FAVORITE PIAZZA MOMENT
Then the eighth inning comes
along and you’re expecting three up
and three down and the Mets start
pecking away and the Braves can’t
get that third out and it’s one walk
after another and suddenly it’s 8-6.
The home run off Smoltz in game six of the 1999
NLCS is up there. I go pretty in depth with every
dramatic home run. I’ll go with the 10-run inning
against Atlanta in July 2000. I was at that game. It
was an incredible evening and era. In the book, I
say that was supposed to go to the game the night
before which was a big deal because John Rocker
was coming in after the Sports Illustrated interview.
I had tickets for months and my job took me out
of town and bad weather grounded my plane and
I couldn’t get back in time to see the game, which
they ended up losing anyway
I wasn’t excited about staying at the game
when they were down 8-1. But, it was fireworks
night. Nobody left. I remember thinking ‘I’m tired.
I should just go home.’ Then the eighth inning
comes along and you’re expecting three up and
three down and the Mets start pecking away and
the Braves can’t get that third out and it’s one walk
after another and suddenly it’s 8-6. Bases are
loaded and Alfonzo was up, best clutch hitter on the
team, and he hits the ball through the infield and
we have a tie game. I was really superstitious and
I was watching the game with my blogging partner
Jason and I was careful not to say too much as the
rally was mounting because you don’t want to jinx
it as a Mets fan.
I had this cup of soda with me and I was holding
onto it and chewing on it the entire half inning out
of nerves. Then Mike stands up and it sounds too
good to be true. If he hits a home run, they could
be up 11-8. And in the time it takes to think that,
he hits a line drive that could’ve crushed bricks
and we’re winning. We each turned our heads to
see a 10-run inning on the scoreboard. It was just
pandemonium. It was a fantastic night and it didn’t
win them the division or anything but it was Piazza
and the Mets at their finest. The fact that I can sit
here and say that 17 years later and be back in
that moment tells you what Piazza was capable of
giving us, because it feels as vital and vibrant as it
did then and hopefully some of that comes across
in the book.
Piazza: Catcher, Slugger, Icon, Star, published by
Sports Publishing, is available on Amazon and at
all major retail bookstores.
QNS.COM
34 SUMMER 2017