New York Mets: 3 Stars from 7-5 Win over Braves

Encouraged by the success of my opening day "Three Stars" article, I will continue this series for every Mets game.

The Mets were lead by great pitching early, and timely hitting late in their 7-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves this Easter, finishing off their first-ever sweep of a division rival to start a season.

For a team that wasn't supposed to make any noise at all this season, the Mets are getting off to a great start, which should really help them stay confident about their chances right now.

Many different Mets contributed all series, from the stars like Johan Santana and David Wright, to a guy that didn't even start the series with the team in Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

Let's have a look at the three stars in the series finale.

1 Star: Frank Francisco

This was a close decision, between Frank Francisco and Daniel Murphy. However, I went with Francisco for a few different reasons.

The first reason is that Francisco became the first Met to ever save the first three games of a season. The second is that after the bullpen was such a problem last year, especially the closer's role, Francisco coming out and saving the first three games of the year in lock-down fashion is a huge morale-booster for the Mets.

Francisco looked great again today, retiring all three batters he faced and blowing the last pitch of the game past Jack Wilson for his lone strikeout.

After a rough spring training that Francisco dismissed as just being preparation, he has come out in the first three games absolutely dealing.

If Francisco can continue to pitch in this fashion, it would be a huge lift for the Mets.

2 Stars: Jon Niese

As anyone who was watching the game today would know, Jon Niese took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. I would like to apologize to everyone, because I feel responsible for Niese losing the no-no. Everyone knows you don't mess with baseball superstition; I was watching the game with my girlfriend and unfortunately she had to leave, and of course, the next batter was Freddie Freeman, who broke up the no-no. So this is my apology to Jon Niese.

Anyways, this is the second game I've personally seen Niese have no-hit stuff. The first was the one-hitter he threw against the Padres, in which he retired the last 21 hitters of the game. If I had to put money on which current Met will throw the first no-hitter in Mets' history, it would hands-down be Jon Niese.

Everything Niese threw today was working. He was running that little cutter he throws in on the right-handers and getting weak contact, he was breaking off his plus-plus curveball for strikes all day, and not least of all, he blew some fastballs right by some hitters for strikeouts.

In his first regular season game after signing a big contract extension, Niese showed the Mets that he is going to be worth the money, and gave them a showing of what they have to look forward to for the next five, six or seven years.

3 Stars: Ruben Tejada

Ruben Tejada got off to a bit of a slow start for the Mets, going 0-6 with a pair of walks in his first two games of the season. However, he changed that today.

As Keith Hernandez repeatedly pointed out from the booth, Tejada was getting too much under the ball and was popping it up. Tejada must've fixed his swing, at least for this game, because he was hitting line drives all over the field.

He got the Mets started early when he lined a double off the left field fence in the first inning and then scored on a David Wright sac-fly.

After flying out in the 3rd inning, Tejada kept a two-out rally alive in the fifth inning with a single, and then scored on a double by Murphy. Keeping that inning alive turned out to be a big deal, as the Mets only ended up winning by two runs.

Tejada then continued his terrific day by doubling home two runs, again with two outs, in the sixth inning. Tejada capped his day by singling in the eighth, finishing at 4-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, but directly contributing to six of the Mets' seven runs.

Hopefully, Tejada can keep producing in his move to the leadoff-spot in the order.