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Delgado, Maine help Mets end slide

Sep 1, 2007 - 4:10 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The bat of Carlos Delgado and the arm of John Maine helped the New York Mets end a long losing streak.

Delgado smashed a three-run homer in the fourth inning and Maine tossed seven solid frames to power the Mets to a 7-1 win Friday over the Atlanta Braves and snap a five-game skid.

New York (74-60) had struggled entering their weekend series against the Braves, dropping seven of nine contests to see their lead shrink to two games over the surging Philadelphia Phillies (72-62) in the National League East Division.

However, Delgado and Maine helped right the ship in this one.

The 35-year-old Delgado, who was one of the few batters producing in the first few games of the Mets' 10-game road trip, continued his torrid hitting by smashing a towering three-run blast to straightaway center field off Atlanta starter Tim Hudson (15-7) for his 20th homer of the season.

"It was a cutter that just got up," Hudson said. "He handled it pretty good."

"Why every time I hit a home run does it have to be a cutter that doesn't cut?" joked Delgado, who is hitting .421 (8-for-19) with two homers in his last five games. "You face a guy that many times, you're going to run into one sometime."

The homer was more than enough for Maine (14-8), who allowed one run and three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in seven sensational innings to collect his first career win against Atlanta.

"It was good to come in here and win against the Braves," Maine said. "Especially after the first part of the road trip."

"He was lights out today," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "He had a lot of confidence in his breaking ball. He was pretty unbelievable."

The 26-year-old Maine, who threw 62-of-112 pitches for strikes, scattered just two hits over the first five frames before working out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam with minimal damage in the sixth.

Pinch hitter Pete Orr lead off the inning with a single before Maine issued walks to Kelly Johnson and Matt Diaz, loading the bases.

But facing the heart of Atlanta's lineup, the dependable Maine induced Met killer Chipper Jones to pop out to third base.

After Orr scored on a wild pitch, Maine got the hot-hitting Mark Teixeira, who entered the game with an 11-game hitting streak, to pop out to first base.

"I got lucky a little bit," Maine said. "(The pitches to Jones and Teixeira) were a little up."

Maine thwarted the rally by striking out Brian McCann looking on a borderline 3-2 pitch.

"I thought it was a strike," Maine said. "I thought I hit my spot there."

"We had the right guys up there," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "They've been doing it all year. They didn't get it done tonight."

Aaron Heilman hurled a perfect eighth and Scott Schoeneweis worked a scoreless ninth for New York, which remained two games ahead of the Phillies in the NL East.

"It was a big win," Delgado said. "We want to get as many wins as we can, but it was nice to bounce back after that series in Philadelphia."

Pinch hitter Marlon Anderson capped the scoring with a three-run double in the ninth.

Maine and the Mets dealt a potentially devastating blow to the Braves' playoff chances.

Atlanta (69-66), which dropped three of four to the lowly Cincinnati Reds during its recent 10-game road trip, lost for the 10th time in its last 15 games to fall 5 1/2 games off the pace in the division.

"Every game is pretty huge," Hudson said. "Our backs are to the wall. We have to start playing better. We've got to go out there and play like we want to win the ballgame. We just have to play hard and do what it takes to win."

It was the first loss in three starts against the Mets this season for Hudson, who also surrendered a homer to Jose Reyes in the fifth.

Hudson allowed four runs and six hits in six innings, striking out one without a walk in falling to 7-3 with a 3.60 ERA in 11 career starts against New York.

"I felt great," he said. "I felt fine, except for three pitches. I got them up in the zone and they took care of it. They made me pay for it."

The Atlanta ace, who entered this one with a major league best 0.25 home run-to-innings ratio, surrendered two blasts in a game for the first time since September 13 against Philadelphia.