Giants take a 4-0 lead on Leiter. But the Mets battled back in the 6th. Todd Pratt drilled a 2-run single, followed by an RBI single from Tony Phillips and an RBI groundout by Alfonzo. Luis Lopez doubled home a run in the 7th, and the Mets took a 6-4 lead into the 9th.

Except that it was another one of those John Franco 9ths. He gives up a quick run and has the tying run on base. 2 outs, 2 strikes on Bonds, you know he's going to turn over that changeup and try to drop it in on the inside corner.

Bonds lined it into RF for the tying hit. Franco was mercilessly booed as the inning ended.

In the 10th, Jose Mesa came in for the Giants and loaded the bases with nobody out. Piazza hit a shot, but right at Aurilia at SS, who threw home for the force. 1 out.

Brian McRae chopped one out to Snow at 1B. He threw home for the force. 2 out.

It came down to Lenny Harris. Harris worked the count full, then fouled off several borderline pitches from Mesa. Trying to get one he could hit. Waiting for Mesa to miss.

Finally, Mesa threw one in the dirt. Harris trotted to first, Olerud trotted home and the Mets took home a W.

Great game and an important win in the wild card chase at the time. But it's a reminder that 1998 was really Franco's worst season as a Met. He had so many of these kind of appearances.

Franco was downright awful during this period in time. This was his third blown save in his last four chances. He had also just gone the month of July with a 9.00 ERA over 11 appearances, and certainly didn't start August any better. I'm surprised neither of the previous commenters brought up the Ordonez error in the 9th, though. With Shawon Dunston on first and 2 out, Franco threw to first and had Dunston picked off. The runner took off for second and Olerud threw to Ordonez covering, but Rey straight up missed the catch and Dunston was safe. That extended the inning, and after walking Ellis Burks, Franco gave up the single to Bonds to force extras. I don't know why, but it seemed like John always had the worst luck behind him, either with bad defense or whacky bounces or something strange. Still, his days of being a capable closer are over, and thankfully the Mets realized that when they traded for Armando Benitez during the offseason.

Speaking of Dunston, he was making his first ever start in CF in this game, so the Mets weren't the only team playing people out of position in the OF. Of course, I'm speaking of the Todd Hundley experiment. Hundley actually collected an OF assist in this one, throwing out Rich Aurilia trying to stretch a single into a double in the 6th inning. Todd also got his only hit of the season as a right-handed batter in the game, collecting a single off Rich Rodriguez in the 7th. For the year, Todd was 1 for 17 with 14 strikeouts as a right-handed batter. Yuck.

There were also bases loaded opportunities galore in this game. Bonds hit with the bases juiced in the 3rd and delivered with a 2-run single. The Mets then had the bases loaded in the 4th with 1 out but failed to score when Luis Lopez popped out and Al Leiter struck out. They had the same situation in the 6th but this time came through for 4 runs, with Pratt getting the big pinch-hit single. And they then loaded the bases with no one out in the 10th which led to the eventual walkoff win. But amongst their walkoff wins in 1998, I'd say this one ranks pretty low, only because both Piazza and McRae came up woefully empty, and Harris was either going to walk or strike out looking vs. Jose Mesa. He had no intention of swinging at all. His was the Mets' first walkoff walk since August of the previous season. As luck would have it, they'd get another walkoff walk in the series finale vs. San Fran, this time Luis Lopez playing the hero with Mesa again playing the culprit.

It was also perhaps time to start worrying about Leiter. After beginning the season not allowing 4 runs in any of his first 14 starts, he's now allowed 4 runs in 4 of his last 5. He was a mess in this game, allowing at least 1 baserunner every inning, walking 5 (one intentionally), hitting a batter, and only striking out 2. Starting to wonder if maybe he did indeed come back too fast from the knee injury he suffered against the Yankees in late June, because something just doesn't seem right.