NEW YORK -- Todd Pratt quit baseball in 1996 and went into the pizza business. Yesterday, Pratt was in for Mike Piazza, and because of him, the Mets are in the National League Championship Series.
The Mets' wild ride continues on, but not before one of the wildest shows ever staged at Shea Stadium.
The Mets needed 10 innings, and one of the most unlikely home runs in franchise history by Pratt, to put away the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-3, win the National League Division Series in four games and advance to play their late-season nemesis, the Braves, in the NLCS starting Tuesday night in Atlanta.
"Bring 'em on! Bring 'em on!" said Mets manager Bobby Valentine during a jubilant champagne-drenched celebration in the Mets clubhouse.
Pratt, playing for the second day in a row for the injured Piazza, played the hero, driving Matt Mantei's 1-0 pitch just beyond the outstretched glove of Diamondbacks center fielder Steve Finley and over the wall at the 410-sign in center for a walk-off, series-clinching home run.
"When I hit it I thought it had a chance," Pratt said. "I got to be honest about that. I hit it good enough."
Pratt hesitated around first, as Finley appeared to pull the ball back over the fence, but Finley's glove was empty, and Pratt leapt around the bases into the waiting arms of his ecstatic teammates at home plate.
"As soon as I saw Steve running back and start to [jump], my heart stopped," Pratt said. "I've seen him so many times go over the wall and make the catch. Then he put his head down. I knew we won the game right then."
Pratt, the former Red Sox farmhand and backup to Darren Daulton with the Phillies in the early 1990s, left the game in frustration in 1996 and managed a Domino's franchise. He got back into baseball with the Mets in 1997, but nearly quit again last year.
"Last year I thought I was going to be the starting catcher with Todd [Hundley] hurt," Pratt said. I didn't make the team. It was the first time I cried after being talked to by the manager. At that point I was considering not showing up to [Triple-A] Norfolk."
But Pratt persevered, and when Piazza's thumb swelled up Thursday after a negative reaction to a cortisone shot, Pratt got his chance.
"I'm very happy that I gave my team a chance to go to the NLCS," Pratt said, "but you know, I'm just one guy in the mix."
