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New York Mets: The best moments of Mike Piazza’s Mets career

By Michael Carballeira

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 30: Mike Piazza waves to the fans before his number retirement ceremony before the start of a game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets at Citi Field on July 30, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 30: Mike Piazza waves to the fans before his number retirement ceremony before the start of a game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets at Citi Field on July 30, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza (2nd R) is congratulated by teammates Edgardo Alfonso (L) and Derek Bell (R) after he drove the two men in with a three-run homer over the left field wall in the bottom of the eighth inning that put the Mets ahead 11-8 against the Atlanta Braves 30 June 2000 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, NY. The Mets scored 10 runs in the inning tieing a team record as they came from behind to beat the Braves 11-8.(ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/Matt CAMPBELL (Photo by MATT CAMPBELL / AFP) (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)
New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza (2nd R) is congratulated by teammates Edgardo Alfonso (L) and Derek Bell (R) after he drove the two men in with a three-run homer over the left field wall in the bottom of the eighth inning that put the Mets ahead 11-8 against the Atlanta Braves 30 June 2000 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, NY. The Mets scored 10 runs in the inning tieing a team record as they came from behind to beat the Braves 11-8.(ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/Matt CAMPBELL (Photo by MATT CAMPBELL / AFP) (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images) /

The ten run rally

Another Mets vs Braves rivalry game and here we find ourselves on June 30th, 2000. It was a Friday night and also fireworks night at Shea Stadium and the Mets brought nothing close to fireworks early in the night.

The Braves jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after a bases-loaded walk that was set up by another walk to the previous batter. In the top of third, the Braves brought in another three runs off Mike Hampton after a walk and a couple of hits to set up bases-loaded once again.

Trailing 5-0 in the seventh inning the Mets struck to cut the Braves lead to 5-1 and have a little hope at a comeback. That hope was almost put away after the Braves scored three more in the top of the eighth to nearly to the Mets to bed for the night.

Fans stayed around only to watch the postgame fireworks because other than that the stadium might have started letting out at that point. Little did the fans know that they were about to get an early glimpse of fireworks but these fireworks were from the Mets lineup.

With one out and men on second and third Robin Ventura grounded out to second and brought in one run. The score was now 8-2 Braves but with two outs in the bottom of the eighth; here began the fireworks.

After back-to-back singles from Todd Ziele and Jay Payton the Mets cut the lead to 8-3 and here is where Braves pitchers imploded. After the Payton at-bat, Braves pitching combined to walk four straight batters to bring in another three runs. After another two-run single to tie the game at eight, up came Mike Piazza with two men on and Shea Stadium rocking.

Terry Mulholland still on the mound for the Braves and his first pitch to Piazza was the icing on the cake with Gary Thorn on the call:
“Piazza rips it, will it stay fair? Goodbye Home Run! Mike Piazza a three-run homer 11 to 8!”

Piazza ripped a scorching line drive down to the left-field pole that got out in just seconds. Shea Stadium was already rocking from the seven-run comeback especially the six with two outs. Now it was just pure mayhem inside Shea.

Of all people to finish off that comeback, there was nobody better than Mike Piazza to finish off the job and what better team to do so than against the Braves again.

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