Mets fever

This is just one of those Mets days. So much has happened today. Unfortunately, I tend to write about my teams on this blog when I'm aggravated with them, which is most of the time! So I figure I should make an exception.

The good news began when it was revealed that veteran starting pitcher Tom Glavine will not need surgery to repair a blood clot in his pitching shoulder and he will only miss one turn in the starting rotation. In terms of our chances to win in October, this is some of the best news we could have asked for.

The news got better when we finalized the trade for Arizona outfielder Shawn Green. All we gave up was minor league pitcher Evan McClane, who has been good in Triple-A Norfolk, but has never really been a candidate to come to New York. And we have a lot of young starters in the waiting, so he was expendable. Green is a solid lefty hitter and will make up for the loss of Xavier Nady. And when we likely lose Cliff Floyd next year, he can slide into the number 6 spot in the batting order. And the fact that he's Jewish won't bother too many New York fans either.

Then some bad news. Ramon Castro, our backup catcher, apparently tore his meniscus while rehabbing an oblique injury in Brooklyn. He will miss some time, and I know about meniscus problems. That is usually the second worst part of the knee to injure, outside of the ACL. So Mike DeFelice will have to stay as our backup catcher. The guy can't hit to save his life, let alone hit in the clutch like Castro does. Hopefully, Castro will be ready for the playoffs.

Then the first game of a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which was attended by Bill Clinton. Thanks to a three-run homer and a grand slam in consecutive innings by Albert Pujols, the Cardinals led 7-1 in the fifth inning. Pujols is basically the best hitter in baseball bar none. And Met starter John Maine had been perfect through 3 innings. That fell apart quickly.

I was at work with no radio or TV access, all I had the mlb.com gameday updates. Somehow, I stayed with the game. I couldn't leave it alone. Maybe it was the fact that Jeff Weaver was pitching for St. Louis and I felt we had a chance. Sure enough, in the bottom of the fifth, Ricky Ledee walks and Jose Reyes reaches first base when Chris Duncan drops a fly ball in left field. A key error has keyed rallies for us numerous times this year. Paul Lo Duca singles to load the bases with nobody out. Carlos Beltan grounds into a force out at home but the Cardinal catcher could have thrown Beltran out at first base for a double play. His decision to not throw would be pivotal. Carlos Delgado, who had hit his 399th career homer in the first inning came up. And he smashed one into the night over the wall for a grand slam, the Mets' ninth of the year. 400 homeruns for Dealgado. 7-5 St. Louis. The Mets scored one more the next inning to make it 7-6.
Then came the 7th. This is where the game officially turned in my opinion. Pedro Feliciano gets one out but walks two batters, although the umpire squeezed him a little bit. And Pujols comes up. So manager Wille Randolph brings in Chad Bradford, our submarine relief pitcher who throws like he's pitching underhanded. He's been amazing this year, he's gotten out of jams without yielding damage all season. And on his second pitch, he induces a double play. At that point, I was confident the Mets would win. Somehow, they would win.

In the 8th, Bradford got Ronnie Belliard to ground into another inning-ending double play. By the way, former Mets outfielder Timo Perez batted in this inning. I had no idea Timo Perez was on the Cardinals! In the bottom half, we got a runner on second with one out. Our former closer, Braden Looper comes in, and he did not get the warmest ovation. He got a groundout and strikeout of Julio Franco to get out of it. That hurt. BTW, Franco finally looks all of his 48 years old and then some.

Ninth inning. Aaron Heilman comes in and smokes the Cardinals with three straight outs, including 2 strikeouts. So another ex-Met Jason Isringhausen comes in to close. As good as Izzy had been closing games against the Mets for a long time, I knew he had not been pitching well lately. I just felt if one Met got on, Izzy would blow it. Jose Reyes grounded out. Then Lo Duca bloops a single into center and up comes Beltran. First pitch. He swings. Forget it. It flies over the right field fence. Home run. The crowd goes insane. The Mets rally from a 7-1 deficit to beat the second best team in the National League 8-7.

For a Mets fan, this night could not have gone any better. If this is not our year, I don't know when it will ever be again.