As soon as the Mets finished off their NLCS sweep of the Cubs, I headed to Modell's to pick up some new shirts. I arrived only a few minutes after the last out, around midnight, to find a line of a few hundred like-minded had already formed. An hour later, I was back home, still too wired to even think of going to bed. Instead, I started on Facebook what I thought would be a short post. But when you are a combination of giddy, punch drunk, and sleep deprived (I was at 3 of the 4 Citifield playoff games, missing only Game 1 of the LCS for my brother-in-law's wedding), short posts turn into this...
I'm not even sure what to say at this point. As passionate a Mets fan as I have been over the years, I don't think I've ever been more emotionally invested in a team than this year's group. The 23 games I went to in the regular season could've easily been 33,43,53. 1986 is a distant memory. I was a senior in HS. The team was a collection of arrogant SOBs, and by early summer it was almost a foregone conclusion that we would win the World Series. Sure they made us sweat t out, but that only made their win all that much sweeter. Then there was the heartbreak of 1988, being 1 out away from going up 3-1 on the Dodgers in the NLCS only to see Mike Scioscia hit a game-tying HR off Doc Gooden and eventually losing in 7 games. 1999 and 2000 brought life back into the fan base and the franchise, and to this day Mets fan swear if Benetiez hadn't blown the save in Game 1 of the Subway Series, we would've beat the Yanks. But these are the Mets, a franchise that can never sustain excellence, so once again we had to endure a few years of futility. A few years of Art Howe. 2006. Time for us to rise again. Runaway with the NL East. Not quite 1986, but pretty damn good. Steam roll the Dodgers in the LDS. Home field advantage in the LCS against a rather mediocre Cardinals team. Game 7. The Endy Chavez catch that had me so excited I turned and gave Joe Roccaro a big kiss on his cheek. Fate. Destiny. A sign from the gods that we would once again be going to the WS. Only baseball is a cruel game. As former commissioner Bart Giamatti once said, "It's a game designed to break your heart." 1 Adam Wainwright curveball later and mine and 55,000+ other hearts at Shea Stadium were broken that night. Ok, we'll get'em next year. This team is no one-hit wonder. 2007. 7 game lead with 17 to play. No one has ever blown a lead like that. But again...it's a game designed to break your heart. 2008. Not quite the same September lead, but a lead nonetheless. Once again gone. Need a win the last day of the season. The last regular season game to be played at Shea Stadium. No way this building closes like this. No way we shut the doors on our beloved Shea (don't you call it a dump, only those of us who bleed orange and blue have earned the right to call it a dump, and only in the most loving way possible) with a loss. We can't possibly have our hearts broken for a 3rd year in a row, right? The game's not that cruel, right Bart? Then 6 years of futility. 6 years of Mets fans wishing for a September collapse because at least it meant we had a shot at something. The phrase "meaningful games" in September becomes a running joke, only it's not so funny. And each year our beautiful new park sees fewer and fewer people. But we are still there. The ones who know what Mike Bordick and Bubba Trammell did in back to back Mets games. The ones who know the players the Mets got when they traded away the Franchise. The ones who know why the sound of a cowbell puts a smile on so many faces. The ones who know names like Nino Espinosa, and Bruce Boisclair, and Gil Flores. And then one glorious night, the 2013 All-Star Game, we take center stage. And the man who can lead us back to the promised land, the Dark Knight, takes his place on the mound. And while we know 2013 isn't quite our time yet, it soon will be. Wait, Bart, did you say something? No, baseball isn't THAT cruel. Harvey can't be hurt. He's Gotham's Dark Knight. And so 2014 is over before it even starts and it becomes much like 2013, and 2012, and 2011, and on and on. We are a joke. A laughingstock. Lovable losers? Sorry, the Cubs have laid claim to that title. We're just losers. But spring is a season of rebirth, a time when every baseball fan thinks, "This is the year for my team." 11 wins in a row in April? Maybe this year is different. Maybe it's not. Why is it taking Wright so long to come back from a hamstring injury? What? He's got spinal what? Who are we batting clean-up? John Mayberry Jr? Didn't we sign him to be a 4th OF and pinch hitter. What's his average? WHAT??????? A post softball game meal at Croxsley's. Hey guys, Mets made a deal. Wow, Carlos Gomez! That's not a bad trade. Sorry to see Wheeler go, and Flores. Wait, is Flores crying? No, why would you have a guy who's crying out in the field. Holy s#$t, he is crying! The trade's off? Are you kidding me??? Just when you think this franchise can't become anymore of a joke, it does. Another lost season. Maybe we'll play .500 ball. What's that you say? They made a few trades? Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, Tyler Clippard. Nice supporting pieces, but not the kind of guys to put us over the top. No, we need someone big, and it seems like the New York Mets don't pull off big trades anymore. But they pull off perhaps the most important trade in franchise history. Cespedes and the pitching staff put the team on their collective backs, and we have perhaps the most amazing 2 months of regular season games in our history. And suddenly what seemed improbable becomes possible. 2015 NL East Champs!! Bring on the Dodgers. 2 possible Cy Young Award winners? We don't care. We'll beat them both. Have a game stolen from us by a dirty slide and an even worse call by the umps? So what. #WinforReuben. Those lovable losers, the Cubs? Guess what? They stand between us and the WS. No problem. See, not only do we have of the best young pitchers in all of baseball, we have a 2nd baseman named Daniel Murphy? Murphy? Yeah, I've heard of him. Decent player. Gets a fair amount of hits. Makes contact. Plays with a lot of heart. Makes some bonehead plays from time to time. Isn't he the one who missed Opening Day to be at his son's birth? Not much of a power hitter though is he? But remember, baseball is a cruel game. Only this time, it's not we Mets fans saying that. For 9 glorious games so far, Murphy has become an answer to a trivia question. The kind of player that someday my boys will say to their kids, "I remember what Murphy did in the 2015 playoffs" which brings us to where we are now....4 wins away from what would be one of the sweetest World Series victories ever. It's okay Mets fans. Dare to dream. #LGM
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