Green Must Go

From MLB.com wrap of last night's game:

Just the same, Wright can recall the Septembers of his first two years and how uncomfortable it was to play the Braves as they went about the process of elimination. Wright can remember what he sensed when the Braves were the Mets' opponent and pushing toward their umpteenth straight division championship.

"I don't want to say we were intimidated," Wright said, "but you always had that feeling they were going to do something. You always wondered, 'What are they doing to do this time? Who's going to make the play that turns this game?'"

Some 45 minutes after the Mets had pushed the 2007 Braves to the verge of elimination, Wright weighed the uncompromising and comprehensive performance that the Mets had given in the 3-2 victory on Monday, and he thought he saw some of the old Braves in the current Mets. His team had made the plays, his team had made the pitches. The Braves hadn't.

"I know we're not there," Wright said.

And he knows it's likely no team will duplicate the run the Braves made before the Mets put an end to it last season.

"But tonight," Wright said, "I think we played like they did."

"I know how we felt when the Braves would handle us," Wright said. "You almost felt like they'd just be waiting to do it."

Wright also spoke of the return of the Mets' swagger, three innings after he demonstrated it. At the time he batted in the sixth inning, the Mets needed a sacrifice fly.

"I just wanted to elevate anything I got," he said.

Instead, Wright hit his 28th home run, a career high -- with Jose Reyes on base -- against losing pitcher Tim Hudson to provide Perez a thee-run lead and answer the question: "Who's going to make the play that turns this game?"

And late. A sprawling catch in left-center field by Beltran ended the game and answered the question: "What are they going to do this time?" Three innings earlier, Luis Castillo sneaked in behind Hudson, the runner on second base, and completed the pickoff of the Braves pitcher.

No one in the Mets' clubhouse knew enough to say, "They used to make plays like that to beat us." But the Braves did. Now the Mets do. They're playing exceptionally well, beating the better pitchers, too, including Hudson twice. Wright's home run was the third the Mets have hit in two games against Hudson (15-8) in 11 days. He has allowed nine home runs all season.

With the Phillies following the Braves into Shea Stadium this week, "hopefully, by the end of the week, we can put an emphatic exclamation point on the season," said Randolph.

The Braves used to do that.

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Obama's least favorite scripture: Even while we were with you, you gave you this rule: "Whoever does not work should not eat." - 2 Thes 3:10

Kid A

Called taking care of business. Up until the last series, the braves have done that against the mets, but not against anyone else.

Now the Mets just need to keep putting in those final nails on the braves coffin.

Green Must Go

I agree, but some here have claimed that the intimidation factor is nonsense. Wright seems to indicate that the Braves were certainly in the Mets heads.

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Obama's least favorite scripture: Even while we were with you, you gave you this rule: "Whoever does not work should not eat." - 2 Thes 3:10

CVBTank

That may be because with the possible exception of Tom Glavine, no one on this team had to live through the agony of the Braves constantly overcoming the Mets. There'd be a certain level of absurdity in Tom pointing out "Hey David, this is how we used to beat up on the Mets when I was a Brave."

Gregory Gewirtz

Wright's comments are unconvincing. The Mets won a 3-2 game at home against a struggling pitcher. The Mets are clearly the better team and they have been hot recently. That has not generally been the case in past years. Wright can spare us this "Rocky" backstory as though this was a really a battle of personalities.

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15 Day DL Alou

when you get your ass kicked from Timbuktu to Tokoyo for 9 odds years especially on the road by one team you could call it intimidation, or just as easily poorly matched teams

Kid A

The point is, knock the Braves down, and keep kicking them. When the mets were on the verge in 1998, 2001, 2005, that is exactly what the Braves did. I dont see any Rocky backstory, you can be a superior team and still struggle against an inferior team. At the end of the day, still have to play the game, the Mets are finally getting that.

NeilAllen

While it was a cute running joke and all, I agree with you completely. I think that anyone who likes to pretend that professional baseball players are robots where these things don't have any impact are kidding themselves. These guys are human beings playing a grueling 162 game season and these kind of emotional-mental things do play a factor.

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15 Day DL Alou

If a grown man is intimidated by another, I submit that it is simply acknowledgement that the other person is better than them.

NeilAllen

I'll tell you where I think imtimidation absolutely was a factor: the 2000 World Series. The Mets had a superior team and most definitely had that look of a team intimidated and waiting for doom, even at those rare times when they were shocked to find themselves in the lead.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." --H.L. Mencken

Dewitt Clinton

Hudson was hardly a "struggling pitcher" last night. At one point in the game, he had retired 13 consecutive batters on ground outs. The Mets clustered two hits and ground outs in the first inning to plate one run, and he made one mistake to Wright in the 6th. He was outstanding last night, he just was out pitched by Ollie Perez and the Met bullpen.

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Ambler, revealing his true colors for all but him to see.

MetfanBren

We had to read over the top bunk like this for how many years? We even had to read it when the Mets were six games up but 4-8 against the Braves this year, especially from Met fans. Wright can say whatever the hell he wants, it's guys like Francoeur who are now resorting to fake rage in order to fire up their team...

Rey-YES

Intimidation may have been a factor, but even I (who have been called someone who is "blind to any Mets flaws") wouldn't dare call the Mets the "superior" team.

With a line-up that included Benny, JayPay, and Timo in the OF, Bordick/Abbott at SS, and Todd Zeile at 1B, compared to a Yankee line-up that included Jeter, Posada, Bernie, Martinez, Brosius and Knoblauch, only the managerial superiority of Bobby V might have brought victory.

Pitching-wise, Mike Hampton was an All-Star for us (though he folded in the WS), but Leiter/Reed/Rusch as SPs vs Clemens/Pettitte/Duque was a mismatch. Throw in Mando vs Rivera closing, and it gets worse.

A "superior" Mets team? C'mon, Neil, what are you smoking?

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Green Must Go

I'd say the Mets that year overachieved, if anything.

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Obama's least favorite scripture: Even while we were with you, you gave you this rule: "Whoever does not work should not eat." - 2 Thes 3:10

Rey-YES

Exactly.

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