Anytime Chipper Jones appears at his locker when he doesn't have to -- as he did almost immediately following Monday's 5-0 loss to the Giants -- it's a sign that he has something to say. Monday, this was it:
"I don't know what to say." But of course, this being Chipper, he actually did know what to say.
"Bad, bad baseball. Bad. A lot of mental mistakes. Forgetting outs. Forgetting counts."
The latest culprits were Omar Infante, who lost track of the number of outs, and so failed to throw home for a critical out, allowing the Giants to score; and Brian McCann, who thought he was gunning out a baserunner at third on a strikeout when in fact the pitch was called ball four.
But Jones wasn't blaming those two. "It's everybody," he said. "I did it in Arizona. I forgot the outs on the bases." But it didn't cost the Braves anything, unlike Monday's lethargic display in front of a handful of fans, courtesy of a weird 4:35 p.m. start.
"It's not executing the game," Jones said. "Not thinking about what's going on.
"This is a team unlike any (manager) Bobby (Cox) has ever coached. This is a team that's young, that's struggling with its confidence. The only way to get that back is to play A-B-C baseball. To come out, pitch well, play good defense behind the pitcher and get some timely hits."
METS 7, BRAVES 3: Jo-Jo Reyes settled down after a wobbly first inning, especially after the Braves gave him a 3-2 lead in the third. But the Mets erupted for five runs in the eighth inning against the overworked bullpen. The Braves left 11 on base, going 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
