Dan
August 3, 2000
Such a huge win during this season! My girl and I sat through a drizzly, boring eight innings in which the Mets only had one hit off of Curt Schilling. We were prepared to accept the inevitable: a lackluster loss. We were not prepared to see the boys raise from the dead and put a five-spot up in the bottom of the 9th. There were inplausible, goofy events in that half-inning, such as TWO hit batsmen. Then, Johnny O. laced a single to left-center and Roger Cedeno raced home and scored just under the tag. I stood there, mouth agape, trying to comprehend what we just witnessed. It was, in a word, amazing!

Lee
July 4, 2004
What a game! I was sitting behind home plate, a little bit on the third base side. I watched Curt Schilling totally befuddle the Mets lineup through 8 innings and it was 4-0 Phillies so I walked out and got in the car and we put it on on the radio and then I heard what was happening. The Mets were coming back! First, Robin Ventura hits a two-run shot to make it 4-2. The Mets get a few more base hits, score a run, and John Olerud steps up with the game at 4-3 and two outs and lines a base hit into left field, the tying run scores, and Cedeno slides in safe!

Paul R
May 24, 2006
It's because I left early from this game (we wanted to catch the bus home) that I never leave games early anymore. We figured that Schilling pitched so well that a 4-0 deficit would be hard to overcome. We were wrong, and while we waited outside Shea for the bus that never came, happy fans went out of Shea proclaiming the miraculous win. I remember feeling bad for having left but that win was the first of many great things for that season. Also watching the last regular season home game against the Pirates made up for having missed this classic.

Sully
December 13, 2020
As an eternal optimist when it comes to the Mets this is one of the games I always point to when telling my friends it ain't over till it's over.

Dave VW
April 26, 2024
As classic a win from 1999 as there is. Schilling, who was in the middle of a streak where he rattled off 5 consecutive complete games, was looking destined for a shutout victory, as he entered the 9th up 4-0, had retired 9 in a row, and hadn't allowed an extra-base hit all game (although contrary to Dan's comment, Curt actually allowed 7 hits over the first 8 innings, not 1. The Mets just couldn't get any big hits with runners on).

After Ventura's 2-run blast, I'm sure the thought was, "So what, bottom of the lineup coming up, Phillies will settle for a 4-2 win instead of 4-0." That looked to be the case after Brian McRae grounded out for the first out, but then Matt Franco singled and Luis Lopez got plunked to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. With the pitcher's spot up, the Mets turned to Jermaine Allensworth to pinch hit (over other possibilities like Rickey Henderson and the red-hot Benny Agbayani), and the choice worked as Allensworth clubbed a single to score Franco and get the Mets within 1.

It was officially panic time for Schilling and the Phils, and I'm sure if the team had a competent closer in 1999, they would have made the call to the bullpen. But they decided to sink or swim with Schilling. Cedeno, who had struck out 3 times already vs. Schilling in the game, was up next. On a play that had huge ramifications, Cedeno lined one right back to the pitcher, which Curt got a glove on but dropped. If he catches it, he easily throws to first for a game-ending double play. Instead, he goes to second for the force out, and then the throw goes to third, where Lopez just gets a hand in before the tag as he had almost rounded the base a little too far. Two close calls, but the Mets are still alive.

Now it's Edgardo Alfonzo, who goes down in the count 1-2 but then barely gets nicked on an inside pitch to load the bases. Here's an amazing fact: Schilling hit 2 batters in this inning; over his entire career, he never had another game in which he hit more than 1 batter. Here he hit two over the course of 4 at-bats. Clearly running on fumes, Schilling serves up a first-pitch fastball to Olerud that gets smacked into LF, scoring Lopez and Cedeno to give the Mets one of their most remarkable and improbable wins of the season.

The comeback gave a win to reliever Rigo Beltran, his only win as a Met and his last of his Major League career. This date also marked Mike Piazza's 1-year anniversary on the team.