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Keep your mojo risin'

The New York Mets were left for dead towards the end of the regular season. They had lost seven games in a row and manager Bobby Valentine was even calling for his own head.

They couldn't beat the Atlanta Braves, they were falling out of the Wild Card race to the Cincinnati Reds and their potent lineup of Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura, John Olerud, Rickey Henderson and Edgardo Alfonzo were completley shutting down.

In came the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Mets found themselves once again. They swept the Pirates, while the Brewers were handling the Reds. The Reds needed to win two games, they ended up winning only one. The Mets needed to win all three, and they accomplished the task.

A one-game playoff was set between the two teams and Mets destroyed the Reds with timely hitting and great pitching from Al Leiter.

Next up, the almost unbeatable foe in the regular season, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Alfonzo came through with the slam in game one, but the D'Backs came back in game two and punished the Mets with great hitting and pitching. Games three and four were in New York and the Mets failed to let their home crowd down.

Todd Pratt, playing for the injured Piazza, brought the heroics to a climax with his game- winning home run in the 10th against Matt Mantei in game four, ending the series with a 3-1 advantage to the Mets.

Sitting right over the horizon was the possibility of a Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees, something New York fans live for. A Subway Series? Wow, the city would be at the grips of madness.

But, staring the Mets in the face was a team that they have had tremendous difficulty with. The Atlanta Braves were waiting for New York to arrive in Turner Field. They waited, and when the Mets finally arrived, they formally introduced themselves once again as the experienced playoff team.

The Braves beat the Mets in games one and two. They seemed down, they were hurt, but they were going home.

The Shea Stadium faithful were awaiting their heroes with open arms, and they were awaiting Larry "Chipper" Jones and John Rocker with open mouths.

But, once again, the Braves proved they may be unstoppable when playing the Mets as they won game three also.

Now it was gut-check time, time to throw out the first three games and play for their lives. It was time for the Mets to prove to the nation that they are not a team that will fade quietly into the Queens' night. The cities skyline was lit up and the fans still thought a Subway Series was possible.

The question - did the Mets still think it was possible?

Well, game four came and went and the Mets lived another day, in what was, another great playoff game.

Onto game five, perhaps one of the greatest playoff games ever played. A game that will most certainly be on ESPN Classic sometime soon. A 15-inning barn burner. A test of wills in the pouring rain.

The Braves went up 3-2 in the top of the 15th inning and all seemed almost lost for the Mets. But Shawon Dunston redeemed himself with a hit after failing to make the play in center field that let the Braves cross home plate.

The Mets tied it up at three, and with the bases loaded, Robin Ventura sent the "pill" into the New York City air. Grand slam, Mets win 7-3, right? Wrong. The Mets did win, but the final read 4-3 because the hero of game four in the divisional series, Todd Pratt, decided to not let Ventura finish his home run trot.

It didn't matter, the Mets lived another day. They survived what could have been the end to their tumultuous and trying, yet thrilling and amazing season.

What happens tonight still remains to be seen. No team has ever come back to win from three games down, but I have a feeling that their is just something special about this group of guys that put on the Mets uniform on a daily basis. Something may have been in the air in New York, it may vanish when they go to Atlanta, but just when the critics and press say this team is down and out, they come back and prove everybody wrong.

In 1969 they were called Amazin', "The Miracle Mets", in 1986 the slogan "Ya Gotta Believe" came out, so as the Mets play for their fate tonight in not so Hotlanta, they are going to try to "Keep their Mojo Risin'" and stay alive for one more day.