If Edgardo Alfonzo were a basketball player, he would be the king of hitting the game-tying bucket at the end of regulation before Jimmy Hoops hit the game-winning OT three from midcourt to be lauded by everyone.
Alfonzo, for two years now the Mets’ best postseason performer, did it again last night. If it were not for him, the Mets today are likely trying to figure out how they are going to come back from being down 2-1 in this NLDS series with the Giants instead of being up 2-1.
There were two outs in the eighth and the Mets were down 2-1. Dusty Baker brought in Robb Nen to shut down the Mets.
With Nen in, Lenny Harris, on first, smartly took advantage of the closer not paying attention to him and took off for second as Alfonzo took a strike. Then Alfonzo, who still needs to ice his bad hip and groin after games, took a ball before slamming Nen’s 1-1 pitch into the left-field corner and Harris glided home. It was 2-2.
“Fonzie’s entire career it seems like he does the big thing that gets us to the point where we have a chance to win, and then somebody else does something right at the end,” Bobby Valentine said.
Benny Agbayani hit the three from midcourt (a bomb into the bleachers) and Alfonzo was almost forgotten.