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Braves turn to James to keep pace with Mets

Sep 1, 2007 - 2:37 PM NY Mets (74-60) at Atlanta (69-66), 3:55 pm EDT

ATLANTA (Ticker) - The Atlanta Braves hoped they would be catching a division rival at the right time. Instead, they hope they can pull out a victory on Saturday against the New York Mets to stay in the National League East division race.

The Mets had struggled entering their weekend series against the Braves, dropping seven of nine contests to see their lead shrink to 4 1/2 games over Atlanta in the NL East.

However, Carlos Delgado homered and John Maine struck out eight to notch his 14th win in a 7-1 victory over the Braves in the series opener to bump the Braves back to 5 1/2 games out of front-running Mets.

In an attempt to make up that gap, Atlanta will turn to Chuck James (9-9, 4.22 ERA), who makes his first start in over two weeks. He will be returning from the disabled list after recovering from left shoulder soreness.

The 25-year-old surrendered six runs and five hits over 3 2/3 innings in a 9-3 loss to San Francisco on August 16. He will look to improve on his 1-3 record with a 6.33 ERA in four career starts and two relief appearances against the Mets.

Mike Pelfrey (0-7, 5.92), who has winless in his last 11 starts, will look to secure the Mets' first series win against the Braves this season. He has not won since picking up a win against the Reds on July 18, 2006.

The righthander was solid but did not figure into the decision in his last start on July 28 against Washington, allowing three runs and eight hits over six innings in New York's 6-5 loss. In his only other career start against the Braves, Pelfrey allowed four runs and six hits over five frames in a 7-3 setback on April 20.