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Braves complete sweep of Mets

May 23, 2008 - 3:10 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Chipper Jones did what he does best - collect a big hit against the New York Mets.

Jones had two hits, including a game-winning single in the seventh and Tim Hudson hurled eight solid innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 4-2 win over the Mets and a sweep of the four-game set on Thursday.

Kelly Johnson had three hits and drove in a run for Atlanta, which improved to 20-5 at Turner Field this season.

"I don't think anyone would have thought that we would sweep these guys," Hudson said. "It puts us 7-2 against them and makes a pretty big statement."

Atlanta entered the decisive seventh trailing Johan Santana (5-3) and the Mets, 2-1, before collecting five hits off the Mets ace to take a two-run lead.

Johnson led off the frame with a double before advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt by Hudson (7-3). Omar Infante, who had been 0-for-19 against Santana, knotted the contest at 2-2 with a base hit before advancing to second on a wild pitch and third on a single by Mark Kotsay, bringing up Jones.

Jones, who has had so much success in his major league career against the Mets that he named his third son Shea after the Mets' decrepit ballpark, once again delivered the knockout punch.

With the crowd on its feet, the 36-year-old Jones laced a lined single to right field, plating Infante to give the Braves the lead.

"Man, you live for that situation," Jones said. "You have the winning run at third and are facing arguably the best pitcher in baseball. I won this one. I am sure he'll win his share, too."

Jones, who leads the majors with a .412 batting average, is batting .330 (219-for-664) with 39 homers and 121 RBIs in 184 career games against the Mets.

"That's something I couldn't believe," a sarcastic Hudson said with a smile of Jones' clutch hit. "He never does anything against them. I guess it was lightning in a bottle."

"He's in a whole other world right now," Johnson said. "You just knew something was going to happen with him up in that situation."

Mark Teixeira followed with a single for an insurance run for the Braves, who swept the Mets for the first time in a four-game set since July 17-20, 2003.

"It's important to sweep four games from the Mets," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "The ball didn't go their way all series. That happens. I sympathize with them because we've been through that."

Hudson rebounded from a poor performance against Oakland, where he allowed five runs in five frames to defeat Santana. The righthander allowed two runs and seven hits and struck out four in a 100-pitch performance to improve to 9-5 lifetime against the Mets.

Back-to-back blasts from Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado were the only blemishes for Hudson, who at one time set down 11 straight Mets from the second until the sixth frame.

Beltran, who entered this one batting .339 (19-for-56) Hudson, led off the second with a towering blast midway into the right field bleachers for his fourth homer of the season.

One pitch later, the slumping Delgado put one out of reach, blasting a homer to left-center field for his seventh career homer off Hudson the most by any player against the Atlanta ace.

"I felt good out there," Hudson said. "It was two bad pitches."

It seemed like the homers would hold up for Santana, who outpitched Hudson over the first six frames. The Mets ace allowed four runs - three earned and a career-high 12 hits while striking out one in seven frames.

"We tried, but they were a little better," Santana said. "They were aggressive the whole game. They were swinging right away. They were putting balls in play."

It was the second time that the Mets have wasted a strong start by Santana against Hudson this season.

"It's tough to see a great pitching performance go to a loss," Delgado said. "(Santana) threw the ball really good."

Atlanta cut the early deficit in half with an unearned run in the second. Teixeira reached on catcher Brian Schneider's fielding error and scored on an infield hit by Johnson.

Manny Acosta recorded the first two outs in the ninth before Will Ohman retired Delgado on a liner to Kotsay in center field to record his first save for Atlanta (26-21), which moved five games over .500 for the first time this season.

"We got our butts kicked here," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "I just hope we remember this and the next time we come in here, we can get some payback.

"Three-game sweeps are tough enough, but to come in and get beat four in a row, that really hurts. We deserved to lose the way we played."