wrigley phantom
08-09-2007, 11:59 AM
NEW YORK -- The dynamic that is the Mets-Braves is different, unusual and special. It alters how developments are viewed. It tints and sometimes it taints what happens. As Robin Ventura once said, trying to explain it, "Normal isn't normal when these two teams are involved."
They are quite involved this week, and they were particularly tangled Wednesday night when the Mets barely prevailed. Winning, of course, was the best thing they did. And because it was the Braves in the other dugout, the second-best thing they did was nearly lose.
So the Mets not only embraced their 4-3 victory and the late home run by Moises Alou that made it possible, but they found good in the near collapse that occurred in the ninth inning. Had the identical scenario unfolded against another opponent, they wouldn't have experienced the same emotional stew. But all of it happened against the Braves, and that's what made it exhilarating, maddening, satisfying, exasperating, fortifying and painful.
Billy Wagner wouldn't have been upset if the ninth inning had developed differently. He would have been delighted if his 26th save had been as smooth as most of the other 25, if he hadn't loaded the bases with none out and added stress to an evening that already was uncomfortable and taxing.
But when it was over, after Wagner had sidestepped a baseball catastrophe by using "smoke and mirrors," the Mets were more pleased than they would have been otherwise.
Their sense of it was that they had taken the Braves' best shot and won anyway. They survived a three-run rally in the sixth inning, they prevailed in a game started by John Smoltz and they funambulated. Yes, right there, with 51,000 people watching, the Mets walked Wagner's tightrope and never lost their balance.
"If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, right?" is how Paul Lo Duca phrased it as he headed home to sleep fast. The Mets and Braves are involved in a nooner Thursday. "We'll come back here," Lo Duca said, "feeling good about ourselves." Significantly better, no doubt, than they had felt after their loss to the Braves on Tuesday night.
A loss Wednesday would have been the Mets' eighth in 11 games this season against their recurring nemeses. Now their record is 4-7 in these engagements -- hardly impressive. But their lead in the National League East is 4 1/2 -- not 2 1/2 -- games, and they still have a chance to win a series against the Braves for the first time this year -- even if Atlanta's starter Thursday is Tim Hudson.
"Four and a half, two and a half," Lo Duca said. "The difference is huge."
Alou was the primary difference maker. Having flied out to the warning track twice in the first three at-bats against Smoltz, he somehow hit a 96-mph, high, inside, 0-2 fastball from Rafael Soriano well beyond the track and his teammate's imagination.
"I have no idea how he hit that pitch," David Wright said.
"[Alou] might be one of two or three guys in the league quick enough inside to get around on a pitch like that," Wagner said. "I've seen him do it before, so I shouldn't be surprised. But jeez. He can get out of bed and turn on an inside fastball. He'll be able to hit when he's 100."
Alou's fifth home run, his third in four games, produced the Mets' 16th final at-bat victory and their fifth victory in seven games -- all against first- and second-place teams. It produced a smile from the veteran, too.
Disabled for months, Alou thought he finally had regained his swing Saturday when he hit two home runs at Wrigley Field. But fruitless at-bats Sunday and Tuesday nights suggested otherwise.
"Some nights you have it, some nights you don't," he said. "Tonight, my first at-bats were good. I could trust my hands. But sometimes you come through, sometimes you don't."
His philosophizing could have come straight from Wagner's lips. How else could his performance be explained? Wagner, the second reliever to follow Orlando Hernandez, has been as close to automatic in save situations as any Mets closer since Tug McGraw in late 1973. He's had a dozen clean ninth innings and only one unconverted save opportunity.
On this night, though, when the Mets were on the verge of an uplifting victory, Wagner was -- in his words -- "just awful" and "very lucky" and "almost sick to my stomach about it."
He put the one-run lead in jeopardy almost immediately. Chipper Jones and Mark Teixiera singled. Wagner could accept those hits. But what followed -- a five pitch walk to pinch-hitter Chris Woodward -- still was producing stomach acid an hour later.
Wagner posed like a bunter and asked, "How can I not throw strikes to a guy doing this? ... I might as well have just hit him."
He couldn't bottom-line his performance.
"There's a sense of pride in how you play," Wagner said. "And when you don't perform up to standards, everything else [is horrible]. I expect to have a 1-2-3 innings, not something like I did out there. I was lucky tonight that I didn't screw up a great opportunity for us."
With the bases loaded, the Mets would have been pleased to escape with the score re-tied. And what more could the Braves have wanted?
"I'll take bases loaded and no outs against Sandy Koufax," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said.
Wagner characterized his circumstance as "not where you want to be" and his mind-set as "OK, I'm in trouble but I'm two pitches away -- maybe if we turn a triple play." Why not aim high?
The ensuing play -- a ground ball to third base by Jeff Francoeur -- had certain double-play potential. Wright threw home for the forceout, and Wagner considered throwing to first.
"But he [Francoeur] got out of the box well and he took the [throwing] lane away [by running inside the baseline]," Lo Duca said. "I wasn't going to leave it up to an umpire's call."
He held the ball.
Then Andruw Jones grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, the Mets' favorite double play so far this season -- because it vanquished the Braves.
"That's the one thing that makes this easier to take," Wagner said. "We beat a good team in a big game ... despite how I pitched."
As he spoke, Wagner reached into his locker and grasped the double-play ball. He sneered at it though it was his momento from a round-number save. "What an awful way to get a save," he said. "It's No. 350. What an ugly way to get it."
They are quite involved this week, and they were particularly tangled Wednesday night when the Mets barely prevailed. Winning, of course, was the best thing they did. And because it was the Braves in the other dugout, the second-best thing they did was nearly lose.
So the Mets not only embraced their 4-3 victory and the late home run by Moises Alou that made it possible, but they found good in the near collapse that occurred in the ninth inning. Had the identical scenario unfolded against another opponent, they wouldn't have experienced the same emotional stew. But all of it happened against the Braves, and that's what made it exhilarating, maddening, satisfying, exasperating, fortifying and painful.
Billy Wagner wouldn't have been upset if the ninth inning had developed differently. He would have been delighted if his 26th save had been as smooth as most of the other 25, if he hadn't loaded the bases with none out and added stress to an evening that already was uncomfortable and taxing.
But when it was over, after Wagner had sidestepped a baseball catastrophe by using "smoke and mirrors," the Mets were more pleased than they would have been otherwise.
Their sense of it was that they had taken the Braves' best shot and won anyway. They survived a three-run rally in the sixth inning, they prevailed in a game started by John Smoltz and they funambulated. Yes, right there, with 51,000 people watching, the Mets walked Wagner's tightrope and never lost their balance.
"If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, right?" is how Paul Lo Duca phrased it as he headed home to sleep fast. The Mets and Braves are involved in a nooner Thursday. "We'll come back here," Lo Duca said, "feeling good about ourselves." Significantly better, no doubt, than they had felt after their loss to the Braves on Tuesday night.
A loss Wednesday would have been the Mets' eighth in 11 games this season against their recurring nemeses. Now their record is 4-7 in these engagements -- hardly impressive. But their lead in the National League East is 4 1/2 -- not 2 1/2 -- games, and they still have a chance to win a series against the Braves for the first time this year -- even if Atlanta's starter Thursday is Tim Hudson.
"Four and a half, two and a half," Lo Duca said. "The difference is huge."
Alou was the primary difference maker. Having flied out to the warning track twice in the first three at-bats against Smoltz, he somehow hit a 96-mph, high, inside, 0-2 fastball from Rafael Soriano well beyond the track and his teammate's imagination.
"I have no idea how he hit that pitch," David Wright said.
"[Alou] might be one of two or three guys in the league quick enough inside to get around on a pitch like that," Wagner said. "I've seen him do it before, so I shouldn't be surprised. But jeez. He can get out of bed and turn on an inside fastball. He'll be able to hit when he's 100."
Alou's fifth home run, his third in four games, produced the Mets' 16th final at-bat victory and their fifth victory in seven games -- all against first- and second-place teams. It produced a smile from the veteran, too.
Disabled for months, Alou thought he finally had regained his swing Saturday when he hit two home runs at Wrigley Field. But fruitless at-bats Sunday and Tuesday nights suggested otherwise.
"Some nights you have it, some nights you don't," he said. "Tonight, my first at-bats were good. I could trust my hands. But sometimes you come through, sometimes you don't."
His philosophizing could have come straight from Wagner's lips. How else could his performance be explained? Wagner, the second reliever to follow Orlando Hernandez, has been as close to automatic in save situations as any Mets closer since Tug McGraw in late 1973. He's had a dozen clean ninth innings and only one unconverted save opportunity.
On this night, though, when the Mets were on the verge of an uplifting victory, Wagner was -- in his words -- "just awful" and "very lucky" and "almost sick to my stomach about it."
He put the one-run lead in jeopardy almost immediately. Chipper Jones and Mark Teixiera singled. Wagner could accept those hits. But what followed -- a five pitch walk to pinch-hitter Chris Woodward -- still was producing stomach acid an hour later.
Wagner posed like a bunter and asked, "How can I not throw strikes to a guy doing this? ... I might as well have just hit him."
He couldn't bottom-line his performance.
"There's a sense of pride in how you play," Wagner said. "And when you don't perform up to standards, everything else [is horrible]. I expect to have a 1-2-3 innings, not something like I did out there. I was lucky tonight that I didn't screw up a great opportunity for us."
With the bases loaded, the Mets would have been pleased to escape with the score re-tied. And what more could the Braves have wanted?
"I'll take bases loaded and no outs against Sandy Koufax," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said.
Wagner characterized his circumstance as "not where you want to be" and his mind-set as "OK, I'm in trouble but I'm two pitches away -- maybe if we turn a triple play." Why not aim high?
The ensuing play -- a ground ball to third base by Jeff Francoeur -- had certain double-play potential. Wright threw home for the forceout, and Wagner considered throwing to first.
"But he [Francoeur] got out of the box well and he took the [throwing] lane away [by running inside the baseline]," Lo Duca said. "I wasn't going to leave it up to an umpire's call."
He held the ball.
Then Andruw Jones grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, the Mets' favorite double play so far this season -- because it vanquished the Braves.
"That's the one thing that makes this easier to take," Wagner said. "We beat a good team in a big game ... despite how I pitched."
As he spoke, Wagner reached into his locker and grasped the double-play ball. He sneered at it though it was his momento from a round-number save. "What an awful way to get a save," he said. "It's No. 350. What an ugly way to get it."