New York Teams Take Charge
Amazin' Mets Pull Out The Win
The Mets have played some memorable postseason games in their team's history. Sunday's NLCS game with the Braves will be added to that list.
The Mets, were down 3-0 in the series before Saturday's game when they scored in the eighth inning to beat the Braves and take their first game of the series.
On Sunday, the Mets stayed dead even with Atlanta until the Braves scored in the top of the 15th to take a 3-2 lead. With their backs against the wall and possibly three outs remaining in their season, the Mets managed to tie the score before Robin Ventura came to the plate with the bases loaded. Ventura came through for the Mets with just his second hit of the series: He smacked the ball over the right field wall.
The Mets, overjoyed with excitement, bombarded Ventura before he could reach second base. Officially, it was marked a single with an RBI. In most games a shot like that would have been a grand slam homer.
The Mets took Game Five 4-3, and now only trail the Braves 3-2 in the series. The two teams face each other in Game 6, in Atlanta, on Tuesday.
"If we come back and win this series, this will go down as one of the great games in history," Mets' pitcher Orel Hershiser said after the 5-hour, 46-minute epic.
Whether the Braves or the Mets win this series, this is already one of the great games in baseball history.
 AP |
| Ricky Ledee's 9th inning grand slam clinched it for the Yanks. |
This could have been the year. The year the curse of the Bambino would finally break. They don't have loads of talent but they started heating up in the Division Series and behind Pedro Martinez, baseball's best pitcher, the Red Sox were on the right track to make the next step.
Then came the Yankees, and after Sunday's loss, the Red Sox are now down 3-1 in the ALCS, and just a game away from elimination. Sunday's Game 4 stayed close until the Yankees surged in the ninth with six runs, including a grand slam homer from Ricky Ledee.
In addition, the Red Sox were hit with some bad umpire calls which drove manager Jimy Williams to an ejection after kicking dirt while arguing with the umps. Suffering from their team's frustration, the rowdy Red Sox fans started throwing garbage on the field, and the game went into an eight-minute "safety" delay.
"We're sorry for the way we acted," Boston's Mike Stanley said. "That's not right, not right at all."
When it was all over, the Yankees won the game 9-2, extending their lead i the series to 3-1 and could clinch the ALCS on Monday when the two teams stay in Boston to play Game 5.