everybody else in whatever division featured the Braves for more than a decade.
Listen to Glavine, the eternally wise soul who spent 15 of his 20 years in the majors with the Braves before joining the Mets five seasons ago. While helping the Braves win five pennants and a world championship during that stretch, he had the sense that opponents were shivering even before he cranked up his Hall of Fame arm.
“You know, I always felt like that was the case a lot, but you don’t ever know, because you’re not on the other side,” said Glavine, who definitely will be on the other side tonight. He’ll take the mound searching for career victory No. 296, while his old buddy, John Smoltz, goes for career victory No.200 despite nearly four years as a closer.
Neither Glavine nor Smoltz is the fearful type. It’s just that neither can pitch and play the other eight positions around them at the same time.
The point is, Glavine wasn’t in the majority with the Mets when he first arrived and shrugged at the thought of choppers and chanters.
“Once I got on the other side of it, I think it becomes a little bit more apparent that you’re always aware of the Braves,” Glavine said. “In the back of your mind, you have that feeling that, regardless of what they’re doing or where they’re at in the standings, that they’re going to make some kind of run or have some kind of great stretch that’s going to separate them from everybody else.”
None of that happened last season for the Braves. Even when they extended their string of division titles through 2005, they hadn’t won a pennant in six seasons.
Said Smoltz, another among the eternally wise, “We’ve changed so many components, and so many of those great players, we lost — like Glavine, Greg Maddux, the great sluggers — and with that goes a little bit of that aura. The Mets have it. Boston has it, and it’s amazing how quickly Detroit got it.”
The Braves haven’t lost it.
Not against the Mets.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Comments
By GiveUpNow
May 24, 2007 12:19 AM | Link to this
BRAVES BLOW. THE METS AREN’T SCARED. THEY DON’T EVEN GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THE FOURTH BEST TEAM IN THE DIVISION. SEE YA IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR.
By Brad in KY
May 24, 2007 12:20 AM | Link to this
Maybe you should’ve interviewed Oliver Perez before you wrote this.
By Brave
May 24, 2007 12:53 AM | Link to this
I think your right T. Moore but only to certain extent. I believe other teams especailly the Mets have the Braves on their minds but its not fear to say the least. The braves just don’t have the “it” factor that separates them from other teams. The Mets have a great line up which most teams do not like to face. The Braves on the other hand, not much so. The back end of the rotation is shaping up for the Mets while the Braves is an ongoing drama. Recently, the games and the record shows this. As a braves fan always roll my eyes when smoltz and hudson turn has past and its the 3,4,5 starters. The Braves need a quality 3 starter in order to counter the Mets. I read in the Prosportsdaily that the Mets are pushing for Willis, Harden, or Zambo. I hope the Braves have a plan if this rumor is true. We can not afford to have the Mets have another good starter.
By robby
May 24, 2007 1:28 AM | Link to this
yeah the braves blow! haha. look at the record against each other and only a ny fan would say the braves “blow”. see u at the end of the year! loser,. i would say put on your yankee gear but they suck just like the rest ny. you gals were the best team in the nl last year but no ring. get used to it loser and remember 1986. i ll bet my pay check against yours, the braves will win the divison, and if your check is less than %3000 per week. go bet one of the street vendors, u r one of them
By robby
May 24, 2007 1:28 AM | Link to this
yeah the braves blow! haha. look at the record against each other and only a ny fan would say the braves “blow”. see u at the end of the year! loser,. i would say put on your yankee gear but they suck just like the rest ny. you gals were the best team in the nl last year but no ring. get used to it loser and remember 1986. i ll bet my pay check against yours, the braves will win the divison, and if your check is less than %3000 per week. go bet one of the street vendors, u r one of them
By yeah, u will watch the world series @ home again
May 24, 2007 1:33 AM | Link to this
i will not comment on the idoit the wrote the 1st blog, only to say that ny sucks and u can not wear ur yankees stuff this year.the mets are losers every year. and u will watch other taems battle for the title. last week end was your championship.
By yeah, u will watch the world series @ home again
May 24, 2007 1:34 AM | Link to this
i will not comment on the idoit the wrote the 1st blog, only to say that ny sucks and u can not wear ur yankees stuff this year.the mets are losers every year. and u will watch other taems battle for the title. last week end was your championship.
By yeah, u will watch the world series @ home again
May 24, 2007 1:39 AM | Link to this
you ny girls should give your real name when you post something!what are you afraid of getting mugged? haha loooooooossssseeerrrrsss
By flapjacket
May 24, 2007 7:41 AM | Link to this
Hey GiveUpNow, go ahead and get your licks in becuase it won’t last long. By the way, how does that string of one straight pennant look in your stadium?
By Will
May 24, 2007 8:14 AM | Link to this
Of course the Braves are still in the Mets head. A little off topic here, but why in the world do we have a second base platoon all of the sudden. Kelly Johnson has hit leftys just fine. Bobby Cox wanting to platoon so many guys makes me sick. I b*** for two years about Laroche platooning and once Cox finally stopped doing it he thrived against all pitching.
By Barry
May 24, 2007 8:19 AM | Link to this
Hey Yall:
You Mets fans have better wake up. You are through. You have one pennet and that will be it. The Braves have 14. Last year their bullpen stunk and that is the only reason you won. This year, you know what happened. The Braves got some speed heater closers. Therefore, enjoy your 1 to 2 game lead for now. However, by the end of the summer, “the boys of summer”, our Atlanta Braves will be well ahead of everybody and in position to win the pennant and the World Series.
Go Braves!!!!!!!!!
SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! This is a SECRET from a Brave fan! TELL EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ringold
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 8:38 AM | Link to this
Cormier Cormier Cormier !!!! I heard he had a great outing 5 innings of shut out ball bring him home he is ready !!!!!!
By Keith from Chatt
May 24, 2007 9:20 AM | Link to this
Nobody underachieves like the Mutts!
By GE
May 24, 2007 9:23 AM | Link to this
I am a big Braves fan. But if you think that they match up to the Mets, you are out of your mine. Did you notice the line up we put on the field last night? Chris Woodward at first base batting in the eight spot????? This has to be the most boring team ever. No speed, no charisma, no controversy…BORING!!!!!! I liked them better when they were not contenders.I don’t think I will go to any games this year except when Barry Bonds comes to town to break the home run record.
By Pbruvik
May 24, 2007 9:30 AM | Link to this
The nightmares that plagued Piazza, Leiter, Armando B. and company are long gone. Glavine of all people, has the longest tenure of any Met, followed by Reyes. These guys don’t care about the history of the two clubs, the Mets only goal is to win a world series. Somebody mentioned Willis, Santana or Zambrano coming to the NY. What about Pedro, El Duque and Mota, all returning within the next few weeks. You’re taking one of our strengths and adding to the dust that will be the Braves in our rear view mirror. The guy who wants to bet his paycheck that the Braves will finish on top, hey buddy, hold onto your wellfare check, your kids need lunch money!! The chop is dead, Ted’s sold out, and for all your dominance, congrats on your one title. Step aside Atlanta, and get ready to be the bridesmaid for the next ten or so years. Your only hope is that maybe MLB will feel sorry for you and move you over to the NL Central, where you can try to compete with Cincy and Pittsburgh. Nobody cares about sore losers and it must suck being a beat writer for a team destined for second place, hoping against hope that the Mets fear the fearless Braves. In your dreams buddy, not ours!!!!!!!!!!!!
By MD
May 24, 2007 9:48 AM | Link to this
For clarification, “winning the pennant” indicates the National League or American League Championship. New York did not win the pennant last year, they have only done so once since 1986, in 2000 before getting beat by the Yankees. The Braves have won 5 pennants since 1991, but none since 1999 when they were swept by the Yankees in the World Series.
I think this year’s Braves team will make the playoffs as the Wild Card with the Mets winning the division by 5 or 6 games. Their lineup and pitching is just better than the Braves’ top to bottom. Hopefully, the Braves can pick up another starting pitcher along the way and be competitive in October. I don’t care how they get in, as long as they’re playing in October again. Then anything can happen. Go Braves. Beat the Mets.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 9:50 AM | Link to this
GE Nice try go back to Flushing where you came from since when do you need contoversy to have a great team ? Cox just tried to mix it up last night..It did not work move on The Braves will still win the series tonight with Smoltz on the hill… Pbruvik in the next ten years half of your cherry picked Mets will be retired with no rings and laughing at you as they spend there careless millions. Most of this Braves team is in their early 20s Keep talking your usual NY city crap all of you are delusional !!!
By Gene
May 24, 2007 9:52 AM | Link to this
The Mets are an excellent baseball team. I think that the best the Braves can do this year is a wildcard. Part of the intimidation mentioned in the article was the fans’ enthusiasm in the old stadium. It was a great run, but I think it is diminished.
By Dumbing Down
May 24, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this
“Give me Liberty, or give me death!” The melt-down is slowly starting! Wake up Mr. Brave’s President… no one will be holding your hand!
By Patrick bateman
May 24, 2007 10:18 AM | Link to this
Robbie - You are a moron. First of all I’m sure you don’t want to mention the Yankees. Braves killers. O wait the one world series you one…great. how about 26? You’ll bet your paycheck? great the pay of a Food Lion manager is somehting I desire. A NYC Cab driver makes more than you. Your boring, southern fried redneck team will be 7 out by the all star game, PAL.
By GE
May 24, 2007 10:20 AM | Link to this
Conlin,
“Nice try go back to Flushing where you came from since when do you need contoversy to have a great team ? Cox just tried to mix it up last night.”
I hope you are right in your assessment. However, your quote above is typical of an organization trying to justify that it is compeititive with the Mets. The Braves are not and they are boring.If the Braves were that compeititive with the Mets, then we would not be trying to “mix it up” during an important series like this. You seem to feel that a group of talented but yet untested local kids are good enough to beat the Mets this year. You are really reaching here. Do not let your loyalty or local boy enthusiasm over rule reality.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 10:24 AM | Link to this
Hey Bateman !!! I actually know Robbie and he does make $3000.00 a week. And The Yankees SUCK!!!!! They are finally paying their debt to the devil..GO AWAY PLEASE TO ANOTHER BLOG!!!!
By Balki
May 24, 2007 10:33 AM | Link to this
Conlin u dumb.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this
GE How can you say this team is boring.??? Back it up. They are very young and talented and still tweaking the lineup. * Frenchy,McCann,Salty, Thorman and Davies these guys are going to be awesome !! I think its only going to get better. They need to add another pitcher but BORING..NAH* The Braves will be fine !! I do think the Mets have a very good team and its going to be a very tight race between the two teams. I just think that the Mets for the most part are transplants. Hell 3 out of the 5 guys I mentioned have been playing together for many years. They all know how to play the game and play it well !!!
By NoleRick
May 24, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this
Why are there so many Muts fans here? Just goes to prove that yes the Tomahawks are still in your mind. With all of the Braves struggles, we are only 2 games back. Just wait until things turn around, Andruw picks things up and you can kiss that lead goodbye.
And you guys know you dont want to face the Braves in the Postseason. Because we own you. Hell you couldnt even beat the sorry Cards last year.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this
Hey Balki who are u..?? Were you on an 80s sitcom ???
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 10:50 AM | Link to this
GE another thing I do believe the Braves are 1 win away from taking a 3rd series from the Mets.. How is that not playing them competitively ?? Please elaborate…………………………
By Keith Hernandez (Mex)
May 24, 2007 10:55 AM | Link to this
Conlin-
You are equally as dumb as your friend Robby. Only ATL area fans would throw the 14 divison championships around. Guess what the Divsion Championship meant nothing to us last year. Nothing. The WS is the goal and we failed. Only a 2nd rate franchise would find some glory in not advancing to deep in postseason play year after year. Face it the Braves are the Buffalo Bills of MLB. Love your Yankee hating - sure it must be tough to have Ruth, Gehrig, mantle, Jeter. I’m sure Chipper (larry) Jones is a close comparison. Why would it even matter if you made it to postseaon play - you could never sell a game out b/c of your boring style of play. Even TBS can only take small doses of your team at this point. Enjoy your job at NAPA and don’t choke on your smokeless tobacco at the game.
By Jack
May 24, 2007 10:56 AM | Link to this
Its more than just poor pitching, its the hitting. The Braves couldnt hit their A$$ with both hands. I think we need a new hitting coach. The one we have is just not getting the job done. Of course a lot of it is Cox——if you play for Cox you have to swing for the fence everytime up and that wont get the job done.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 11:10 AM | Link to this
**Hey Keith Hernandez,
Why dont you go shag some balls and after you are done come back into the dugout and we can enjoy a Camel Light and talk about old Seinfeld episodes. *Jerk !!!! 14 division staight titles is a huge accomplishment !!! Should they have won at least 1 more world series *YES but hey to do what they have done is AWESOME and for that I will not take that away from them. Ther are only a hand full of teams that are able to repeat division titles and the number gets smaller for world series titles.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 11:11 AM | Link to this
**Hey Keith Hernandez,
Why dont you go shag some balls and after you are done come back into the dugout and we can enjoy a Camel Light and talk about old Seinfeld episodes. *Jerk !!!! 14 division staight titles is a huge accomplishment !!! Should they have won at least 1 more world series *YES but hey to do what they have done is AWESOME and for that I will not take that away from them. Ther are only a hand full of teams that are able to repeat division titles and the number gets smaller for world series titles.
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this
Jack good point but not sure why they are hot then they are cold.. Andrew had a stellar year last season and now ? Well I think he has to many $$$$ signs in his head. Boris has got his swing screwed up not Cox. I love Andrew he is one of my favorite Braves but I think it is time to say good bye to him and improve the rotation. I am sure I will be shoved under the bus for saying that but I believe pitching wins games.
By Scholar Athlete
May 24, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this
Mike Vick - Satan Sent His Only Begotten Son to Live Among Us Well.
Oh, Vick is also a New York fan.
By Rainbow-PUSH
May 24, 2007 11:43 AM | Link to this
This can’t be a Terence Moore article. There is no mention of racial discrimination. The Braves need to cut Chris Woodward and Pete Orr for some more black players, but not black players from Latin America. We need black players from the U.S. How about Brandon Jones?
The Mets are building a developmental complex in the Dominican Republic? Where is there developmental complex in Harlem?
By edward
May 24, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
You mets fans make no f%in sense. Yal have won NOTHING!! We own yal. Look at the record not only this year but since we moved in the same division together. Remember NLCS’99? Its not even close. The mets fan talking bout getting pedro and mota back? Thats pretty funny. Pedro hasn’t been pedro for 3 years and mota? He couldn’t even stay with the marlins. pbruvik and giveupnow are complete new york trash that no nothing about baseball. And you wanna talk bout the ted? Shea stadium has got to be the dirtiest and just worthless stadium in all of MLB. Have fun holding on to ONE division title last year, as we will now own you LOSERS for the next decade just like the last 15 years. BICHES!!
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 12:41 PM | Link to this
Not much going on in here. Where is everbody this afternnon ? This blog is usually very active all day.
By Chase
May 24, 2007 12:58 PM | Link to this
METS FANS ARE LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know how I know?
Only LOSERS bragg aboout winning ONCE out of every 18 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!
By Chase
May 24, 2007 1:04 PM | Link to this
In all seriousness….It really doesn’t matter who wins the Division because both teams are going to make the Playoffs and most likely face off in the NLCS….
And if thats the case…..the Braves will win it in SIX!!!!!!!!!
Don’t forget Liberty Media is giving JS room to increase payroll…we’ll see another pitcher in here and in a Playoff Series you’ll get Smoltz and Hudson TWICE!!
And with that bullpen the Braves are set up for Postseason in a way they haven’t been in many years!!!!!!
By Bryan
May 24, 2007 1:05 PM | Link to this
Mets fans shouldn’t give this idiotic newspaper the credit of demeaning responses. Look at their dumb question on the sports front page, implying that the Mets succeed purely due to signing free agents. The core of the Mets, and certainly the future, is built around homegrown players such as Reyes, Wright, Gomez, F Martinez, and such. In fact, there were only 2 FA starting for the Mets last night - Beltran and Easley (who nobody would call expensive).
If you put more than 20,000 in the seats on a nightly basis, maybe you too could afford a free agent or two. It’s not as if you don’t have your own cable network!
By GE
May 24, 2007 1:42 PM | Link to this
Conlin,
There is nothing worse than setting through a pitching duel for two hours. Boring!!!! Even if Andruw does not hit, he is worth the price of admission just watching him run down everything hit to center field. I wonder how many runs and bad innings he has saved for Glavine, Smoltz,Maddox and now Hudson?
Finally, this is for Rainbow-Push. Did you remember to wash your white sheet before coming to the blog?
By Conlin
May 24, 2007 2:37 PM | Link to this
GE The same thing was said about Vinny Castilla at 3rd base but the braves lived through it. I am going to hate seeing Andrew go but its going to happen unless Arthur Blank donates about 75 million $$$$ I forgot that Drew has a no trade clause so it wont happen until after this year. I would just like to see a solid pitching staff again.
By Lawdog
May 24, 2007 2:50 PM | Link to this
By bobbymahlon
May 24, 2007 3:00 PM | Link to this
Did you notice bobby threw in the towel last night to give Prado and Woodward (.207)some at bats. What a time to do that when were trying to catch the Mets. When is JS and BC going to live up to the fact that they made another screw up by signing Woodward. Get ride of him and bring up Escobar who can hit a lot better than Woodward who is hitting 207 at the time of this writing.. Who also ever heard of bringing up your number one prospect and sitting him on the bench instead of letting him play every day and develop in the minors.
By Jon
May 24, 2007 3:57 PM | Link to this
Why is it that some rabid Mets fans (or other non-Braves fans) bother to respond to AJC articles? Do you guys have nothing better to do than to post on our blogs and bash our home team? Here’s an idea—stick to your team’s newspaper and stay away from other fans’ blogs. I would never post on a NY newspaper or any other for that matter just to bash the home team.
By Marc
May 24, 2007 4:35 PM | Link to this
I dunno why Mets fans are excited about their vets coming back off the DL, quite frankly, they’re better without them. The Braves have a pitcher in the minors that can be dominant in the majors, they just need to figure out who it is. Once we get our back-end fixed up in the rotation, we’ll be more than capable of pounding the Mets into no-soup-for-you land.
Good article btw, I don’t think it’d be possible to be in a division with any team that’s won 14 titles in a row and not be weary of them.