Mets Game #134, Road #70
	New York Mets (65-68) @ Atlanta Braves (78-55)
Turner Field	———

———

Weather Forecast

Pitching Match-Up

Mets Lineup

———

Braves Lineup

Team Leaders

Mets Injury Report

———

Braves Injury Report

Tidbits of Interest

• Recent – The Mets are 0-3 on their 10-game road trip…It’s the club’s first three-game losing streak since dropping the first three games after the All-Star break…New York went the entire month of August without winning or losing three straight games…It was the fifth calendar month in team history and first time since April, 1982 that they went without winning or losing more than two consecutive games…The other months: April, 1970; September, 1968 and April, 1968…The Mets are a season-high 13.0 games out of first place and they are three games below .500 for the first time since May 19 when they were 19-22…This road trip is the club’s second longest road trip of the season…New York went on an 11-game road trip, July 15-25, going 2-9…New York is 17-28 since the All-Star break…The 17 wins since the break are tied for 26th in the majors…After June 27, when the Mets were a season-best 11 games over .500, they have gone 21-36.
• Mets Road -  Overall, the Mets have a winning record on two of their nine road trips this year…The Mets are 9-19 in their last 28 road games and 12-25 in their last 37 games away from Citi Field…Overall, New York is 26-43 on the road this season…The .377 winning percentage on the road is tied for 23rd in the majors.
• Series Notes – With last night’s loss, the Mets dropped the series…New York is now 3-15-4 in series on the road…The three road series wins came at Baltimore (June 11-13), Cleveland (June 15-17) and Pittsburgh (August 20-22)…New York is looking to avoid a four-game series sweep tonight…The last time the Braves swept the Mets in a four-game series was May 20-22, 2008 at Atlanta….New York was swept in a four-game series at Florida earlier this season (May 13-16)…The Mets are 6-2 in series sweeps this year and 19-22 in the final game of a series.
• Offense – The Mets are hitting .221 (333-1505) with 133 runs scored, 60 doubles, 10 triples and 27 home runs in 45 games since the All-Star break …The Mets are 17-28 in these games…New York hit .233 (212-910) in August, ranking 29th in the majors during the month…Oakland was 30th (.231)….New York lost 4-1 last night…The Mets have been held to one run or less in 26 games this year…New York is 4-22 in these games….After scoring one run last night, the Mets are now 17-48 when they score three or fewer runs in a game this year…New York has scored three or fewer runs in 65 of its 133 games (49 percent) …Since the All-Star break the Mets have scored three or fewer runs in 28 of their 45 games (62 percent).
• RISP -  New York was 1-5 with runners in scoring position last night and has hit .175 (28-160) with RISP over its last 22 games…Overall, the Mets are 24th in the majors with a .249 (277-1111) batting average with runners in scoring position…They rank 19th with 1111 at-bats with RISP…The Mets are hitting .241 (137-568) with runners in scoring position on the road…New York is batting .200 (107-535) with runners in scoring position and two outs, ranking 30th in the majors…The Mets are hitting .183 (28-153) with runners in scoring position after the seventh inning, ranking 30th in the majors…New York is hitting .194 (21-108) with the bases loaded, ranking 30th in the majors.
• Ike Davis – Needs 17 runs to tie Cleon Jones’ rookie franchise record…Jones scored 74 runs in 1966 with the Mets…Davis is also 17 RBI shy of Darryl Strawberry’s rookie team mark of 74 RBI set in 1983.
• Roster Moves – The New York Mets today announced they selected the contract of catcher Mike Nickeas from Buffalo (AAA) of the International League…Nickeas will wear uniform #13 and will be available for tonight’s game in Atlanta…Nickeas, 27, began the season at Binghamton (AA) of the Eastern League, where he hit .283 (75-265) with five home runs and 33 RBI in 82 games…The 6-0, 210-pound Nickeas joined Buffalo in late August, playing in seven games and hitting .214 (6-28)…The native of Vancouver, Canada originally was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fifth round of the 2004 First Year Player Draft before being traded to the Mets on August 30, 2006 for outfielder Victor Diaz…He played in only 20 games in the minors last year after undergoing surgery on a bone spur

This Date in Mets History

Casey Stengel’s #37 is officially retired in a small, private ceremony at Shea Stadium on September 2, 1965…Kevin Elster hits two home runs and Ron Darling tosses a five-hit, 8-0 shutout vs. Los Angeles on September 2, 1988.

It's Marv Throneberry birthday and he was born in 1933.

New York Mets signed free agent Tito Navarro on September 2, 1987.

Discuss the Game Live at Mets Paradise Forum!

Like always,

This is the line-up the Mets will send out there to void getting swept by the Atlanta Braves.

I just get sort of flabbergasted when I look at this line-up. It just doesn't seem like the Mets line-up.

Lucas Duda is batting second after batting seventh last night.

I feel like there is no identity to this line-up. No one is sure what they are suppose to do or why they are in the spot in the line-up. It's just confusing.

I was just looking on YouTube for videos of Lucas Duda, who was recently called up by the Mets. Last night he made his major league debut for the Mets. He batted seventh, in left field and went 0-3 and had to leave the game early due to a leg cramp.

The first two were off of left handed pitchers, which is impressive enough, but they were absolute bombs. This guy has a lot of power and hopefully he can translate it to the majors.

Last night LF/1B Lucas Duda got his first start in the big-leagues. Duda batted 7th in the lineup out in Left Field and batted 0-3, however made a great sliding catch in foul territory.

David Wright is on the brink of reaching a few milestones, which could be surpassed in the next week.

• David currently has 625 Runs Scored in his career, which is 3rd among all-time Mets and shy of hitting coach Howard Johnson's 2nd-place 627. The record is held by Darryl Strawberry who scored 662 with the Mets.
• Jose Reyes is also likely to break past HoJo — Reyes has 624 career Runs.
• David Wright currently has 139 strikeouts this season, 1 shy of his career high. The highest number of strikeouts in a single-season by a Met is held by both Tommie Agee (1970) and Dave Kingman (1982) who struck out 156 times.
• If David Wright plays 23 games this season he will become the 9th Met to play in 1,000 games.
• Wright needs 9 more RBIs to surpass Mike Piazza's 655 career RBIs, 2nd all-time for the Mets. Darryl Strawberry holds the Mets record with 733.

Lastly, the Mets have expanded their roster even further by calling up C Mike Nickeas to the ballclub. Nickeas is 27 years old and played at AA Binghamton and AAA Buffalo, however he played just 7 games in AAA this season. In Double-A Nickeas batted .283 in 265 plate appearances. He had 5 home runs and 33 RBIs in 82 games.

Adam Rubin reports that the Mets have called up catcher Mike Nickeas. He'll be available as the team's third catcher for Thursday's game against the Atlanta Braves.

The Canadian born catcher was drafted out of Georgia Tech in 2004 by the Texas Rangers with their fifth pick in the draft. He was acquired by the Mets back in 2006 for Victor Diaz. He is a very good defensive catcher, but hasn't been able to hit his way to the majors.

Now at age 27, Nickeas is hitting .283 with five home runs, and 33 RBI for the Binghamton Mets.