What's Gonna Work? Teamwork!

Did you know that for just 50 cents a day, you can help feed a small village?

Why not make it the small village that the Mets left on the bases tonight?

I mean, there were so many Mets stranded tonight, you'd think FEMA was in charge.

But in the true style of The Wonder Pets, the Mets finally worked together and saved the day, although it took them fourteen innings to do it by a score of 8-7.

"David...Cliff..and Julio too, we're the Wonder Mets and we'll help you."

Every Met had their issues with leaving men on base...but the two biggest offenders came through with the two biggest hits of the game. The first came in the seventh inning, and it was Paul Lo Duca. Duke left a ton of runners on base tonight, but in the seventh inning, he whacked the double that chased Kyle Davies from tonight's game. With the Braves bullpen being what it was (and being what it was in the seventh inning), you would have thought that the newest Met killer Davies would have went nine if given the opportunity. But Duke's double in the seventh insured that the Mets would get a crack at the putrid Braves pen, and the heart of the Mets lineup took the advantage that they needed (although unfortunately, not any more than that).

Then there's Cliff Floyd, who hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the third, and left them loaded in the 8th. I remember thinking during his at bat against Reitsma in inning eleven that this was a tough spot Floyd was in. Yeah, he got the ribbie on the roller in the seventh, but for a guy that was slumping, it was going to be hard for him to put past troubles out of his mind in that big spot...especially trying to pick up Country Time after he gave up a dinger to Wilson Betemit in his second inning of work. I would have put money on Cliff Floyd overswinging in that situation.

But Chris Reitsma gave Floyd a high fastball on a tee. And in return, I think we should pool together and send Reitsma a thank you card for giving back the game and putting Floyd on the right track at the same time. Perhaps a cake from Veniero's.

Then, it was just a matter of who would run out of gas first...luckily it would be Jorge Sosa, who surprisingly made it through five outs before finally imploding. But how costly will this win be? Consider: while both bullpens will be tired going into Saturday afternoon, the Braves have Tim Hudson, who you can lay even odds on going nine. Who do the Mets have? Someone who isn't going to go nine innings.

And what of Sunday? Tonight's loser Sosa was supposed to be Sunday's Brave starter, which probably would have spelled W-I-N for the Mets. But will that still be the case? Will the Braves dip down to their rookie league to call up yet another 16 year old kid that the Mets aren't going to hit because they haven't seen him before (see "The S.U.C.K. M.E. Theory"...doesn't that sound like it should be Matt Damon's next project?)

But at this very moment, there's no matter. Because the Mets needed a team effort to win tonight and got it...from David Wright's game winner to Carlos Beltran's homer and alert play to set up the winning run, taking second base Brian McCann's passed ball in the 14th...to Jose Reyes' 5 hits to everyone who chipped in during that pivotal seventh inning (yes Kaz, you too)...even the announcers helped out by wearing rally caps late in the game (which was funny because in their exuberance to root for a run to end the game, they paused to worry because it sounded almost like they were rooting for the Mets to win and made it clear that they were only rooting for the game to end. Gary and Keith were actually worried about sounding impartial...White Sox announcers Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson are laughing at them because Hawk and D.J. can't spell "impartial" let alone implement it into their craft.) The Mets even made a winner out of Jorge Julio...but really, Julio made a winner of himself as he worked around a Larry Jones single to set down the Braves in the 14th. You knew that this was going to be the only way Julio was going to get an opportunity in a close game...when the Mets ran out of pitchers in a long game. But Armando Junior beat the Braves. "Armando: The Original" never beat the Braves...not when it mattered. So give Armando Junior credit, and perhaps...give him another chance.

What's gonna work? Teamwork...Go Wonder Mets!