The Game

“September was when it began” — Weldon Kees, The Coming of the Plague

The Mets rapped out an efficient 3-2 win on Sunday, capping a convincing sweep of the once-mighty Atlanta Braves. They’re done, folks. They’re not going to make up eight games in the loss column when their two aces only get five more starts apiece. Given that they traded their entire AAA team for a hefty first baseman and a reliever with a broken arm, they’re not looking so hot for 2008, either. We’ll miss these guys.

We’ll miss John Smoltz at least. Is he retiring? It’s hard to see a competitor like him coming back at age 41 to go 12-10 for an also-ran, even for $14 million. However much you hate the Braves you have to admire Smoltz. Matching zeros with Jack Morris in Game Seven back when Nevermind was hot, screaming at his teammates to get off the mat and put some hurt on Andy Pettite in Game Five back when Bob Dole was on the cover of Newsweek, working on short rest to pitch the final contest of the 2006 season after the Braves had already been eliminated — this guy’s a gamer.

He came back on short rest to face the Mets on Sunday, and it showed. Not that he got rocked by any means, but he couldn’t throw a breaking pitch for a strike if his season depended on it; by the fourth inning he looked positively gassed. Still, he battled. He escaped a bases-loaded one-out jam in the second by inducing a sacrifice fly before striking out Jose Reyes. But the sac fly was ripped by Tom Glavine and was nearly a bases-clearing double, not a good omen for Smoltz’s second hour on the mound.

The bill came due in the fifth. With one away, Reyes popped up the first pitch, and Yunel Escobar was kind enough to lose it in the sun for a single. One out later David Wright lined a get-me-over meatball some 400 feet to center for a two-run homer; Smoltz knew it was gone before Wright had even finished his swing. Carlos Beltran ripped the next pitch for a double, prompting a visit to the mound by Roger McDowell and prompting the musical question, what the hell can McDowell possibly teach Smoltz about pitching? It’s like Joan Didion being edited by Buzz Bissinger. Unless Smoltz needs to give someone a hot foot, Roger can stay in the dugout. Mets up 3-1 at half-time.

That’s right, the Braves had only one run at this point; Glavine must have been doing something right. Credit him for working inside, and for throwing some pitches that didn’t come in arrow-straight. He might have been working on a shutout were it not for a first-inning vapor lock. Atlanta loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk; Jeff Francoeur rapped a slow one to Wright, who was too busy fantasizing about a double play or something to get the force at home. One run in and that’s all for the day. The Braves scored four runs in three games; unless you plan on traveling back to 1968, that won’t get it done.

Billy Wagner got it done in the ninth, barely; he gave up a double and an RBI single to the first two batters he faced. The Braves had the tying run aboard with nobody out and their next hitter, Pete Orr, ripped the ball something fierce. Unfortunately for Atlanta, Orr was trying to lay down a bunt; Carlos Delgado got the force play to keep the tying run at first. Wagner got the next two hitters to close it out, but not before throwing seven, count ‘em seven pickoff attempts at Orr, who has as many stolen bases this year as Bobby Orr. Billy’s still new at this whole “keeping runners close” thing.

The Haiku

Beautiful sunset
Deepest blue and bright orange
Goodnight, Atlanta

The Boxscore

The Credits

Recap by David Simons
Haiku by Howard Megdal