Mets hit back in dramatic style

The New York Mets saved their season with another dramatic finish last night and finally silenced John Rocker, when they narrowed the gap in the best-of-7 series by 3 games to 1 in the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves in New York last night.In a game that saw John Olerud hit a two-out, two-run single off Rocker in the eighth innings and the Mets avoided a sweep in the NLC Series with a 3-2 victory over the Braves. The Mets have to win game five, which takes place at Shea Stadium this afternoon, to keep the series alive. But both teams will have a hard time topping this game for drama.

The New York Mets saved their season with another dramatic finish last night and finally silenced John Rocker, when they narrowed the gap in the best-of-7 series by 3 games to 1 in the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves in New York last night.In a game that saw John Olerud hit a two-out, two-run single off Rocker in the eighth innings and the Mets avoided a sweep in the NLC Series with a 3-2 victory over the Braves. The Mets have to win game five, which takes place at Shea Stadium this afternoon, to keep the series alive. But both teams will have a hard time topping this game for drama.

Olerud drove in all three New York runs, breaking a scoreless duel between Atlanta's John Smoltz and New York's Rick Reed with a solo home run in the sixth innings. Reed took a one-hitter into the eighth, having faced the minimum of 21 hitters, when the Braves stunned the raucous crowd of 55,872 with back-to-back homers by Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko.

Smoltz gave up a single to Roger Cedeno leading off the eighth, the third hit of the game for the New York player. After Rey Ordonez popped up an attempted sacrifice bunt, Mike Remlinger entered the game and struck out pinch-hitter Benny Agbayani.

Remlinger walked the next batter, Melvin Mora, and Rocker sprinted in from the bullpen for the fourth straight time in the series. He had infuriated New York fans with his inflammatory comments and kept up the trash talking before the game, boasting that he would be immersed in champagne at the end of Game 4.

While Rocker charged toward the mound, one fan threw a baseball and another launched a cup of beer. Both missed the mark, but the Mets didn't. Barely paying attention to the runners, Rocker allowed them to pull off a double steal. Then, on a 2-2 pitch, Olerud hit a high chopper up the middle. Rocker leaped for it but had no chance. Ozzie Guillen, who had just entered the game, got his glove on the ball but could not hold on and it rolled into short center field, while both runners scored. Rocker stood near the mound with his hands on his hips in disgust.

Guillen nearly added another twist in the ninth innings, hitting a long drive that cleared the wall in right but hooked just foul. Armando Benitez settled down to get the final three outs and a save, something that Rocker failed to do.