Rerun
Last night, around 7:10 pm, I entered some odd two-day time warp that transported me back to Saturday night. I know it sounds strange, but I swear to God I ended up watching the exact same baseball game twice: Total domination by a tall, skinny opposing starting pitcher, not even a whiff of a rally by the home team, bada-bing, bada-boom, game over well before 10 o'clock, Mets lose 4-2. But then I realized that this was not some Malaysian-food-induced hallucination (we ordered in Penang last night - highly recommended), nor was I somehow trapped in a Delorean in Punxatawny, Pennsylvania. No, this was a whole other game. Which, I guess, means today is Tuesday, not Sunday. Rats. That explains why I'm in the office.By the way, it was a totally bizarre and unnatural feeling having to root for the Yankees last night. Every time the Phils scored a run or a Yankee whiffed, I was like Homer Simpson in this scene:
Executor: May I offer my condolences on the untimely passing of your Great Aunt Hortense. As her only living heirs, you stand to inherit her entire estate.
Homer: [crying] Poor Aunt Hortense! [crying]
[weakly] Woo-hoo.
[crying] [weakly] Woo-hoo.
Thank God I only have to do this two more times. Go, er, Yankees.
Finally, since I have nothing else to add, I present a treat. First, I ask you: What was the loudest you ever heard Shea Stadium in person? Since I was not at Game 6 or 7 in '86, nor was I at the Todd Pratt game in '99, I have my own memory to share. October 11, 1986. NLCS knotted up one game apiece. Bottom of the 6th inning, and Bob Knepper is handing the Mets their lunch. It's 4-0 Astros, and they appear to be well on their way to a 2-1 series lead (actually, might as well write in 3-1, because Mike Scott is throwing the next night). I'm sitting in the Mezzanine reserved section roughly behing home plate with my dad, brother, and uncle. In thr 6th, the Mets string together a few hits and an error, and suddenly it's 4-1. Darryl Strawberry strides to the plate with two runners on. What happened next? Enjoy it here.
Take a look at that crowd. It was sheer bedlam. People were literally leaping 3 feet off the ground. A random guy grabbed my uncle and gave him a full body bear hug. We're talking dogs and cats, living together -- mass hysteria. Yes, Lenny won it with a 2-run walk-off in the bottom of the 9th after the Mets trailed again, but I'll always remember the massive party that erupted after Straw tied it up with his 3-run shot.
Top THAT, 2006 Mets! Please?
posted by Toasty Joe at 9:19 AM
16 Comments:
a: Great link to the Strawberry home run. The emotion out of those guys after that home run is something we never saw out of the Piazza Mets; I hope we start to see it some more out of the Wright Mets.
b: I was at the Pratt game, sitting in the Upper Deck. The stadium was deafening, the ground shaking. An unbelievable game.
10:07 AM
I like the affectionate shove Mex gives Straw at home plate - they had the ultimate love/hate relationship.
10:08 AM
hay Hay hay...
watching that home run gave me a little chill...ah...
watched a bit of the game last night, and seeing Arroyo pitch, I just thought, 'he's nothing special'. But he's been putting up these numbers all year. I guess he's just doing a good job of keeping the batters off balance, changing speeds, blah blah. But he didn't appear to have any 'stuff'.
10:30 AM
oh and as for rooting for the yanks...I'm still rooting for the phils. At least with this lead, I am. I can not root for the Yanks.
Actually, it was brought up by cohen and keith last night...they were saying how met fans would be torn, but agreed that most met fans were still probably rooting against the yanks. I concur.
10:40 AM
My brain was telling me to root for the Yanks, but my heart was not complying.
10:41 AM
I was rooting for the Yankees. Every game counts in the standings, and our season is too good to start worrying about the Yankees right now.
In no particular order (excluding Game 6 in '86, which was too amazing to recall with any context):
1999 NLCS Game 5 - Robin Ventura hits the "Grand Single" in extras
2000 NLDS Game 4 - Benny Agbayani wins the game vs. Baroid and the Giants in extras
2000 NLCS Game 5 - Mets clinch their first NL Pennant in 14 years vs. St. Louis; John Franco celebrates on the field with champagne
September, 2001 - Piazza hits the HR in the 8th inning against the Braves in the first major NYC sporting event since 9/11
Matt Franco's game winner off Mariano Rivera in the '99 Subway Series.
11:47 AM
Bookie, were you actually AT all those games? Jebus Christmas! Of those, I was only at the Ventura game. It was loud, but everyone was so weary after 16 innings in the rain that it definitely fell short of 10/11/86.
11:51 AM
Top it they will.
The loudest I've ever been to was a '99 playoff game against the f-in Braves. The place actually shakes like a earthquake is going on.
If you don't have a ticket package with the Mets, go get one. You get first crack at playoff tickets, though not many good ones at this point.
RE: Arroyo...I beg to differ. While he did not have 'stuff', neither does Glavine ever. However, like Glavine looks dominant, Arroyo did last night. How many good swings did they get period? He put the ball wherever he wanted it and his location was tight. Really tight. I thought he was very impressive and the real deal. Really enjoyed watching both of them climb up and down the ladder in terms of speed and pick apart batters.
Felipe Lopez's girlie swing at a 60 MPH curveball from The Duque was fucking swell.
Bookied, that is impressive. Most impressive.
1:01 PM
I have a friend who helps me get me tickets to big games. He was invaluable (or is it "valuable") during the playoff runs of '99 and '00. Unfortunately, he couldn't get me tickets to the World Series in 2000 (he took his future wife instead). However, I am still emotionally scarred from watching the games on TV, so I'm not sure I should have been in the building for any of those.
2:39 PM
Strangely enough, those games didn't scar me. I mentally prepared myself for that WS by not allowing myself to think, even for one second, that the Mets would win. How could I NOT do that - the Yankees had won 12 WS games in a ROW coming into 2000. Sure, it sucked, but I had the same reaction I had when the Giants lost to Baltimore and the Knicks lost to San Antone - bummer, but we had a heck of a ride.
I was FAR more disgusted when we lost to John Rocker's Braves in the '99 LCS. Frickin' Kenny Rogers. Ass-head.
2:42 PM
Huge Bobby Valentine error in the 1999 playoffs. No freakin' way Kenny Rogers should have been in that game. Bobby V. should have adhered to the Crazy Hispanic Theory (developed during the 1995 American League playoffs by yours truly). When you have a choice between an average white pitcher, and an untested, relatively unknown Hispanic pitcher, bring in the Hispanic, especially on the road. Crazy Hispanic pitchers are not fazed. Mariano was not fazed in 1995 when he came into a raucus Kingdome and I think struck out Griffey and/or Buhner with the bases loaded when he was a rookie. Similarly, Octavio Dotel should have been in that game in 1999; the Mets would have beaten the Braves. Dotel is a Crazy Hispanic.
4:40 PM
That's the funniest theory I've ever heard in my life. But unfortunately doesn't hold up in view of the fact that the Mets had one of the craziest Hispanics of all time - some guy named Armando - who completely shit the bed in the pivotal Game 1 of the 2000 World Series.
4:50 PM
Please read my theory in its entirety. Armando does not qualify because he was not "untested or relatively unknown." He was known, baby.
4:58 PM
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7:59 PM
Hey Count, you're one funny bastid. I was also at the Pratt game, sitting in the upper deck way out in left field. Unfrigginbeliveable. I actually can think of a louder game though.
Remember the final game of the regular season in 1999, with Piazza at the plate, Mora at third base, and Clontz threw a wild pitch to allow Mora to score the game-winning, er, walk-off run? I still belive the intensity of the crowd is what caused the wild pitch.
Writing that, I guess karma would come around to bite us in the final game of the NLCS that year...
8:01 PM
He was known, baby.
But at some point, wasn't he an unknown?
1:01 PM
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