An Obsession with the Underdog: Todd Pratt Edition

As I stated in my opening post and what's written underneath the title up top, I have and obsession with the underdog.



No, not the cartoon...

...actual real life underdogs. People and things that no one expects to do anything, let alone win. But sometimes, just sometimes they do. And it's way better than when the "excepted" happens. I wanna try and make this a regular "segment" for me, so we'll see how this goes. Up first...


Todd Pratt

Career stats:
Games AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG

662

1612

194

404

84

3

49

224

.251

Basically, this guy was a journeyman backup catcher his entire career.

After the '95 season, he went back home and worked at a pizza place until he got another chance with the Mets in '98.

In '99 the Mets made the playoffs for the first time since 1988. They ultimately would lose the NLCS 4 games to 2 against the Braves (Booooooo) but it's what happened in the mean time that counts.

Game 4 of the NLDS against the Diamondbacks, the Mets find themselves up 2 games to 1 in the series, but tied currently in game in the bottom of the 10th inning. Mike Piazza had an injured thumb, so he sat out that game, giving Todd Pratt the chance to start. Up to this point, Pratt had gone the entire series 0-7.


The Pitcher, Matt Mantei, hadn't pitched much, 1+ innings, with a few walks, but no hits or runs allowed.

SO everyone is gearing up for the 11th inning.

But to be fair, there's an at bat happening so lets give it a chance.

Pratt hits the ball to deep center field. I'm talking, dead fucking center field. At Shea Stadium, that's 410' to the wall, from a guy who's never hit more than 8 home runs in a season, with a gold glove center fielder, Steve Finley, chasing after it.

It's clear that it's gonna be close, either 2'' in front of the wall, or 2'' behind the wall.

The ball begins descending and the entire time Finley as a bead on it and then, right at the wall...


...he jumps.

The angle at which everything was at, you COULD NOT TELL if he had caught the ball. The 2 seconds of not knowing, honestly felt like an hour.

Do you have any idea what it feels like to be hyperactive excited and cripplingly terrified at the same time? It tingles, almost...


odd


Pratt, rounding 1st, actually stops running the base and begins slowing down to turn back to the dugout at which time, Finley puts his hands on his hips and looks towards left field.



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mets just won!!!!!

A walk off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning of a tied game 4 of the NLDS to end the series and send the Mets to the NLCS to fight for the Pennant!!!!

Only the 4th time in Major League Baseball history that a walk off home runs ends a playoff series and it comes from a backup catcher who was working at a pizza place 2 years earlier.

"I'm not an offensive power like Mike, but I can handle the bat all right," Pratt said, according to USA Today. "Honestly, I don't think it was that big a deal. To be honest with you, it's just like another game. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy I gave my team a chance to go to the NLCS, but I'm one guy in the mix. I could have easily been the goat today."

Dude, you have no idea. I can guarantee you that you'll be able to drink for free in any Queens bar, or any bar with a Mets fan in it, for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. If you haven't been already, that is...





As an interesting tidbit- Pratt was the runner on 1st base when Robin Ventura hit his "Grand Slam Single" in Game 5 of the NLCS. Instead of running the bases like a normal person, he stopped, turned around and was the first one to mob Ventura halfway to 2nd base. (You can actually see Vuntura wave Pratt off, saying "keep going!" in videos) The rest of the team followed suite and instead of the game ending 7-3 like it should have, the final score ended up being 4-3 as Roger Cedeno was the only Met to cross the plate.


Only in a Mets uniform could this happen...


(...Joe)