Do you believe in miracles? YES! But then again...

To be made a saint in the Catholic church, you have to have four miracles. That's the rules, you know. It's always been that. Four miracles, and you have to prove it. Well, this Mother Seton, now they could only prove three miracles. But the Pope, he just waived the fourth one. He just waived it! And do you know why? It's because she was American. It's all politics. We got some Italian people, they got forty, fifty, sixty miracles to their name. They can't get in just 'cause they say there's already too many Italian saints, and this woman comes along with three lousy miracles. I understand that two of them were card tricks.
— Father Guido Sarducci

I thought of this bit as I pondered whether to call the Mets' comeback win a miracle. It's really too strong a word for what happened Thursday. Sure, it was the Mets' biggest comeback since a 10-run eighth inning against Atlanta in 2000, but this was the Pirates, after all. And once Carlos Beltran smacked a three-run homer in the bottom of the third, it was a four-run game and there was definitely hope. This wasn't exactly a down-to-your-last-strike miracle. More like a really good card trick.

I give the team credit for not getting down. Maybe Terry Collins' rant the night before helped. Maybe it was the uplifting presence of Jose Reyes. More likely, it was a combination of perseverance — all four of the Mets' runs in the bottom of the sixth came with two outs — and gifts from the Pirates in the form of two wild pitches, an error and a bases-loaded walk.

Regardless, it was a key victory to get past the ugliness of the previous two games and head into the weekend series at home against Atlanta with a bit of momentum. The bullpen, this time, didn't blow the lead, thanks to fine work by Byrdak, Parnell and Izzy to set up K-Rod, who allowed one run in the ninth but held on.

Mike Pelfrey had tough luck in the first with three bloops and a bunt, but had only himself to blame in the second and third. I give Collins credit for making him stick in there and pitch through five, and Pelfrey retired the last seven batters he faced to keep the damage to a minimum, which ended up being pretty big.

Was this win a turning point? We'll find out against the Braves. Winning two of three would go a long way toward keeping the Mets' chances alive as we wait patiently for Wright to come back, then Davis in a couple more weeks. And then maybe Santana? Can the Mets hang in there that long?

Wouldn't that be miraculous?