Braves 8 Mets 5

Tough end to a road trip, but we certainly can't be disappointed. We have a 6 game lead on the Braves at the end of April.

Trachsel looked horrible. Randolph should have taken him out a few batters earlier, and could have even removed him one inning earlier. He just didn't have it. This team is not going to continue playing .667 baseball if Trachsel and Zambrano don't improve and if Bannister can't go more than 5 innings when he comes back from injury.

I don't want to hear about the new improved Jorge Julio because walks will hurt you, but it's the home runs he continues to give up that will kill you.

Carlos Beltran and Endy Chavez each homered. That was good. Jose Valentin got a hit. That's even more surprising.

Ramon Castro stayed red hot with two more hits, but his average actually came down as a result. He flew out to end the game but that ball could have dropped in.

Jeff Francoeur had an amazing game including that diving catch on Castro's ball.

Another rough day for Delgado who is now mired in a huge slump. In the 9th inning Reitsma walked Beltran, started Delgado 2-0, then for some reason Delgado swung, flied out the Jones and ended the threat. He should have taken a strike and kept the pressure on. Huge mistake.

Now the Mets get four games this week against two inferior teams (Washington & Pittsburgh). Hopefully they can take 3 of 4, then 2 of 3 from Atlanta on the weekend.