It’s commonly a negative idea to give fantastic teams any further prospects to gain.

The Mets, who came into the middle of August as arguably the best crew in baseball, took entire benefit of their opponents’ occasional generosity although repressing their very own self-inflicted issues. The end end result was five wins in 8 video games that 7 days, giving them 21 victories more than their earlier 27 online games.

A rare stumble arrived at the stop of their collection with the Giants on August 14.

Rick Reed went five scoreless innings in advance of running out of gasoline and permitting the Giants to operate wild.

In the sixth, San Francisco batted close to, plating 5 operates on four singles, a double, a hit-by-pitch, and a sac fly.

Reed ended his night time with a thud only to be succeeded by Dennis Cook, who imploded suitable from the start.

He walked two of the initially a few hitters with a Barry Bonds solitary in-involving.

Then, he relinquished RBI hits to four of the upcoming 5 batters, the last coming in opposition to opposing pitcher Russ Ortiz.

Soon after the destruction was done, so ended up the Mets.

11- was the rating, and only a late Jay Payton solo home prevented a shutout.

The Mets hadn’t shed two straight considering that July 21 and would keep it that way when they hosted the Rockies — beginning with a Tuesday doubleheader (a makeup of a Could 18 rainout).

Armando Benitez saved both of those victories, the 1st coming when New York temporarily pushed Pat Mahomes into the rotation and Mike Piazza took the recreation off.

Both difficulties were being of no concern for the Mets, who overcame a series of baserunning problems and failures with runners in scoring place.

Mahomes, while, was good (6.2 innings, a few gained runs, five hits) and backup backstop Todd Pratt went 3-for-4.

But it was in the front close of the double dip when the period of offering started.

Colorado’s bullpen couldn’t uncover it is way (or the plate) in the seventh, kicking off a string of pratfalls which New York exploited for the relaxation of the 7 days.

Soon after starter Pedro Astacio encountered problems, a parade of three Rockies relievers every experienced a tough go of it.

Two bases-loaded walks, a wild pitch, and a groundout turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead.

The Mets scored once again in the eighth on nonetheless one more errant supplying.

In the nightcap, it appeared as if Todd Zeile was offering one again to the Rockies.

He allowed Colorado to tie it when he made an error on Todd Hollandsworth‘s floor ball to 1st foundation to guide off the seventh.

Hollandsworth scored when Zeile fielded a sharp grounder but had no engage in at home.

Redemption arrived in the eighth in the variety of a solo homer that Zeile sent in excess of the left-industry fence.

Benitez arrived on and preserved that 4-3 benefit with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Any New York fielding glitches the subsequent night were being repressed against Masato Yoshii.

The former Met was greeted harshly by the bats of Zeile, Robin Ventura, Benny Agbayani, and a lot more.

Yoshii departed following 5 innings, but not in advance of allowing ten hits and 9 operates.

He did himself no favors, either — doling out five free of charge passes and also committing a wild pitch that led to the ninth and remaining operate.

Nonetheless, a seemingly best working day for New York was marred when Mike Hampton had to leave in the fourth because of a rib injury induced by a swing when batting a person inning previously.

New York hadn’t let injuries impact itself lately and it wouldn’t on the afternoon of this 13-2 thrashing.

The Mets continued their succession of NL West opponents when they traveled to face the group Piazza started out with and the place inner thoughts on his departure still reverberated.

Piazza still left Los Angeles additional than two a long time prior, traded in the wake of a failed deal negotiation, which was contemptuous at very best.

He homered in his return previous year from Kevin Brown. And in the opener this year, he did the very exact factor.

Piazza’s two-operate blast off Brown crafted the Mets benefit to 3- in the third inning.

The Dodgers rallied to tie it, but Edgardo Alfonzo was there to rescue New York.

He singled for the 3rd time on the evening in the seventh to provide in Joe McEwing.

Piazza delivered some coverage with a ninth-inning strike that scored Alfonzo and ensured Mike would have a fifth straight 100-RBI year.

Immediately after the Mets bats went silent and unsuccessful to assist Rick Reed, they responded Sunday with nine operates on 10 hits.

But they acquired plenty of aid to get there.

In the collection finale, the Dodger items were being coming in swiftly by the eighth inning.

With the rating tied at six, Mike Bordick on third and Darryl Hamilton on initially, Lenny Harris strike a comebacker to reliever Terry Adams.

He caught Bordick, breaking for household on get hold of, in a rundown.

Adams threw to third baseman Adrian Beltre, who then threw the ball to the plate — but the toss went above the head of catcher Todd Hundley.

Bordick and Hamilton scored.

The very next batter, Derek Bell, strike a grounder through the legs of next baseman Mark Grudzielanek which authorized another operate to score.

The Mets’ 9-6 victory did not end without having a scare — precisely, a Mike Piazza personal injury scare.

He tumbled into the stands of his outdated stomping grounds when catching a pop up in foul territory in the ninth inning.

With no one in the front row of seats to crack his drop, Piazza landed on the concrete.

He arrived away somewhat unscathed and manufactured the out.

Whilst the Mets had shut in on the Atlanta Braves for the guide in the NL East, they would physically keep on being far apart for the foreseeable long run.

The up coming time they’d see Atlanta would be September 18 at Turner Field.

As a result, the only approaches New York could defeat the group that has dominated the division for the earlier 10 years ended up if it went on a torrid tempo or if the Braves had a slump in them.

Neither would materialize this 7 days.

Atlanta went 4-2 to counter the Mets’ 5-3 mark.

So, the margin in between the two clubs on August 20 was the same it was seven times prior to — with the defending Countrywide League champs up by 1.5 game titles.

But with their 21-6 extend, New York had strengthened its maintain on the Wild Card.