We have seen too much of this from Chipper over the years in Atlanta (Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

BY: MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Hello again and welcome to another installment of “Interview with a Blogger” where we aim to get a look at the teams coming up on Mets schedule, from the people who know them best, Their Fans.

In advance of tonight’s first game of four against the always hated Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, I did an Interview with Colin Ake of Braves Blast.

Matthew Falkenury: What has been the opinion of the Braves fans out there about the Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur deal?

Colin Ake: Francoeur came up to unbelievable hype two years ago and has not been able to meet the (admittedly unrealistic) expecations put on him by a Sports Illustrated cover calling him “The Natural.” He’s since had two subpar seasons and hasn’t been able to get back on track. The Braves coaches have been frustrated by him seemingly not being willing to learn and decided it was time to trade for someone more productive. Church will hit for more average than Francoeur but has less long-term upside, which is not an issue with the crop of outfielders (including Jason Heyward) that the Braves have coming up. It’s about a fair trade – we get for the short term someone who can hit for higher average and platoon with Matt Diaz, and the Mets get someone with larger long-term upside, IF Francoeur can turn it around. I think we all hope he turns it around – he’s a nice guy – we’d just rather not see the Mets benefit from it.

MF: Who was the Braves best player in the 1st half and who needs to step it up in the 2nd half?

CA: Best player in the first half? Brian McCann offensively, and probably Jair Jurrjens or Javier Vazquez on the mound. I’d say that the bullpen needs to be more consistent in the second half of the season, and the offense HAS to step it up. Yunel Escobar has to stop making mental errors – he’s talented but gets cocky sometimes. The collective offense just has to step it up – that’s the final answer here.

MF: What are your thoughts on the current state of the Mets?

CA: The Mets are a ragged collection of old, injury-ridden players with a few exceptions. They have some arms in the ‘pen to make people think, but their offense doesn’t have much pop and they can’t back up the couple of good pitchers they have – at least not enough to make a run at the NL East or Wild Card. I think we’ll see the Mets start rebuilding this offseason and try to get younger. Johan Santana can’t carry the team by himself.

MF: What is the key for the Braves in the 2nd half to make a run at the Wild Card or the NL East?

CA: The Braves either need Yunel Escobar, Matt Diaz, Chipper Jones, and Garrett Anderson to be firing on all cylinders, or they need to acquire another bat. I don’t care where you throw it – the Braves have to score more runs to win anything. Our pitching will be golden – and if we get to the playoffs we’ll be hard to beat with the arms we have on staff – but to get there we have to score runs and win games. The bullpen has to hold it together and have fewer failures – they showed flashes of brilliance in the first half – and need to close out more games. In September, we’ll have the following starters available. Tell me this isn’t scary: Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens, Kenshin Kawakami and Tommy Hanson. This all boils down to: Will the Braves have enough offense?

MF: What do the Braves need to do to win the series?

CA: Score runs. Pitching is not an issue in Atlanta, most of the time. With the shape the Mets offense is in, we should be fine on allowing runs. Our offense has to execute and score runs – play smart – move runners over – and get some runs on the board early to let the Braves win some games.