Walk It Off: Mets 4, Braves 3

by Eric Simon on May 12, 2009 11:53 PM EDT

After Monday night's suckfest, that the Mets somehow made it out of this game with a win really puts a shine on what could've been a very regrettable first two games of the Braves series. Really, there were so many weird/head-scratching/horrifying plays in this game that the Mets should really consider themselves lucky that Wednesday's game will be a rubber match.

Here's a quick recap of the madness.

Garret Anderson bloop in between Reyes and Beltran with one out and Chipper on first in the fourth
Anderson's trap on Murphy's fliner that resulted in a fielder's choice putout of Alex Cora at second
Casey Kotchman's fliner that Beltran trapped two batters later
Wright thrown out at home on a would-be sacrifice fly by Tatis to end the seventh
Jose Reyes thrown out stretching a double into a triple in the eighth (Bob Ojeda "likes the aggression")
Carlos Beltran almost (actually maybe) caught stealing in the ninth.
Fernando Tatis caught stealing second in the ninth
Beltran almost striking out looking in the tenth

On top of all of this, the Mets featured one of their weakest lineups of the season, making the come-from-behind victory even more surprising.

Wednesday's game is a matinée, so get here early before all of the good seats are taken.

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Talking Chop Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Carlos Beltran, +67.7% WPA, Francisco Rodriguez, +18.4% WPA
Big losers: David Wright, -17.9% WPA, Fernando Tatis, -17.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Beltran walkoff walk, +33.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Kotchman RBI single in fourth, -12.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +23.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: +26.4% WPA
GWRBI!: Carlos Beltran

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by DevonEdwards; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	DevonEdwards	268
2	future	186
3	squid92	117
4	JoshNY	96
5	JohnPeterson	82
6	EMSfan9	68
7	Gina	67
8	jasondg	66
9	Prince	61
10	JADDENHOPKINS	58

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Comments

I didn't see the game

But I hope it shuts up the “Mets lack grit/edge/heart” crowd for a little while. I know Beltran clogged up the bases in the 10th, but a win is a win.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on May 13, 2009 12:10 AM EDT reply actions

also

Pelfrey appears to have had another very nice game, with an 11-6 GB-FB and 7IP, 6H, 2R, 1BB, 3K.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on May 13, 2009 12:16 AM EDT reply actions

2 unrelated thoughts.

1. Percent chance Ollie is cut sometime before the end of his contract? He’s at best the #4 starter on this team right now, and honestly, for the long term (this point forward), I’d prefer seeing what Niese has every fifth day as opposed to Perez. So what, $12 mil a year for a #5? I think that between Holt and Gee coming up in the rotation sometime before the end of 2010 and any possible trades/signings of FA starting pitchers, Ollie is the odd man out.
2. How do you guys vote for All-Star ballots? I usually vote for Mets that deserve to be in the conversation at their positions, and fill the rest out with the most deserving. So, in essence, the Mets I’m voting for are Beltran, Reyes, Wright. You guys?

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on May 13, 2009 12:21 AM EDT reply actions

I vote strictly based on looks

by Gina on May 13, 2009 1:19 AM EDT up reply actions

throw in Castillo

and you gotta deal

by EMSfan9 on May 13, 2009 1:29 AM EDT up reply actions

I vote Pujols for every position

b/c I want the NL to win in case the Mets make the World Series.

No, usually I vote based on who’s having the best season. I’ll usually vote once every two weeks or so and will adjust my voted accordingly if one player has slumped or gotten really hot. And I always bump the Mets up a little bit, so last year I voted for Wright even though technically Chipper was a little better in the first half.

by cjmulrain on May 13, 2009 3:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Again

You may call me the embigginator. Can we get a gamethread embiggining standings?

by DevonEdwards on May 13, 2009 12:22 AM EDT reply actions

Thank you Carlos Beltran

For making me forget how big a clusterfuck this game could have been. And thank you third base umpire, for making Chipper Jones so angry. His misery brings me so much joy.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 13, 2009 1:00 AM EDT reply actions

carlos should be thanking himself

he would have gotten a lot of crap for that defensive misplay on the anderson bloop if the mets had lost

by englishgrey on May 13, 2009 1:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Carlos Beltran, +67.7% WPA

good lord, that’s a lot of winning — and he had the GWRBI. what a stud!

by englishgrey on May 13, 2009 1:10 AM EDT reply actions

Great game!

Not the kinda game the un-gritty Mets win…but they did this time. Good signs. Add David Wright’s meek foul out, not advancing Beltran to third, in the 9th to the list.

The 2009 NY Mets: WE GOT K-ROD! OMG, Putz, too! Sign Lowe! Lowe's a Brave. Sign Manny! Tim Redding, WTF? Sign Manny! Sheets or Perez? SHEETS! Perez?? Oh, Sheets is hurt -- good job, Minaya! WTF?! SIGN MANNY!

by ZaBlanc on May 13, 2009 1:29 AM EDT reply actions

And yet.

It’s been a crazy year so far, hasn’t it, Mets? Not a year of much consistency. We started having to chase the Florida Marlins. We were placing Oliver Perez on homicide watch after he wound up being Oliver Perez instead of Derek Lowe. Our collective hearts went into shock whenever Santana pitched — would this be the day the offense didn’t take him for granted? Nothing has been easy.

But wait, there’s more. There were calls for firing the manager, firing the GM, firing the entire team. We saw the new ballpark and instantly wished to change the name. We used it to slam the team in vulgar fashion. Collectively we married and divorced Murphy about 5300 times in April alone. Anyone who wasn’t an all-star was a bum.

Carlos Delgado’s knees became as important a body part as we’ve had all year. “Grission” became the new buzzword, and entire flame-heavy threads centered around whether we had it or they had it or what. We wound up winning games on bizarre errors and losing them on confusing pitching matchups. Every move has been second-guessed, scrutinized, re-assessed, trumped, and debated by the thousands of Mets fans.

The pains of Septembers past led to an insanity. Seasons were declared won and lost over one game. Memories of 1986 freely interchanged with memories of 1962 in the minds of those who saw the games. We curse the moves we made, the moves we didn’t make, the moves we couldn’t make and the moves we’re glad we got away with. The roller coaster continued, through the valley of being only above the lowly Nationals to the race up to the mountain and the attempt to fall back down.

And yet.

18-14. 32 games down. That’s about 1/5th of the season, so multiply that by 5. The Mets are on pace for 90 wins. After all this, we’re right where we should be. Somehow.

by WWORDuke on May 13, 2009 8:27 AM EDT reply actions

So.... 89-74, 1 game out again?

by JohnPeterson on May 13, 2009 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Chipper Jones

Apparently playing Bases Loaded 3:

"It came down to one play and he got it wrong. I never had a guy slide into my glove and be safe," Jones said. "We played a perfect game tonight and we lost."

While Jaleco did hire famed baseball player Ryne Sandberg for an endorsement, this installment of the game did not feature real teams or players. More unpopular with players, however, was the somewhat bizarre premise that “playing a perfect game”, not winning a pennant, was the game’s ultimate goal.

by JohnPeterson on May 13, 2009 10:29 AM EDT reply actions