Braves beat Francoeur, Mets

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Braves played a little out of character Thursday night, and Jeff Francoeur looked a little out-of-ordinary, but all-in-all the Braves made the best of an awkward night with a 5-3 win over the Mets.

In Francoeur’s first game at Turner Field since he was traded to the Mets last Friday, and on a night where the Braves actually hit some home runs, it was an old familiar Mets-killer who did the real damage.

Chipper Jones singled to right field in the seventh to drive in the go-ahead run. With that hit, Jones raised his career average against the Mets to .330 and helped the Braves open the second half on a good note.

“It doesn’t matter who it’s against,” Jones said. “That late in the game it’s important, and the guys in front of me did their job, got on base and put pressure on the pitcher and defense, and I was able to finally center one.”

Brooks Conrad, who has hit .355 in 11 games since his call-up from Class AAA Gwinnett, drew a pinch-hit walk, went to third on Martin Prado’s single and scored Jones’ hit. Greg Norton, recently back from a sore ankle, added insurance with a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth to break his 0-for-11 slump dating to June 5.

Earlier, the Braves had showed some rare pop when they hit their first back-to-back home runs all season — first by Yunel Escobar and then Garret Anderson in the second inning.

This was a team that entered the game ranked 13th in the National League in homers.

But to win, the Braves resorted to their first-half habits, using a quality start from Derek Lowe to keep it close and waiting for the big hit late.

Lowe allowed three runs in the fourth inning but five scoreless innings otherwise. He left after six innings without a win to show for it against Mets pitcher Oliver Perez, whom the Braves have a tough time beating.

The Braves gained no ground on the Phillies, who won, but they moved to 1½ games ahead of the Mets.

“We have 35 games in the second half between the Mets, Phillies and Marlins; we’re going to have opportunities to make up games,” Lowe said. “Both the Mets and us have dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, so it’s important that we beat the teams that we have to beat, especially the ones that are ahead of us.”

The Mets have lost seven of 10 while coping with injuries to Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes.

Their recent acquisition, Francoeur, got as nice an ovation as a Met will ever get at Turner Field with a rousing welcome from his hometown fans before his second-inning at-bat. Francoeur did what he did a lot as a Brave and swung at the first pitch, lining into a double play.

By his second and third at-bats, the mood had changed to include some boos, and Francoeur was making less solid contact. He ended the night 0-for-4 with a strikeout, driving in one a run on a fourth-inning groundout. This was after he went 4-for-9 with two RBIs in his first two games with the Mets.

“We all wish him well,” Jones said. “I know when he got his first base hit his first at bat in New York the other day, that the clubhouse went crazy. We hope he hits 15 or 16 scud missiles right at everybody this week and hopefully takes his aggressions out on the Phillies and the Marlins.”