In a New York Month, Everything Can Change

I used to watch my team’s games and hope for the best in the vaguest sense of the word. Then June 2012 came along and on its very First night, I received the best. I received the best thing a June game could give. I received the one thing I’d been waiting for my entire life.

Johan Santana tosses first no-hitter in Mets franchise history

And everything changed.

I was so enraptured by that First Night of June that I almost didn’t notice that on the Second afternoon of the month, I got a pretty good day to go with it.

R.A. Dickey shuts out Cards the day after Johan Santana’s no-hitter

Then, five days after that, when I was moping over how my team had reverted to the kind of form that made hoping for the best an exercise in low expectations, the Seventh Afternoon of June assured me a pretty good day

R.A. Dickey first pitcher to nine wins as Mets avert sweep

It was easy to overlook, however, because the next night, the Eighth Night of June, was pretty brutal.

Robinson Cano homers twice as Yankees rough up Johan Santana

There’d been so much hand-wringing on what would happen on that night, particularly by the manager (fretting as he did over all the effort that had gone into giving me the one thing I’d been waiting for my entire life), that you could almost feel it coming. What maybe you couldn’t see coming is what happened five nights later, on the Thirteenth Night of June.

R.A. Dickey allows one hit as Mets topple Rays

This one felt on a par with that First great night of June, which is saying something, because that First great night of June — and forgive me my repetition — is what I’d been waiting for my entire life. This wasn’t quite that, but to say it was almost as good doesn’t do it justice. If it wasn’t what I was waiting for, that’s probably because I had never thought to imagine something quite like it.

And everything changed again.

I was so enraptured by that Thirteenth Night of June, I almost didn’t notice that on the Fourteenth afternoon of the month, I got a different kind of good day to go with it.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis has first career multihomer game as Mets sweep Rays

Lost in the headlines over the big Mets win was the poor performance put forth by the guy who started the month. Then the euphoria attached to these various wins was lost in another momentum-killing swoon. Yet just when I was about to mope as I usually moped, there was what transpired on the Eighteenth Night of June.

Mets’ R.A. Dickey K’s 13 in second one-hitter in row

It was as if an encore had been arranged. It was as if this kind of result and gratification was something you could expect in the way you had trained yourself over a lifetime to expect the worst when you hoped for the best. Now you were almost expecting nothing but the best every five or so nights. You didn’t want to feel entitled, but it wasn’t that kind of expectation. It was the expectation of anticipation…which in itself was almost the reward. You couldn’t wait for what would happen next.

But while I would wait, there’d be another reward on the Nineteenth Night of June.

Johan Santana leads way as Mets blank Orioles for 2nd straight night

Before the First Night of June, you’d have been overjoyed by this kind of evening, for it reminded you of resiliency and determination and indefatigable excellence. Now you were appreciative…but you were mostly hung up on the guy from the night before and what his next outing, on the Twenty-Fourth Night of June, might bring.

Robinson Cano HR lifts Yanks by Mets in Subway Series finale

There’d been so much hyperbolic chatter regarding what would happen on that night, that you could almost see it coming. You were forced to write it off as just one of those things, same as you did the next evening, the Twenty-Fifth Night of June.

Travis Wood, Joe Mather lead way as Cubs down Mets

The entire episode was a disappointment, though embedded in the episode were some satisfying scenes from the guy who had kicked off this month in such high style. Even as his team crumbled around him, he was all right. In another month, “all right” would have been OK…or vice-versa. It’s just that your hopes and your sights had been raised so very high by the so many highlights you had absorbed since the First Night of June.

A couple of which were still to come.

Mets’ R.A. Dickey beats Dodgers, is majors’ first 12-game winner

Yes, your sights had been raised to something like that, something like what you were privileged to stay awake and witness late on the Twenty-Ninth Night of June. And they stayed just as high on the final night of what had been — overall pedestrian team record aside — one of the most magical months through which you as a Mets fan had ever lived.

Johan Santana helps blank Dodgers for 5th time in 6 games

By the Thirtieth Night of June, you could ask for no more. Except, perhaps, whatever July had in store.

THE WONDERS OF JUNE 2012
JUNE 01, 2012: 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 8 K (J.S.)
JUNE 02, 2012: 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K (R.A.D.)
JUNE 07, 2012: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K (R.A.D.)
JUNE 08, 2012: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (J.S.)
JUNE 13, 2012: 9.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K (R.A.D.)
JUNE 14, 2012: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K (J.S.)
JUNE 18, 2012: 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 13 K (R.A.D)
JUNE 19, 2012: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (J.S.)
JUNE 24, 2012: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (R.A.D.)
JUNE 25, 2012: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K (J.S.)
JUNE 29, 2012: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (R.A.D.)
JUNE 30, 2012: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (J.S.)