An Amazin’ Comeback

The Mets crawled back from the dead after Wednesday’s absolute nightmare, with a stirring 7-6 victory last night. Late-inning drama? Check. Nail-biting tension? Check. Crazy plays? Check. Five different relievers? Check. Must be a late-season Mets game. Jose Reyes led off the bottom of the ninth with a base hit, and this time his teammates were able to get him home. Carlos Beltran provided the heroics, by smashing a line drive down the first-base line that deflected off Micah Hoffpauir’s glove and trickled into right field, while Reyes raced home with the winning run.

Playing most of the game in the rain (both bullpens spent the first half of the contest building an ark just to be on the safe side), the Cubs fielded a team of scrubs while the Mets fielded Pedro Martinez. It was a typical Pedro outing. He let in his usual two runs in the first, only one more over the next five frames and left the game after allowing the first two batters to reach base in the seventh. Before Pedro even had a chance to sit down and imagine himself retired and lying under a mango tree, Ricardo Rincon served up a three-run bomb to Hoffpauir (five for five, two home runs; hey, if Derrek Lee were in the lineup, the Mets might have won 6-1). The bullpen threw three scoreless innings the rest of the way, though.

After the Mets fell behind in the first, David Wright hit a sacrifice fly (about 20 hours too late), giving him 124 RBIs for the season, which ties Mike Piazza’s franchise record. In the fourth, Ryan Church pulled a double down the right-field line, driving in two runs. Welcome to the pennant race, Ryan. The Mets are going to need you this weekend. He went three for three, but saved his best work for the eighth inning. With the Cubs leading 6-3 in the seventh, things looked bleak. The Mets don’t come back from three-run leads late in games, do they? But Reyes hit an RBI ground out, and then in the eighth Ramon Martinez and Robinson Cancel came through with two huge hits. Yes, the Mets are fighting for a playoff spot with Ramon Martinez and Robinson Cancel in the starting lineup. The fourth-string but now starting second baseman shot an RBI single through the hole to left. And Cancel followed with a liner to right, driving in Church. Church was a dead duck at home but somehow shimmied his way around catcher Koyie Hill, and ended up behind home plate. He then had to dive head first and finally touch home. I think he learned that move from Warren Sapp on Dancing With the Stars.

After Joe Smith wiggled out of the usual and expected ninth-inning jam, Reyes led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Daniel Murphy followed with a confusing, baffling at-bat. He bunted three pitches foul and struck out. We learned four things in this at-bat: Murphy can’t bunt; either Luis Aguayo (him again) gave the wrong sign or Murphy missed a sign; Reyes should have tried to steal second during this at-bat; and Jerry Manuel should have let Murphy swing away. Wright was next. While he was striking out (again), Reyes did steal second. And that set up Beltran to be the hero. And the Mets live for another day. Isn’t this fun?