BRAVES 3 Mets 2
ATLANTA – This year might feel different, but that doesn’t make it easy. If the first two games of this Braves-Mets series are any indication, then there are 17 more classics to go in this beautiful, baseball rebirth known as the unbalanced schedule.
Last night’s October-like clash went to the Braves, 3-2, as they brought home the winning run in the ninth.
It was the Mets’ 21st loss in 25 games here at The Ted, and left them with that familiar saying after losing in Atlanta: What if?
“You can grab a billion of them,” Robin Ventura said.
Those will be detailed momentarily, but first how the Braves won it. They did it after John Rocker faltered again in the ninth, giving up a 2-1 lead on a Jay Payton RBI single to left.
But in the bottom half, Turk Wendell entered after Donne Wall walked Brian Jordan to lead off. Following a flyout, ex-Met Rico Brogna laced a Wendell fastball for a double into the right-field corner. Jordan stopped at third and Keith Lockhart pinch-hit.
On a slider, Lockhart squibbed the ball in front of home toward the right side. Wendell went after it, but had no chance.
“It was like that slow-motion thing,” Wendell said.
Wendell pounced on the ball and flipped it over his left shoulder, but over catcher Mike Piazza’s head – allowing Jordan to score on what was scored a fielder’s choice.
Now let the “What ifs?” begin.
“What if Timo [Perez] comes up with that ball?” Ventura said. “What if I was faster?”
Good questions; let’s address the second one first. With the Mets down 2-1 and two outs in the sixth, Ventura was on second. Piazza smoked a line drive that one-bounced to center fielder Andruw Jones. Ventura ran his hardest toward third.
New third-base coach John Stearns quickly needed to roll through factors, deciding if he should send Ventura.
Do you run on Jones’ right arm, which is as accurate and strong as they come? Do you do it with Ventura, who is as slow as they come? Do two outs override all of these decisions?
“With less than two outs I don’t send him,” Stearns said. “With two outs, I have to send him.”
Ventura called it a gamble and Jones threw with velocity and accuracy.
“I was little dumbfounded, because it was so deep, but [Jones] made a Vladimir Guerrero-type of throw,” Piazza said.
The laser to Brave catcher Javy Lopez beat Ventura, but with guile Ventura slid to the outside of home plate.
After Lopez attempted to place the tag on Ventura the ump, Bill O’Nora, hesitated for a moment before pumping his fist in the out signal. Meanwhile, Ventura dove for home as Lopez tried to tag him.
The normally stoic Ventura argued, as manager Bobby Valentine came out to take up the debate. It didn’t matter. The game remained 2-1 Braves.
Kevin Appier, in his Met debut, matched Brave starter Kevin Millwood. The two runs Appier gave up in his six innings came in the third and were largely due to a wild slider that Millwood missed, but went past Piazza, allowing Millwood to reached first. The bases would load for Chipper Jones and “What if?”
Jones laced a liner that searched for turf in right. Perez sprinted in and dove forward, desperately trying to save runs from scoring. The top of Perez’ oversized mitt touched the ball, but it dribbled out and under his body.
As Perez scrambled to pick up the ball that rolled just under him, Millwood and Rafael Furcal scored.
The Mets came back with a tremendous ninth when Rocker, who was victimized by Ventura’s two-run homer Monday, was out to close again. The matchup was Ventura/Rocker again. Again Ventura won, walking, despite falling behind 1-2.
Rocker counter-punched, striking out Piazza on a 1-2 offspeed delivery. Next, it was Todd Zeile. On a 1-1, Zeile pulled a ball deep enough to take the lead, but he just got a little out in front of it, and it was just foul.
Zeile walked on an outside fastball to end the seven-pitch at-bat. Jay Payton followed by lining a game-tying single into left.
