NEW YORK -- They've won four of their past five games, and tonight the Braves play the rubber game of a series with the Mets, a Williams Perez vs. Bartolo Colon matchup that presents an opportunity for Atlanta to clinch its third series win in the past five.
Of course, the other and perhaps more relevant way to look at that is, it would give the Braves just their third series win in past 11, and the first series win in that long span against a team other than the Phillies.
In any event, the Braves are showing some life of late as they try to avoid losing 100 games and also avoid finishing in last place, two goals they all agree are important at this stage, and two goals that now seem considerably more realistic than they did a week ago. With 10 games left, the Braves take a 61-91 record into tonight's game and have a 3 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia (57-94), the only major league team with a worse record than the Braves.
Tonight, it's the 24-year-old rookie Perez against the 42-year-old Colon, who's won all four of his starts against the Braves this season.
Perez, after going 0-6 with a 9.40 ERA in his first seven starts following a five-week DL stint for a foot contusion, has gotten back in a groove and gone 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA in his past three starts, with 16 strikeouts and four walks in 18 2/3 innings. That three-start stretch included two wins against the Phillies sandwiched around a no-decision Sept. 12 against the Mets, when he gave up eight hits and three runs in six innings of a Braves loss.
Perez is 1-0 with a 4.85 ERA in three games (two starts) against the Mets, and in his only appearance at Citi Field he pitched a scoreless inning of relief with two hits allowed in a June 13 Braves win.
Against Perez, Travis d’Arnaud is 4-for-6 with a homer, Curtis Granderson is 3-for-6 with a homer, and Daniel Murphy is 2-for-3.
The Braves are overdue for a win against Colon, who is 4-0 with a 3.51 ERA in four starts against them this season. He’s 8-2 with a 2.55 ERA in 10 career starts against the Braves, including two losses in three starts in 2014. The other three starts came back in 2002, before many current Braves were born. (OK, we’re exaggerating … slightly.)
The big 40-something has had four consecutive quality starts against the Braves this season, two in April, one in June, and the other on Sept. 10 at Turner Field, where he gave up seven hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings, with one walk and two strikeouts.
That last win against the Braves came in a late-season resurgence for Colon that’s seen the, uh, stocky veteran post a 4-1 record and stingy 1.21 ERA in his past six games (five starts), with 25 strikeouts and five walks in 37 1/3 innings, including two walks in 30 1/3 innings in the past five games (four starts).
He went four starts without giving up a homer before the Marlins hit two against him in his last start one week ago (Sept. 16), a loss at Citi Field that snapped his three-start winning streak. Colon allowed seven hits and three runs in 5 2/3 innings in that game,
Against Colon, Nick Swisher is 7-for-15 with two homers, Freddie Freeman is 9-for-20, A.J. Pierzynski is 16-for-59 (.271) with two homers, and Nick Markakis is 9-for-41.
• A.J. finishing strong: Speaking of old guys you might expect to fade in September but aren't (hey, we do transitions), how 'bout A.J. Pierzynski? He got into shouting matches with Mets fans and was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double Tuesday night, more signs that this lion in winter isn't prepared to go gently into that gentle offseason (we also mangle and paraphrase literary references).
Since July 4, the 38-year-old Braves catcher has hit .332 (63-for-190) with 10 doubles, two homers and a .368 OBP and .416 slugging percentage in 53 games. For the season, he’s hit .294 with 30 extra-base hits and 45 RBIs in 107 games, including a .321 average with a .352 OBP and .426 slugging percentage in 56 road games.
• Hot and not vs. Mets: With one game to go in the season series against the Mets, we can say that Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons is going to finish with a batting average well over .400 against the them this season. He has played in all 18 games between the teams and batted a sizzling .424 (28-for-66) with six doubles, a triple, nine RBIs, four walks, four strikeouts, and a .457 OBP and .545 slugging percentage.
Teammate Jace Peterson has been extremely productive against the Mets this season, going 13-for-46 (.283) in 15 games with Braves highs in extra-base hits (eight, including two homers), runs (10) and RBIs (10), with a .375 OBP and .565 slugging percentage. Those are his highs against any team this season in extra-base hits, home runs, runs, RBIs and slugging percentage.
Also productive against the Mets this season: Pierzynski, who 15-for-43 (.349) in 11 games, and Adonis Garcia, who's 8-for-15 with a double, homer and eight RBIs in just six games.
Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman, who in previous seasons had carved a reputation as the Braves' biggest Mets-killer since Chipper Jones, is just 11-for-58 (.190) in 15 games against them this year, with two homers, five RBIs, eight walks, 16 strikeouts and a .288 OBP and .293 slugging percentage.
In 55 games against the Mets during the 2012-2014 seasons, Freeman hit .325 with 18 doubles, 12 homers, 51 RBIs, a .396 OBP and .580 slugging percentage.
• On the day of the Braves' last game this season in New York, let's close with this gem from the late, great Lou Reed, off his New York album.
“ROMEO HAD JULIETTE” by Lou Reed
Caught between the twisted stars
The plotted lines the faulty map
That brought Columbus to New York
Betwixt between the East and West
He calls on her wearing a leather vest
The earth squeals and shudders to a halt
A diamond crucifix in his ear
Is used to help ward off the fear
That he has left his soul in someone's rented car
Inside his pants he hides a mop
To clean the mess that he has dropped
Into the life of lithesome Juliette Bell
And Romeo wanted Juliette
And Juliette wanted Romeo
And Romeo wanted Juliette
And Juliette wanted Romeo
Romeo Rodriguez squares
His shoulders and curses Jesus
Runs a comb through his black pony-tail
He's thinking of his lonely room
The sink that by his bed gives off a stink
Then smells her perfume in his eyes
And her voice was like a bell
Outside the streets were steaming
The crack dealers were dreaming
Of an Uzi someone had just scored
I betcha I could hit that light
With my one good arm behind my back
Says little Joey Diaz
Brother give me another tote
Those downtown hoods are no damn good
Those Italians need a lesson to be taught
This cop who died in Harlem
You think they'd get the warnin'
I was dancing when I saw his brains run out on the street
And Romeo had Juliette
And Juliette had her Romeo
And Romeo had Juliette
And Juliette had her Romeo
I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag
With Latin written on it that says
"It's hard to give a s*** these days"
Manhattan's sinking like a rock
Into the filthy Hudson what a shock
They wrote a book about it
They said it was like ancient Rome
The perfume burned his eyes
Holding tightly to her thighs
And something flickered for a minute
And then it vanished and was gone
