This has been a crazy time. On Wednesday I was being interviewed by John Delcos for Mets Report about the decision-making in the 1973 World Series (RIP, Yogi Berra, George Stone or George Thomas Seaver, you were still a top five Mets manager), and as Freddie Freeman came off the bench and knocked in five runs over the course of our conversation, I thought for the world the Mets and Nationals would play a do-or-die series next weekend. Three days later a tear is trickling down my face as my son and I sit in the orange seats from Shea and watch Jay Bruce strike out.
And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
No one in the clubhouse interviews thanked the people that truly helped most—and trust me, I watched ]all the champagne soaked, translator-aided interviews on SNY and had to tear myself away from the replay to write this. “First, I want to thank the Nationals for making this easier than even the people at Optimistic Mets Fan could have imagined.” Melissa, can you translate?
Scroll down a little here, on the feed. (I am permanently behind in updating the site technologically). I thought this season was over months ago. I challenged Sandy Alderson to make the moves needed. I gave some tough grades on my first half report card and said this of Terry Collins, “Players like him, but he’s outlived his usefulness here. It is time to win and he’s not the man.” Well, shut my mouth. Don’t translate that, Melissa.
The other night, coming off that terrible homestand that left me with dueling nightmares from 2007 and 2008, Gary Cohen boldly said, “Saturday might be the day.” That was, of course, after the Orioles completed a sweep of the Nationals, in D.C. The Nats looked so much like the 2007 Mets: Unfinished business arrogance, telling everyone they were better than them, in a word: complacency. And just like the 2007 Mets, these Nats didn’t win one game when it counted against the team they had to beat. That series in D.C. that began Labor Day is one of the most remarkable regular season series I have ever seen. They should have lost each game, and instead won all three. And that was coming off a horrendous series in Miami.
But I remembered ’07 and how just when it looked like they caught themselves and ran off a seven-game win streak, there was 7 games with 17 left, and, you know. Well, I don’t know about you, but that will never leave me. But it’s gone this year. It’s all gone.
I have been lucky to write a bunch of Mets books. It sometimes feels like I’ve been doing Mets books since time began. I have been fortunate. I’m editing my eight one—cover looks good!—but listen to this, when the Mets were last in the playoffs I was still writing my first book! That… is … a … long … time. I keep thinking the next one will be the big one. That’s why I write, that’s why I watch. Today the slot machine paid off. Whether it will pay off again, who knows, but there are enough quarters stored up to last me a week.
With the Mets, you know there’ll always be something new to lament. Another, woe is us. But the schneid is off. Best of luck to us all. See you in October. Yes, I said October!