Atlanta @ New York preview
Citi Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 2, 2010 ) NY Mets 4, Atlanta 2
The last time Tommy Hanson faced the New York Mets, he turned around his fortunes with one of his best outings of the year.
The Atlanta Braves hope sending Hanson to the mound against the Mets again will do the same for their suddenly tenuous playoff hopes.
Hanson will go for his second win against the Mets this month when he and the Braves open a three-game series at Citi Field tonight, and he hopes to buoy the Braves' postseason prospects in the process.
Atlanta has lost three of four and nine of 14 to fall three games behind Philadelphia in the National League East standings. With six games left against the Phillies -- including a three-game set at Turner Field on the season's final weekend -- winning the division is still well within the realm of possibility for the Braves, but they need to get back on track quickly and they hope Hanson's track record against the Mets will help them do so.
Hanson (9-11, 3.54 ERA) is 2-1 with a 0.73 ERA in four starts against the Mets, allowing only two earned runs in 24 2/3 innings against New York.
The 24-year-old right-hander beat the Mets on Sept. 1 in Atlanta, allowing only one hit over seven scoreless innings. The win was Hanson's only victory in his previous 13 starts, but it has hardly been his fault -- he has a 2.77 ERA during that stretch, but the Braves have scored four runs or fewer in 11 of the 13 games.
Things haven't gone much better lately for Mets starter Jonathon Niese, who has only two wins in his last nine starts. The 23-year-old left-hander is 2-4 with a 4.70 ERA during that span.
Niese (9-8, 3.85 ERA) didn't fare well in his last outing against Atlanta, allowing eight runs -- but only three earned -- in 4 2/3 innings and making an early exit after giving up a grand slam to David Ross en route to a 9-2 loss.
But that outing wasn't indicative of Niese's track record against the Braves -- he is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in four starts against them.
It's too late for the Mets to get back into the playoff race -- they're 12 games behind the Phillies -- but they are rounding into form in time to play spoiler to their division rivals. New York finished off a four-game sweep of the Pirates on Thursday and has won seven of nine to move above .500 for the first time since Aug. 24.
The Mets pounded 39 hits in the Pittsburgh series, including 10 doubles and three home runs, but they might have a hard time keeping up that pace tonight. Only three players on the Mets' current roster -- David Wright, Ike Davis and Jose Reyes -- have recorded extra-base hits against Hanson, and no one on the team has more than two hits against him.