NEW YORK _ Perhaps Asdrubal Cabrera has reconsidered.
Little more than a week after asking to be traded from a team headed nowhere fast, Cabrera helped to continue an improbable resurgence, hammering a go-ahead homer in the seventh inning Saturday that lifted the Mets to a 7-6 victory over the Phillies.
Entering their half of the seventh, the Mets trailed 6-3 after the Phillies' Tommy Joseph hammered a three-run shot off struggling reliever Fernando Salas. But the Mets came back, rallying for four runs in a seventh-inning uprising that Cabrera capped with a two-run shot off Phillies relief ace Pat Neshek.
After a 57-minute delay halted play in the eighth, closer Addison Reed slammed the door for the Mets by recording the last four outs. That included surviving a scare in the ninth, when Aaron Altherr just missed a game-tying homer. He settled for a leadoff double before he was stranded.
A humiliating four-game sweep to the Dodgers prompted Mets brass to signal their openness to begin selling off veteran players on the last years of their deals. But since then, the Mets have beat up on some of the National League's weakest clubs, securing series victories against the Giants, Marlins and now the Phillies.
The Mets (38-42) have won seven of their last eight games, climbing to four games under .500. A victory Sunday would give the Mets a three-game sweep heading into a series in Washington against the front-running Nationals, who have wobbled of late.
Despite the surge, thoughts of a postseason berth still appear to be reserved for only the most optimistic. Consider their victory Saturday, which came despite reminders of why the Mets face long odds.
In his first start back from the disabled list with biceps tendinitis, right-hander Zack Wheeler struggled with his command and lasted just 32/3 innings. He was chased in the fourth, when he allowed a pair of unearned runs with the help of a leaky defense.
T.J. Rivera let a slow roller down the third-base line hit the bottom of his glove, allowing Joseph to reach base and begin a rally. Later, with a chance to get out of the inning unscathed, Wheeler couldn't catch a throw at first base that would have completed an inning-ending double play.
In the fifth, catcher Travis d'Arnaud was charged with an error when his throw to second sailed into center field. It was the Mets' third error of the day.
The Mets sabotaged their own chances with mistakes on the basepaths. Jose Reyes doubled in the second inning, only to get picked off at second base. When he doubled again in the fifth, he was caught trying to advance on a grounder to the right side.
In the fifth, the Mets loaded the bases against Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson only to let the opportunity slip away when Cabrera hit into a double play. The forecast looked even gloomier when a rainstorm approached and the Phillies surged to a 6-3 lead when Joseph homered off Salas, who was working his second inning.
But the Mets roared back in the seventh. Rivera began the rally by atoning for his earlier error with a solo shot off Hellickson. With one out, d'Arnaud made up for his miscue with a double off Neshek. Pinch hitter Wilmer Flores followed by ripping an RBI single to right, slicing the Mets' deficit to 6-5. After Curtis Granderson struck out, Cabrera stepped to the plate with a chance to put the Mets ahead with just one swing.
Cabrera's best moment as a member of the Mets came last September. That's when he hit a three-run walk-off homer off Phillies reliever Edubray Ramos, securing a critical victory with the Mets scratching and clawing for a playoff spot.
On Saturday, the Mets gave out bobbleheads of Cabrera raising his arms in celebration after that memorable homer. The giveaway came eight days after Cabrera's darkest moment with the Mets, when he angrily asked for a trade following a surprise move from shortstop to second base.
Through it all, Cabrera insisted he would remain professional. Since then, he's hitting .394, including a go-ahead homer Saturday that gave the Mets another reason to hang on to an improbable dream.
