I dozed off during the late innings of the Mets-Cubs game last night. When I woke, but was still a bit fuzzy, the game was tied in the bottom of the 9th inning. Dan Murphy was on 3rd with no one out. David Wright was at the plate. Shea was rockin. Time for some Met magic.
Wright worked the count to 3-0. Got a pitch to hit but he fouled it off. The counted ended up at 3-2. The Cubs pitcher then challenged Wright with a high fastball. Wright stayed with it and drilled the ball into center field. Daniel Murphy walked home. The crowd at Shea exploded. The scoreboard said the Phillies lost, meaning the Mets were a half game out of first with four to play. And we also held the Brewers a game out of the wild card. It was a much needed win.
That's when I really woke up.
David Wright swung through the 3-2 pitch for the first out. Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran were intentionally walked. Ryan Church grounded out to the 2nd baseman for a force out at home. Then Ramon Castro struck out. The rest is history. The Mets are still 1.5 games behind the Phillies. The Mets are now tied for the wild card with the Brewers.
I'm not one to be overly pessimistic but it seems to me that the 2008 Mets don't have enough left in the tank to do much of anything even if they make the playoffs. The bullpen is toxic and that causes much of the trouble. The offense is also puzzling at times. It seemed like a monumental struggle to score one run after the Mets took a 5-1 lead early on Delgado's grand slam.
The opportunities to score were there. But in 2008 the Mets have not mastered the art of scoring when runners are in position and no one is out. At least they haven't when they really needed to. Get em on. Get em over. Get em in. It's fundamental baseball.
The Mets have not mastered those fundamentals in 2008. The bullpen stinks right now. The starting pitching is up and down. I don't think we could survive any kind of a playoff series with this situation. And I'm not sure the team has the heart to win out in order to even make the playoffs.
Amazin Moments
Well, after my blog a couple days ago bemoaning the loss of Shea I got to make a final appearance there last night. I must admit to a flood of emotions as I walked up to the stadium, saw the amassing fans getting extremely psyched, got a greeting from the friendly ticket taker. The long, long ride up the escalators, tension growing, the last time I will be taking this ride that I have been doing faithfully for 40 years. Upper deck, Section 2, right behind the plate but way up there.
The bottom of the third definitely has won a spot in the Amazin Moments Of Shea videotape that I have created in my brain. Playoff atmosphere, lots of pressure and the crowd is LOUD. Carlos Zambrano walking the bases loaded on some very close counts, glaring at the umpire after every ball, and even from the upper deck we could see the smoke steaming out of his ears.
Jose Reyes on third and Aramis Ramirez way off the bag, playing the Delgado shift. So Reyes proceeds to perform his tap dancing act, doing the merengue halfway down the third base line while Zambrano glares at him, hoping to send him back to third by force of will but knowing full well there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. Jose's dance gets more taunting, Zambrano steps off the bag and feigns a step towards third. Reyes jeers at the all-star pitcher. The pitcher's anger grows, now he is seething mad.
But there is work to do. There is a batter at the plate and three ducks are on the pond. And, oh yes, this batter is Carlos Delgado. The pitch...A GRAND SLAM.
It was as beautiful a moment as I can recall at Shea. I will not let the final score, or even the potential elimination of the Mets, tarnish it for me. I wish I could have told my kids about that being the moment that sealed the division for the Metsies but alas it was not to be.
I will not write about the failures of Perez, or of Wright, or of the bullpen, or especially of Ryan Church. I don't care to etch tose moments in my brain. But I will gladly retell the story of that grand slam to any who would listen, regardless of the final score.
Thanks for Refocusing!
Poolah,
In the end, you're right!
It's all about the game, and we love the game as much as we love our team.
Memories, like attitudes, are choice driven. We can choose to remember a season that wasn't (although i'm still not convinced it won't turn out the way we want), or remember the moments that are. A grand slam on your final trip to Shea should be your everlasting memory of Shea. And success or fail, the love of the game should be overall.
I'll be at Shea for my last time on Friday and Saturday, and win, loose or get rained out (a real possibility) Shea will close. There is an inevitability to that. And it will be my final trip. But the game will go on. And my love for the game and the Mets won't fade because of the closure of Shea, or a season ending game.
Tug Said it.....I believe it.....That settles it......
YA GOTTA BELIEVE
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