The Braves Are a Better Team, Beat Mets 9-3: Confidence = Production = Winning.

After watching last night's 9-3 loss to the Braves (box score) one thing became PAINFULLY clear...The Braves are a VERY VERY GOOD team, and are MUCH BETTER than the Mets.

Here's the thing about the Braves that I think the Mets should consider...

Everyone always says the Mets need better play out of their star players, but where are the Braves stars?  I would say that Heyward, McCann and Chipper Jones (out for the season) are their only real stars.  Yes, Hudson and Hanson are awesome, but not stars.  The big difference between the Mets are Braves is this...

EVERYONE on the Braves can and will hit.  Infante, Prado, Lee, Gonzalez and even Melky Cabrera and Matt Diaz can hit.  Every single person on that team is a serviceable MLB player and at the least a decent hitter.  In the meantime, the Mets have struggled with Barajas, Castillo, Tejada and Francoeur in the line up in some capacity all year. (Although I give Tejada a pass because of his defense, it would be stupid to ignore his lack of hitting thus far.)

So, what's the answer...

Keep developing the young talent.  Because Davis, Thole, Pagan and even Carter are just examples of good young players the Mets can build off of, in a similar way that the Braves have built off Heyward, Prado and McCann.  Add a good pick up (ie Omar Infante), and a guy who knows how to win (ie. Eric Hinske) and the Mets can become next year's Braves.  But first, They need to become more of a team, and letting the young guys play together really builds confidence within the organization.  Maybe the Mets will be as good next year as the Braves are this year, but in order to make that happen they need to rely on the young guys to produce.

The bottom line...

Confidence = Production = Winning.

That crappy song says, I believe the children are our future...

If you're the Mets, you best be taking that advice...That means you too Jerry...