ATLANTA - Derek Lowe looked down as he heard boos while walking off the field in the third inning, and he spoke in unusually soft, pained tones following the game. cheap nfl jerseys . A long season is wearing on Lowe just when the Atlanta Braves most need his veteran leadership. Lowe suffered his shortest start in two years as David Wright drove in five runs with two homers, leading the New York Mets to a 12-2 win over the Braves on Friday night. The loss cut Atlantas lead over St. Louis in the NL wild-card race to 3 1/2 games. Lowe knows he is needed because the Braves are missing Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson from their rotation. "Ive said my whole career hitters will tell you how your stuff is," Lowe said after giving up nine hits and six runs in only 2 1-3 innings. "It was just a lot of hits. It was just terrible. Thats all you really can say." The Mets, responding to criticism from manager Terry Collins, matched their season high with 20 hits and ended a six-game losing streak. Lowe (9-15) lost his third straight start. The right-hander had his shortest outing since also lasting 2 1-3 innings on June 14, 2009, at Baltimore. His ERA rose to 4.94. "This has been a long year," he said. "I mean, this is probably my worst year Ive ever had. Right now you obviously feel discouraged and frustrated and all those things, but next time around youve got to find a way to figure it out because this is just bad pitching for too long." Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he still has confidence in Lowe. Gonzalez has few options as his rotation already includes three rookies: Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor and Randall Delgado. Hanson, who has a sore right shoulder, has a throwing session planned for Saturday. He could be sent to the Instructional League next week with the hope hell return to the Braves before the end of the season. Asked if there is time for Hanson, who has been on the disabled list since Aug. 7, to pitch in the playoffs, Gonzalez said "Possibly. Itll be close." Jurrjens has a bone bruise on his right knee. Asked if Jurrjens has a chance to be ready for a division series, Gonzalez said "Probably not." The Braves have 11 games remaining in the regular season. The Cardinals gained ground by beating the Phillies. Chris Capuano (11-12) gave up two runs on six hits in five innings to earn his second win in three weeks against the Braves. He pitched a two-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over the Braves in New York on Aug. 26. Lowe gave up a two-run homer to Wright and a two-run single to Ruben Tejada in the first inning. He left after giving up Jose Tholes two-run single for New Yorks fourth hit of the third inning. Rookie Julio Teheran gave up Wrights three-run homer and Nick Evans run-scoring single in the fourth. Lucas Duda had four hits for New York. Wright, Evans, Jose Reyes and Thole each had three hits. "The way weve been swinging the bats, if we can score more than one its a good night for us," Wright said. "Hopefully, this is the start of something." Martin Prado hit a homer in the second off Capuano. Michael Bourn tripled and scored on Chipper Jones fly ball in the first. Capuano pitched out of a fifth-inning jam after pinch-hitter Antoan Richardson singled and moved to third on Bourns single. Following a visit from pitching coach Dan Warthen, Capuano struck out Jones, Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla. After a 10-1 loss to Washington on Thursday ended a 1-8 homestand, Collins said "The perception I have right now: We folded it up. And I wont stand for that." Before Fridays game, Collins said he believed his teams problem was execution, not effort. "We didnt need any extra incentive," Capuano said. "We all know whats going on. Were all proud individuals." There were two strong defensive plays. Mets left fielder Jason Bay of Trail, B.C., reached over the wall to take a home run away from Alex Gonzalez to end the fourth. Bay fell to the warning track before taking the ball out of his glove to show he made the catch. Alex Gonzalez returned the favour in the seventh when he went deep into the hole at shortstop to field a grounder from Bay. Gonzalez, still running toward third, turned and made a leaping throw that barely beat Bay to first base. Notes: Bay was 0 for 17 in his career against Lowe before his single in the third. He walked in the first. ... Prados homer was his first since Aug. 9. ... Lowes 15th loss matched his career high set with the Dodgers in 2005. ... RHP Tim Hudson, who leads the Braves with 14 wins, will face R.A. Dickey on Saturday. Dickey is 1-3 with a 4.54 ERA in nine career games, including six starts, against Atlanta. His one win came on June 5 in New York. ... Collins announced Capuanos next start will come Thursday at St. Louis, instead of Wednesday, as had been planned. RHP Chris Schwinden will start against the Cardinals on Wednesday. cheap jerseys from china .ca NHL Entry Draft Ranking, while the highly-touted Quebec Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko dropped a spot to No. wholesale jerseys .J. - The captain was a few minutes late, though no one seemed to mind. http://www.jerseyscheapwholesaleonline.com/ . The Eastern Conference-leading Bulls are taking a cautious approach with Noah, averaging 12.1 points and 11 rebounds. Their next game is Tuesday night against Phoenix. SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks flipped the script from last season in their opener with their potent power play failing to generate a goal while the even strength play dominated. One constant remained. They still have Vancouvers number. Justin Braun scored his first goal in more than 19 months to break a tie late in the second period and the Sharks went on to beat the Canucks 4-1 Thursday night in the season opener for both teams. Despite coming up empty on seven power plays including a rare 2-minute, two-man advantage, the Sharks got all their goals in 5-on-5 play after ranking 28th in the league last season in even-strength scoring. "Were going to be fine on the power play," captain Joe Thornton said. "Im not concerned about that at all and I dont think anybody is. It just was nice to get four goals 5-on-5 for a change and let our 5-on-5 game win us the game. Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau and Tommy Wingels also scored for the Sharks, who have won eight straight against the Canucks including a sweep in the first round of the playoffs last season. Antti Niemi made 21 saves. Jason Garrison scored a power-play goal and Roberto Luongo made 31 saves for the Canucks, who lost in the debut of new coach John Tortorella. "We had a couple of breakdowns but its all a learning curve," centre Ryan Kesler said. "We want to be aggressive. Thats who we are. Thats our identity. I thought we played hard and played smart." The Canucks opened this season on the same ice they ended the last one on after the disappointing early playoff exit led to the firing of coach Alain Vigneault. Tortorella arrived and preached toughness and tighter defensive play and got results on an improved penalty-kill unit. The Canucks allowed seven power-play goals in the four playoff games last season. But Vancouver still wound up on the short end as San Jose got the better of the even-strength play and did not let the blown 5-on-3 chance tilt the momentum in the second period. The Sharks got that prime chance when Kesler interfered with Niemi at one end and before the next whistle, Garrison was called for tripping Joe Thornton. Luongo stopped all three shots on the two-man advantage, including tough saves against Patrick Marrleau and Logan Couture. wholesale nfl jerseys. But the Sharks still scored twice in the period to erase an early deficit. "Were a veteran group, so we got over it," Couture said. "Obviously, our power play needs to get a lot better moving forward, but I thought we played a pretty good game for the first game of the year." The first came when Thornton took the puck from Garrison in the neutral zone. Rookie Tomas Hertl slid a pass to Burns, who beat Luongo with a wrister to tie it at 1 early in the period. "We made way too many mistakes," Garrison said. "You never want to leave the goalie hanging like that." Late in the period, Brauns shot from the point got through a screen by Couture for his first goal since Feb. 10, 2012. Braun had gone 85 games, including the playoffs, without a goal. Niemi made that lead stand up, helping kill two penalties in the third period and making a sharp pad save to rob Chris Higgins midway through the period. "It was a quick play," Niemi said. "I just tried to cover the passing lane from behind the net and then just saw him shooting so I tried to stop it with the pad. Luckily, I got it." Marleau and Wingels added insurance goals late in the third. Luongo was sharp early in his first game back as the No. 1 goalie in Vancouver after the off-season trade of Cory Schneider to New Jersey. Luongo stopped all 16 shots in the opening period as the Canucks took a 1-0 lead on Garrisons power-play goal after the first of two penalties on Burns. The Sharks got the better of the play after that, but Luongo made a sharp glove save on Scott Hannan, stopped Joe Pavelski on a short-handed breakaway and turned aside a tip attempt by Couture in the final minute of the period. "We had a really good start," Tortorella said. "The first 10 minutes we played the way we should. Then after we scored, we turned a couple over and we lost the momentum." NOTES: D Ryan Stanton, claimed off waivers from Chicago earlier this week, made his Vancouver debut. ... Hertl, 19, and F Matt Nieto, 20, made their NHL debuts, becoming the first two Sharks born after the franchises first game on Oct. 4, 1991. Hertl got his first career point with an assist on Burns goal. cheap jerseys ' ' '
