Stunning

Just when I was about to flip over to the Giants game, the Braves stormed back in the ninth inning to get the 7-4 victory. With two men on and no outs, Greg Norton chased reliever Luis Ayala out of the game with his pinch hit three run blast that gave the Braves a one run advantage. Atlanta tacked on two more runs before the inning was out and Mike Gonzalez picked up his 11th save in the win. Not a bad way to close out Shea Stadium for the Braves, huh?

During their weekend series, Atlanta was able to expose the Mets most glaring hole, their bullpen, especially in their two come from behind victories during Saturday’s game 1 of the doubleheader and Sunday afternoon. The Braves lost the second game of the doubleheader, 5-0 behind a great performance by Mets rookie Jonathon Niese. (The win was Niese’s first ever in the majors.)

Even though they are not in the heat of a pennant race for the third straight year, they could have altered the path for the Mets. The two losses, coupled with the Phillies four game sweep of the Brewers, placed Philadelphia a game behind in the standings. And now they take on the Phillies. Can they play spoiler again?

News&Notes: Bobby Cox wants “pitching, pitching, pitching” and it would be nice if they were younger, younger, younger than 40 next year...The Braves are promising a big fat bat for 2009...Yunel Escobar was held out with a strained hamstring...Chipper Jones brought his family to Shea last weekend.

(Photo: AP)