When the Mets fell behind three games to none in the NLCS, it was as if they had the Braves right where they wanted them. For some reason, the Mets just don’t start playing well until they are facing the ugly specter of elimination, and that grim reality was lurking just four out outs away last night.
But like they did at the end of the regular season, and again in Cincinnati in the one-game playoff, the 1999 Mets would not die. They shunned the offseason by beating the Braves 3-2 in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion, preventing Atlanta from sweeping on their home turf.
John Olerud drove in all the runs with a home run in the sixth and a two-out, two-RBI single off the hated John Rocker in the eighth to give the Mets Game 4 in the best-of-seven NLCS.
“It’s been a tough road making it to the playoffs,” Olerud said. “It hasn’t been our choice to do it that way. We’ve had some tough stretches but we’ve been able to battle and get back in the playoffs, and hopefully that will be the situation here.”
The Mets’ quest to become the first baseball team in history to come back from a 3-0 deficit continues this afternoon when Game 1 starters Masato Yoshii and Greg Maddux match up again today in Game 5 at 4:09 p.m.
With the win, just their fourth off Atlanta in 16 games, the Mets became only the fifth team out of 24 to win Game 4 after going down 3-0.
“I wouldn’t say this was a huge, life-changing event,” Mike Piazza said. “But it’s a start.”
Speaking of starts, Rick Reed and John Smoltz paired off in a brilliant pitchers’ duel the game went scoreless until Olerud’s solo shot in the sixth. It was only the third hit Smoltz had given up, and Reed allowed only a single and no walks through seven.
“I think that was what everyone at Fenway wanted to see today,” Turk Wendell said, referring to the one-sided Red Sox win that was hyped as the Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens Bowl.
With Reed pitching the game of his life to stave off elimination, the game moved into the eighth inning with the Mets still leading 1-0. But that’s when the season looked over, as if the Braves would finally pull the plug on this stubborn patient who refuses to die.
Brian Jordan hit the first pitch over the wall in right-center to tie the game and, two pitches later, Ryan Klesko took a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right to give the Braves a 2-1 lead that signaled the end for Reed.
“If I could have crawled under the mound, I would have,” Reed said. “To be honest, when I was walking off, I thought the season was over.”
But this Mets’ season never seems to end. The Braves twice have thought they ended it, once on Sept. 30 when they beat them here in 11 innings, and then last night when Rocker came steaming in from the bullpen to face Olerud, a sight that usually means victory for them.
The magical eighth started when Roger Cedeno singled up the middle off Smoltz. Rey Ordonez popped out trying to bunt him over and Braves manager Bobby Cox brought in lefty Mike Remlinger, who struck out Benny Agbayani. But Remlinger walked Melvin Mora and Cox then brought in Rocker to the overwhelming boos of the 55,872 at Shea Stadium waiting for him to crack.
The key to that move was that Cox double-switched Rocker into the No. 8 hole where Walt Weiss had been, and brought Ozzie Guillen into the game batting ninth and leading off the ninth. Guillen is not the fielder Weiss is, and it would show.
The quiet Olerud, who was 0-for-9 with five strikeouts against the loud Rocker, drew a 1-1 count when both runners stole, a risky play with two outs.
Now with two runners in scoring position, Olerud worked the count to 2-2 and waited for a fastball.
“I’ve tried a bunch of different approaches off him and haven’t had a whole lot of success,” Olerud said. “I was looking for the fastball and trying to adjust to the breaking ball.”
He made the adjustment on the curve and hit a bouncer up the middle that glanced off Guillen’s glove. Cedeno and Mora both scored to give the Mets the lead and the two Venezuelans jumped into one another’s arms at home plate as the stadium and the Mets dugout erupted.
Rocker simply tried to ignore the pandemonium.
“That’s one of the more cheaper hits I’ve given up in my entire life,” Rocker said. “I’m sure John is glad he got the hit and drove in two runs, but I don’t feel the least bit bad about my performance. It was a three-hop ground ball.”
And the best news of the day for the Mets? They still face elimination today.