Atlanta Braves comebacks are driving away Mets fans

How many times can this happen?  That a team can be down this often, this late in a game and still find a way to win?  Often enough to cause a losing side to recoil, it seems.

In case you missed it… well, you REALLY missed it.  The Atlanta Braves are showing a resiliency that’s close to unfathomable.

For the second day in a row, and second game in 3 tries, the Braves have held on against a stout starting pitcher and tshen exploited a lesser bullpen.

On Monday afternoon, against a 2-0 deficit (and credit to Max Fried for keeping that at just 2 runs), the Braves scored once each in the 7th and 8th innings to tie the game.

In the 9th, a home run for the visitors looked to undo that effort – until Charlie Culberson mashed an unlikely 2-run blast to win it.

Last night, Atlanta was down 4-0 as Anibal Sanchez struggled through 4 innings, giving up 2 homers and a double among 5 hits.

After plating 2 runs in the 4th, the Mets tacked on 2 more to restore the 4-run lead.  However, the Braves managed 1 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to knot up the game.

Dan Winkler came in to pitch the 9th, promptly getting himself into trouble.  However, it was his ‘stuff’ that got him out of the inning unscathed.  That was important.

The bottom of the 9th lasted just 2 batters:  a flyout to right and a laser into the lower RF seats by Johan Camargo.  Another fantastic finish for Atlanta.

But this isn’t really about the Braves.  It’s more about the Mets.

Fan Angst

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The Mets have won 7 games decided by 1 run.  They have now lost 11.  Moreover, since their 11-1 start to the season, they have careened to a 15-25 record that has been punctuated by a 4-11 mark in those 1-run contests.

Those are the heart-breakers – particularly when there’s a lost late lead involved.  The games that rip at the fabric of a team when they know they had a win that was blown… and this team definitely needs wins.

A lot of this can be directly traced to their injuries as noted just yesterday.  They have been scrambling to replace starting players at a frenetic pace.

But the Mets fans are enduring this, too.  The Mets have also been blown out 7 times this year (defining this as a loss with a margin of 7 runs or more).  They’ve also had a 5-run loss.

Contrast this with the Braves:

• Just four 1-run losses against 10 such wins
• Only two blow-out losses (and one more with a 5 run deficit)
• 40 runs scored in their 1st inning, 41 in the 3rd… and 74 combined in the 8th and 9th.
• Oh, and they are hitting .311 against the Mets alone (before last night).. the only team that sees their average exceeding .280.

The Mets have scored 15 times in their 9th innings, 37 in the 8th.

So their fans may have reached the breaking point last night.  Here are some of the (cleaner) prime examples:

…and finally, there’s the one guy who figured that it was all in the bag:

If I read his twitter bio line correctly, Justin’s only 26 years old.  He hasn’t seen enough of this kind of futility… especially at the hands of the Braves.

Make no mistake:  these walk-offs have been great for the Braves.  They build confidence (wait a sec – I’m sounding like a SunTrust commerical) and they build team.

Next: June does not look like a swoon

One glance at those tweets and you can just guess at how devastating they are in being of the other side of the field…repeatedly.