On the Mets beat

Carlos Beltran made a catch in the 14th inning of last night’s game that had to be seen to be believed.
Haven’t seen the highlight yet? You will. Imagine the Mets centerfielder running full speed toward a fence 436 feet from home plate and then having to run up a steep incline because Minute Maid Park has a hill in dead center and then imagine him catching it while falling down.
With the tying run on second and two out, Beltran did all that on Luke Scott’s drive. He misses it, the game’s over.
And then, for good measure, Beltran drove in the go-ahead run in the 17th inning as the Mets won, 5-3, in their longest game in innings since 1993. The game took five hours and nine minutes.
“When I was with Houston [in 2004] I took flies almost every day working on that hill,” Beltran said. “You work on that, but you don’t know if it’s going to happen in a game. But today it did happen. As soon as he hit the ball, I knew I was going to be able to get to the ball. I just went there and thank God that I was able to make the catch and save the game. You’ve got to change the way you run because if you run the way you normally run you’re going to fall down. As soon as I hit the warning track I just started doing high-knees, making my leg go higher. When I felt like I was on top of that hill, the only thing I needed to do was look for the ball. The ball was kind of going to the right side.”
In the 17th, Beltran’s single to right off Brian Moehler (1-3) drove in Jose Reyes, who had walked with one out, moved to third on Ruben Gotay’s perfect hit-and-run single and ran hard all the way around the bases (no repeating Friday night’s mistake).
David Wright, who had tied it at 3 with a solo home run 10 innings earlier, drove in an insurance run with a single to left.
Aaron Sele (2-0), the Mets’ seventh pitcher, got the win with two innings of shutout ball. Billy Wagner, who warmed up nine different times, pitched the 17th for his 17th save. Manager Willie Randolph used his entire bullpen; the Astros scored three runs in the fourth off Tom Glavine and then not again as Mets relievers threw 10 shutout frames.
Paul Lo Duca, in his first game back after a two-game suspension, went 0-for-8 for the Mets. The game tied for the longest in innings in baseball this season.
“A classic game,” said Randolph. “A good win, a grind-it-out kind of win. You don’t want to lose a game like that.”
This is what you get when you have a stadium with a roof: You get to play when it rains. Even when it pours.
Torrential rains have fallen in Houston ever since the Mets arrived here by flying through thunderstorms from Denver late Wednesday night. But the roof at Minute Maid Park means the games can go off inside no matter what’s going on outside.
Glavine pitched well enough to win, but had to settle for ending the first half with seven wins on the season and 297 in his career. He allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings with one walk and one strikeout.
The Astros touched him for three two-out runs in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead. The Mets were no-hit for the first four innings by 40-year-old Woody Williams. Wright led off the fifth with a single before Carlos Delgado hit his s 14th home run, a two-run shot to cut it to 3-2.
The Mets tied the score in the seventh when Wright led off with a home run to left, his 16th. They had a chance to take the lead in the eighth when Reyes and Gotay singled with two outs. But Beltran struck out.
The Mets had another rally snuffed out in the ninth when rookie centerfielder Hunter Pence gunned out Lo Duca at third base for the final out of the inning. Lo Duca was heading for the bag on a single by Green when Pence uncorked an inhuman on-the-fly throw to nail him.
And in the 10th, Reyes singled with two outs and stole second after nearly getting picked off. But Gotay struck out to end the inning.
At the start of the game, the Astros were without No. 3 hitter Lance Berkman, who didn’t mind getting the day off since he’s 2-for-18 lifetime against Glavine. Berkman was available to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth, when a pair of two-out singles against Aaron Heilman had the Astros poised to party. But Pedro Feliciano struck him out on three pitches to send the game into extra innings.
The Mets let another golden opportunity slip away in the 12th. Green led off with an infield single and was sacrificed to second by Ricky Ledee. Pinch hitter Julio Franco lined a single to right. Green was waved home by third base coach Sandy Alomar but wisely stopped himself rounding third; rightfielder Burke’s one-hop throw would have gotten him by plenty.
Reyes was next with the infield in, but he grounded the first pitch to third for the second out. Miller then struck out Gotay.