That Sucked

...the part, that is, about me missing last night's see-saw, walk-off Mets victory, to which I had tickets, because my boy burnsie fresh and I decided that there was no way the game wasn't going to be rained out. Whoops. 7:00 came, the skies were clear, the game was on, and we weren't there.

I should have been there last night, but I wasn't

What were we going to do? When 3:00 rolled around and I got off work, it was still raining steadily in Poughkeepsie, as it had been all day. Looking at the New York City weather report, the forecast called for a 70% chance of rain through the evening and pretty much the rest of last night. Curse you, weather.com. I should have trusted the doppler radar.

But you know that if we had chosen to make the 2 hour trip down to the game, by train or car, it would have been rained out. That's just the way it goes. The last time I tried to go to a game with rain clouds in the sky and iffy weather, 3 other friends and I ended up completing a very unsatisfying round trip to Shea after sitting out about 45 minutes of cold mid-April wind and rain in the back rows of the Mezzanine section.

To the game, though. Not a minute after Marlon Anderson's foot crossed home plate and I shot my fist high into the air in celebration of the Mets' 71st victory of 2007, the powerful hook of Boston's "More Than A Feeling" filled my vacant living room with sound, indicating that I had a cellphone call. I knew who it was, but I checked the caller ID on the front anyway. Burnsie fresh.

"Looks like we screwed that one up."

"Yeeeep."

Oh well. I'll take a victory on my couch over a loss in a Shea Stadium seat any day. And this victory was particularly good because it ran counter to just about everything we've come to expect from the '07 Mets, good and bad.

After taking a 4-1 lead, only to watch John Maine (in another shaky outing) and the bullpen give it back, the Padres, already with a 5-4 lead, put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out in the 8th, and Aaron Heilman on the mound for the Mets. As I sat down to watch, I feared the worst.

But no. Heilman gets 1 out. Mike DiFelice, Jose Reyes, and Termel Sledge team up to get him a second. Then Carlos Delgado fields a hot smash at 1st on the shorthop and the inning is over. Really? I have a hunch that the bottom of the 8th is going to be special.

Former Met and breakout season having-reliever Heath Bell comes on for the Pads. Ron Darling points out that he's pumped up for his return to Shea, which could go in either of two directions.

It looks like it might go into the one favoring the Mets, as Reyes leads off with an infield single. After stealing second, Luis Castillo moves him to third with a slow chopper, putting the tying run at third with less than 2 outs. In the case of this Mets season, you might as well have declare the inning over and the game lost.

But once again, no. David Wright walks, Beltran's up. He's been on fire lately, but he's still earning my confidence back.

He swings through a slider. Clearly he's trying not to duplicate his ill-fated matchup with Adam Wainwright. A ball, a called strike, and a few foul balls later, the count stands at 1-2, and I can visualize Beltran's at-bat going in either of two directions. Beltran singles sharply to left, Reyes scores, and my confidence is back. That was so...easy. Where has that been...all...season?

It's a good thing Beltran didn't hit a home run, because Julio Franco is no longer around to have made him give a curtain call. That could have gotten ugly.

Who knows. All I know is that one thing stayed true to form last night, and that was Carlos Delgado's inability to hit a high fastball. A Delgado strikeout and a Moises Alou groundout later, the game remains tied and we're going to the ninth.

Once again conventional wisdom proves foolish as Billy Wagner is very lights on, losing all control and loading the bases with one out on a single, a four pitch walk, and a hit batsman. Billy escapes the inning allowing only one run on a Kevin Kouzmanoff sac fly, but the damage is done. Trevor Hoffman looms, and the Mets need another rally.

5 batters later Marlon Anderson's foot has crossed home plate and the Mets have won a wild one. My phone's ringing and I'm realizing that, as our President has proven, making decisions on "the best available evidence" can sometimes get you into trouble.

There are more WMDs in Iraq than there were raindrops at Shea last night

This was such a vintage 2006 victory, though, that it had to make any Mets fan smile, even one who should have witnessed it in person and didn't. Resiliency. Clutch hitting. The team "picking each other up," as Willie Randolph would have it.

Big ups once again to L Millz, who started the rally off of Hoffman with a sharp single to left. And to Luis Castillo, who with the single to drive in Anderson's winning run continued his role as the 776th living example of why Omar Minaya is God. Lest we forget Anderson, (the 775th living example) who before running across home plate to a jumping mob of black jerseys drove in a clapping L Millz with the tying run.

So close to that elusive 5th victory in a row...

(Photos courtesy allposters.com, cnnsi.com, wisconsinchristiannews.com)