Atlanta Braves 2, New York Mets 0

The thing about having good starting pitching is that even when you're not playing that well you won't go into prolonged slumps. The Braves offense was pretty anemic, but John Thomson shut out the Mets through 7 innings and the Braves evened up the 5 game series at 2 games apiece.

Thomson (12-8) lowered his ERA to 3.92 as he continued his excellent work of late. He pitched 7 innings and allowed no runs on 5 hits, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Chris Reitsma pitched a scoreless 8th inning walking one and striking out 2, and John Smoltz struck out one in the 9th as he picked up his 38th save.

The Braves scored both runs in the first inning. I didn't get to watch this game, but apparently it was a pretty bizarre way of scoring:
"Giles and J.D. Drew scored on nearly identical slides in the first inning, touching the plate with their left hand before catcher Jason Phillips' tag. Howe argued the first call with plate umpire Brian O'Nora."
After the first inning, the Braves did nothing. Al Leiter struck out 11 Braves in a losing cause.

Hitting Stars: Marcus Giles was 3 for 4 with 2 doubles. The only other Brave to get a hit (this is starting to become more of a frequent problem) was JD Drew, who was 1 for 2 but with 2 walks.

Game Notes: There was about an hour long rain delay in the first inning.

The home plate umpire Brian O'Nora had to leave the game and was taken to a hospital because of a viral infection.

Jose Capellan is scheduled to pitch tonight against Steve Trachsel. I'll actually get to watch most of it; the game is on TBS.