The Mets commemorated the 41st anniversary of Shea Stadium’s grand opening with a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Braves, marking New York’s first 0-4 start in …uh, 41 years.
Aside from a 4th inning solo HR allowed to Mike Piazza, Atlanta’s John Thompson emerged unscathed. striking out 5, walking none and scattering 9 hits in 7 innings of work. New York’s Victor Zambrano (above), had a mandate to go deep into this game, what with Manny Aybar being a likely candidate for Saturday’s spot start. Needless to say, Zambrano didn’t get the job done, allowing 2 runs, 5 hits and 4 walks while throwing 100 pitches in 5 innings — in short, a Leiter-esque performance. Tim Marchand claimed weeks ago that Zambrano and Ishii’s control problems would take a huge toll on the Mets bullpen and this week’s event have done little to make that prediction any less prescient.