Sunday Night Fever

Jason Michael Barker

"These Mets are Rasputin-like. You cannot put them away. They will not die." -- Bob Costas, 10/17/99

Now, I remember more about Rasputin from that raging disco tune ("Ra-Ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen") than from my high school European History course, but any way you slice it, what the Mets have accomplished since the last week of the season is nothing short of remarkable.

I won't re-hash the entire chain of events, but every time the Mets have had their backs to the wall, they've come up big. "Big" in the sense that they won, not in reference to Bobby Bonilla's $5.9 million paycheck. And did he ever earn every penny this season! But I digress.

Sunday's 15-inning thriller was the sort of game that reminds you why you're a baseball fan. To me, this is how baseball was meant to be played -- a few runs early, great pitching throughout, and a healthy dose of drama at the end. It doesn't have to necessarily last 15 innings each time, but given the choice I'd much rather watch 15 tension-filled innings of low scoring baseball than a 17-13 slugfest that takes nearly as long anyway.

Bob Costas gets on my nerves sometimes, but I thought he did make a good point near the end of the game. With Todd Pratt facing Kevin McGlinchy in the bottom of the 15th, Costas mentioned yet another of the myriad of ways baseball differs from other sports. At the end of a basketball game, you can give the ball to your best player and let him try to win the game. At the end of a football game, you can leave it up to your star running back or quarterback to carry you.

Yet here was the most important moment of the game, perhaps of the series to date and certainly of the season for the Mets, and each team left the entire situation up to players who are far from the best on their respective teams.

McGlinchy is a 22-year old rookie who had only 33 innings of experience above A-ball heading into this season. He's pitched very well this season in relief after being a starter in the minors, but given the choice I'm sure Bobby Cox would have rather had Kevin Millwood, John Rocker or Greg Maddux on the hill.

And then there's Todd Pratt. Who is Todd Pratt to be at the plate at a time like this? He's a career backup catcher who has never had more than 140 at-bats in a season, that's who. The same Todd Pratt who's a full year older than Mike Piazza, yet has 224 fewer career home runs.

Instead of being disappointed by this battle, however, we baseball fans relish in it. Who would come out on top, the rookie or the journeyman? David or, well, David? In the end it was Pratt who was victorious, drawing a bases-loaded walk to set up Robin Ventura's game-winning homer, er, single.

Speaking of which, Pratt's base-on-balls now garners my vote for "Most Exciting Walk of All-Time," surpassing Doug Strange's bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth against David Cone to tie Game Five of the 1995 American League Division Series between the Yankees and Mariners. Those are the only two candidates as far as I'm concerned, but perhaps there are others I haven't been witness to.

Getting back to the game, there is a certain sense of finality when you realize that both teams have essentially used their entire roster already -- the players in the game are going to have to decide it, or else. The Braves used all but John Smoltz, Kevin Millwood and Tom Glavine, the Mets all but Rick Reed and Al Leiter. Reed was actually warming up in the bullpen in case he had to pitch the 16th, and there was some talk of using Leiter as a pinch-hitter in a bunt situation (he had 11 successful sacrifices during the regular season).

Much has been made of New York's carrying 11 pitchers while the Atlanta is only carrying nine, mostly to the effect that the Braves are better off because they can make more moves late in games and do more pinch-hitting. On Sunday, however, this choice of rosters benefited the Mets, who were able to use eight pitchers in relief of starter Masato Yoshii (including starters Orel Hershiser and Kenny Rogers), who lasted only three and a third. The Braves, on the other hand, are carrying only five relievers and used them all Sunday.

What's a bit surprising is that McGlinchy was left in to face the Mets in the bottom of the 15th. Bobby Cox has had no qualms about using his starters in relief this post-season, and he's done so with excellent results. You have to think that Kevin Millwood, who hasn't pitched since Game Two, would have been available, and even if he lost the game, with the off day he probably still could have started Game Six on Tuesday. If Millwood was forced to pitch more than just one inning, there would still be Tom Glavine on three days' rest for Game Six.

Given that he didn't pitch Millwood, it seems to me that Cox either: a. has tremendous confidence in McGlinchy, or b. he was already managing for Game Six. If it's the former, then more power to him. If it's the latter, I must wholeheartedly disagree with his decision.

Three-games-to-one lead or not, when you've got a shot at finishing off at team you've got to take it. Just ask the Cleveland Indians.

While no team has ever come back from a three-oh deficit in a best-of-seven series, there's always a first time for such heroics. After all, the Mets are just the second club ever to force a Game Six after losing the first three games. The first? The Atlanta Braves, in last season's NLCS.

Is it all that inconceivable that the Mets might pull this one out? The Braves lost four or more in a row twice this regular season, and the Mets won four or more in a row nine times in 1999. I'm not saying the Mets are going to come back an win this series, but if they do, Bobby Cox will have to look back at the 15th inning of Game Five as a missed chance to finish off the Mets for good.

Sunday's Braves-Mets game may have featured 45 players, but Jason Michael Barker wasn't one of them. Try to break it to him gently that he isn't on either roster when you write him at jmb@strikethree.com.

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