BRAVES EXTEND METS' 'L' STREAK TO 11
Ramirez Tosses 7 Shutout Innings
ATLANTA, May 24 (AP) - Marcus Giles broke a scoreless tie with a three-run third
inning home run and the Atlanta Braves went on to an easy 6-1 victory over the
slumping New York Mets before nearly 44,000 fans at Turner Field. It was
the third straight win for the Braves and the 14th triumph in the club's last 17
games as Atlanta has moved out to a four game lead in the National League
East. The Mets extended the longest losing streak in the majors thus far
this season to 11 contests.
The Braves scored all the runs they would need in the bottom of the fourth off
erstwhile teammate Tom Glavine. Javy Lopez became the first Atlanta batter
to reach base with a lead off single and, one out later, moved to second when
pitcher Horacio Ramirez, unable to get a bunt down, reached on an infield
hit. Glavine struck out Rafael Furcal for the second out but Marcus Giles
followed with his sixth home run of the season to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead.
The Mets then helped the Braves pad that advantage in the very same
inning. After Glavine walked Gary Sheffield, third baseman Ty Wigginton
booted Chipper Jones' roller to third for an error which gave Andruw Jones the
opportunity to dump a single into left field, scoring Sheffield with the fourth
and final run of the frame.
The Mets dinged Ramirez for a run in the top of the fourth. Jason Phillips
drew a lead off free pass from Ramirez and moved to second when Jeromy Burnitz
singled to right. Vance Wilson's deep fly to right allowed Phillips to tag
and move to third with one out and Phillips scored when shortstop Furcal kicked
Joe McEwing's potential double play grounder. Ramirez kept the score 4-1
by retiring Glavine on a fielder's choice chopper and Marco Scutaro on a pop to
second.
The Braves got the run back immediately in the home half of the fourth, again
with some assistance from a sub par New York defense. Lopez reached to
open the frame when Wigginton committed his second error of the contest and he
took second on Vinny Castilla's base hit to right. Ramirez dropped down a
successful sacrifice, advancing the runners to second and third and Furcal's
grounder to second plated Lopez with Atlanta's fifth run of the game.
The Braves capped the scoring in the fifth when, with one out, Lopez drilled a
Glavine change-up off the top of the right-center field wall. The carom
eluded the Mets outfielders, allowing Lopez to rumble into third with a
triple. After Castilla was intentionally walked, Ramirez helped himself by
spraying a soft line drive into left field for a base hit, plating Lopez and
giving Atlanta a 6-1 lead.
Ramirez struggled with his control early, walking four New York hitters in the
first four frames, but eventually found his rhythm and retired the final 11 Mets
he faced before leaving after seven innings. Along with a single unearned
run he allowed only two hits and fanned three.
After opening the season 4-0, Glavine has dropped his last four consecutive
starts during which he has failed to complete the sixth inning even once.
During that stretch, the New York left-hander has seen his ERA rise from 2.81 to
4.75.
5/24/2003, NYM03-Atl03, Turner Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Mets 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 9 2 2003 Braves 0 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 x 6 10 1 7 1 Mets AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Scutaro 2b 3 0 0 0 .200 Furcal ss 5 0 0 1 .335 Shinjo cf 2 0 0 0 .127 Giles,M 2b 4 1 1 3 .358 Wigginton 3b 3 0 0 0 .269 Sheffield rf 3 1 0 0 .300 Floyd lf 3 0 0 0 .262 Jones,C lf 3 0 1 0 .270 Phillips,JL 1b 3 1 0 0 .268 Jones,A cf 4 0 2 1 .234 Burnitz rf 3 0 1 0 .280 Fick 1b 4 0 0 0 .290 Alomar,R ph 1 0 0 0 .289 Bong p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Wilson,V c 4 0 0 0 .239 Lopez,JT c 4 3 2 0 .376 McEwing ss 3 0 1 1 .200 Castilla 3b 3 0 2 0 .273 Glavine,T p 2 0 0 0 .143 Ramirez,H p 2 1 2 1 .136 Weathers p 0 0 0 0 .000 Franco,Ju 1b 1 0 0 0 .390 Gonzalez,R ph 1 0 0 0 .325 33 6 10 6 Lloyd p 0 0 0 0 .000 Benitez p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Clark,T ph 1 0 1 0 .219 29 1 3 1 Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Glavine,T L 4-5 5.1 7 6 4 3 2 101 61 4.75 Weathers 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 5 4 2.43 Lloyd 1.0 2 0 0 0 1 17 13 1.86 Benitez 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 12 7 2.42 8.0 10 6 4 3 5 135 85 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Ramirez,H W 4-1 7.0 2 1 0 4 3 112 66 3.32 Bong 2.0 1 0 0 2 1 27 14 5.23 9.0 3 1 0 6 4 139 80 NYM: Gonzalez,R batted for Weathers in the 7th Alomar,R batted for Burnitz in the 9th Clark,T batted for Benitez in the 9th Atl: Franco,Ju inserted at 1b in the 8th E-Wigginton 2, Furcal. 2B-McEwing(2). 3B-Lopez,JT(1). HR-Giles,M(6). RBI-McEwing(7), Furcal(30), Giles,M 3(26), Jones,A(28), Ramirez,H(2). K-Wigginton, Phillips,JL, Burnitz, McEwing, Furcal 3, Giles,M, Lopez,JT. BB-Scutaro 2, Wigginton, Floyd, Phillips,JL, McEwing, Sheffield, Jones,C, Castilla. SH-Shinjo, Ramirez,H. HBP-Shinjo. HB-Bong. GWRBI: Giles,M Temperature: 65, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 9 MPH. Attendance: 43,986 Game Time: 2:38