For consistency’s sake, we shall continue to refer to the state of affairs in which we’ve been thoroughly immersed as a pennant race, even if ours is the only team any longer racing.
Mathematical niceties demand we maintain on our faces an expression of severe purposefulness when the subjects of games ahead and games remaining arise. Well-entrenched protocols insist we at least attempt to appear thoroughly engrossed in scoreboard-watching until a handy little ‘x’ appears to the left of the line in the standings to which our eye is instinctively drawn. We have been on both sides of the IAO = TIO equation. There is no benefit in declaring as over anything that ain’t technically over.
But between you, me and the ghost of the most famous black cat in baseball history, this thing we call a pennant race in the National League’s Eastern Division…it’s over.
We know it’s over. I’d say they know it’s over, yet I’d have trouble identifying a “they” in this dynamic.
The New York Mets are in first place by seven games with 23 games remaining. Those figures alone aren’t enough to ensure an optimal outcome. What lends the prevailing sense of overness its necessary emotional clout is how we’ve arrived at seven up with 23 to play.
Oh, how we’ve arrived.
On September 9, 1969, that aforementioned black cat strode in front of the Chicago Cubs’ dugout at Shea Stadium. The Cubs had been spiraling downward, the Mets scratching and clawing upward. The ebony feline’s choice of path made the outcome of the race in progress spiritually official. Never mind that the Cubs were a game-and-a-half ahead of the Mets when the cat got a load of Ron Santo, then Leo Durocher, then scurried off. Never mind that the Cubs would cling to a half-game lead for the next 24 or so hours. Legend decided on the spot that September 9 was the night that the Mets, like their cat, ran away and hid for good.
On September 9, 2015, the home dugout at Nationals Park represented the locus of all the world’s bad luck. This time you couldn’t blame a cat. Who needs superstition when you’ve got a manager named Matt staring stoically from beneath a crisp Nat hat? The Matt in the hat had guided his team to the edge of going “splat!”
The Mets in the other dugout simply gave Matt’s Nats a merciful tap. From there, the splat was inevitable.
After the Mets stormed from behind forcefully on Monday and almost (almost) shockingly on Tuesday, there was no reason to believe the Mets couldn’t mount a third consecutive comeback on Wednesday. These are the Mets in one of those Septembers when if we’re not peeking around alleys for cats, we’re fiercely engaged in the act of Belief. It’s like we Gotta, or something.
What distinguished Wednesday’s game from its immediate predecessors was that for the first time during this set of games in which the Nationals let leads of 5-3 and 7-1 slip away, they actually looked almost unbeatable, living up at last to their Natitudinal self-image. The concept that their franchise is something special is built on three core elements:
1) Having drafted Stephen Strasburg first overall in 2009.
2) Having drafted Bryce Harper first overall in 2010.
3) Supplementing the presence of Strasburg and Harper with enough ancillary talent to ensure that almost any idiot could manage them successfully.
Almost any idiot.
For the vast majority of one night, the plan was working without flaw. Strasburg was everything Bob Costas cracked him up to be when, during Strasburg’s maiden start as a major leaguer, America’s Announcer elbowed Walter Johnson aside in the quest to identify the greatest pitcher the District of Columbia had ever called its own. With the exception of a Travis d’Arnaud home run in the second, the Mets couldn’t do a thing with Strasburg, whose curveball broke across home plate with disturbing regularity.
Meanwhile, when the Nationals batted, Bryce Harper’s quality matched the advertising thereof. Statistics suggest Harper is the league’s leading MVP candidate. Nobody who wasn’t Strasburg was more valuable in keeping the 2015 N.L. East race conceivably viable than Harper on Wednesday. There was a homer, a double and two runs scored off an otherwise sound Jacob deGrom. There would later be a second homer, that one off Tyler Clippard. Harper resembled the one-man wrecking crew we’d heard so much about, just as Strasburg — a dozen strikeouts and zero runs allowed from the third through the seventh — was Acela Express enough to make Washington forget the Big Train.
Plus, all Williams had to do was sit back and watch his platinum studs in action. Let Harper hit, let Strasburg pitch, let Williams make no decisions whatsoever. An event as rare as bipartisan comity seemed imminent in our nation’s capital: the Nationals were going to take a crucial game from the Mets.
Ah, but the Nats were up against a wrecking crew whose thickness in numbers was matched by its fortitude. The Mets roll out a pretty studly outfit of their own these September nights. DeGrom was outshone by Strasburg, but by no means outclassed. Jacob went seven, permitted two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. In the one inning that could have slipped from his grasp, he was supported by his teammates in an episode that hinted at where this game would ultimately go.
This was in the fourth, the inning when Harper doubled and scored on Clint Robinson’s single. That made it 2-1 Nats, with one out and the home team threatening to do more. Anthony Rendon, instead of being ordered to bunt (!), swung away and belted a base hit to right. Robinson, a truck horse in the Keith Hernandez vernacular, decided to challenge the throwing arm of Curtis Granderson. A few months ago, a tree stump could have challenged the throwing arm of Curtis Granderson and succeeded. But Granderson, like all the Mets, has kept getting better at his craft. He fired a strong peg to third. It was a tad too late to nail the lumbering Robinson…but wait just a sec…did Robinson come off the bag while David Wright kept a tag plastered to his person?
Why, yes he did. Robinson had just run the Nationals into the most unnecessary of second outs. The next batter, Wilson Ramos, lined out to center to end the fourth. After that, deGrom settled in and matched zeroes with Strasburg. If it wasn’t a classic turning point of the game, it was a subtle clue that the Mets were prepared to pounce on the next available opportunity to turn the entire thing to their favor.
The eighth inning was pouncing time. Terry Collins decided he’d like Kelly Johnson to match up against Strasburg to lead off, so he pinch-hit Kelly for Wilmer Flores. On the radio, Howie Rose mused the Mets would need a modern-day Ron Swoboda to step up if they wanted to get to this Stephen the way their predecessors got to Steve Carlton that night in 1969 when Carlton was striking out Mets like crazy but forgot to mow down Rocky, who blasted the two two-run homers that have since taken their place alongside the black cat in Miracle lore.
Maybe a nanosecond after Rose invoked Swoboda, Johnson evoked Swoboda, taking Strasburg over the wall and causing Howie to commit (for him) near-sacrilege. “Who needs Swoboda?” Howie exulted. “The Mets have Johnson!” They also had a tie game, thanks to perhaps the most clutch home run the Mets hit all season until the next one.
The next one wasn’t far off. After Strasburg fanned pinch-hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis for his thirteenth strikeout, Granderson singled. Williams removed Strasburg and opted to send Drew Storen to handle Yoenis Cespedes. The previous time we had seen those two face off, the night before, Cespedes was lining a three-run double to left. But it’s Williams’s ballclub, so let’s let his move speak for itself.
Better yet, let’s let Howie Rose speak for the Storen pitch Cespedes proceeded to crush to kingdom come:
“It’s goin’ for a ride! It’s not comin’ back!”
Peerless Yo from south of Manzanillo (Cuba) had done it again, launching a two-run home run that changed the complexion of another Mets-Nats game and hastened the conclusion of the rapidly receding Mets-Nats race. It was, according to Elias, Cespedes’s millionth enormous extra-base hit since he came ashore at the Port of Flushing on August 1. The Mets now led 4-2. A distinct “meow!” could be heard over where the Washington team sat and stewed.
No black cat was spotted. No black cat had to be.
Harper would bat again, which makes for dangerous terrain, but if you pitch to him in the circumstances Clippard did — two out, bases empty — you can deal with Bryce being Bryce. Bryce did go deep for the second time in the game, but that made it only 4-3. Rendon then beat out an bunt hit to make the situation a bit dicey, particularly when Robinson looped a ball into left field, but there would be no dice for the Nationals. Cool customer Michael Conforto fashioned a shoestring grab reminiscent of one Cleon Jones made in the 1969 World Series to end the bottom of the eighth.
Did I mention 1969 again? Seems to have been in the air, especially when Lucas Duda doubled off Jonathan Papelbon to commence the ninth inning and Conforto ultimately singled in pinch-runner Eric Young to make the score 5-3. That’s the same score by which the Mets won the deciding game of that ’69 Series, also the same score that Jeurys Familia went on to preserve with his 39th save of ’15.
Coincidentally, the Mets won Monday’s game against the Nationals, 8-5, the same score by which the Mets won the deciding game of their other jubilant World Series, the one played in 1986. Yes, just another coincidence.
1969…1986…apologies if we’re subliminally getting ahead of ourselves in the giddy wake of a spectacular sweep. The only entity the 2015 Mets explicitly meant to get ahead of this week was the 2015 Nationals.
That they seem to have done decisively.
Remember the Matt Harvey controversy? Me neither at this point, but I did join Robert Brender and Toby Hyde to discuss Matt’s contretemps and other matters of interest on SNY’s Mostly Mets podcast. Listen in here.
This pitching staff makes us believe it is (almost) over —- even if the team never hits again.
The TC conundrum is thus:
A) Win the division and he’s Manager of the Year.
B) Lose the division and he loses his job.
Kinda tells you he’s probably not viewed by Sandy as such a good manager — though in all fairness, that’s how Sandy feels about managers in general.
Then if TC gets a 3-year contract, and survives it, he will be the winningest Met Manager ever — Better than Hodges, Davey, Bobby V., et al. Now THAT’S a miracle!
Just a tremendous 3 games in DC. Time to really take advantage this weekend with maybe the worst team in baseball right now coming up.
Interesting point about Collins. If they can follow through and win the division, there is a very good chance that he can win Manager of the Year in the NL, although with the Cubs success this season I can see it going to Joe Maddon. That would be pretty funny since he’s been described as the worst manager in baseball and clueless by many Mets fans. But I’m going way ahead of myself here…..still a lot of work to be done. LGM!!!!!
Collins is a good manager, and has done a great job this year. Every team’s fan base beats up on their manager when the team struggles. Nature of the beast. That’s not unique to TC. He would absolutely deserve a MOY award.
This is really happening. It really is happening.
Now they have to avoid a letdown as they move on to a few series that, on the surface, are far less important or urgent, against teams that had one foot on the plane back home a few weeks ago. The nice thing about an easy schedule is you’re playing bad teams. The bad thing about an easy schedule is the potential for playing down to their level and not taking them seriously. Keep it in 6th gear, guys, do not let up. I’m going to Closing Day, and I want to see a starting lineup with Monell, Herrera, EY, etc while everyone else is saving it for the October baseball that Brandon and Alexa are suggesting those blankets will come in handy for.
Great point about a letdown Dave. Plus, seeing that Braves have lost 20 of their last 22 games (20 OF 22!!!!), you might think that the law of averages catches up and they start playing a little better, but hopefully not this weekend.
Nice evocations of 1969 Greg. But let’s not try to get too far ahead of ourselves and keep our good karma.
I admit I am no big fan of Terry Collins as a strategist, but I am very happy for him. His strength throughout his tenure has seemed to be his ability to keep the club competing, never letting them hang their heads for too long. Nice to see him getting to share this success.
wow, did matt williams really bring in drew storen after the previous nite’s meltdown? on a nite i really did believe we’d lose – to the extent one can believe that – the last 5 weeks being what they’ve been…
it’s incredible how the bench has raked – whomever it’s been.
it does feel like it should indeed be over – i can’t imagine nats fans feel more than mildly in-denial at this point – and no one is surging but these surging mets. objects in tear-view mirror are further than they appear, no?
as for a letdown, i don’t see it. too much youth. too much yo. david just getting back, duda off the DL
the yankees, fighting for their post season lives coming next. i don’t see this team letting up. i see them steam-rolling, if well-rested, to closing day.
the letdown was the first couple of days in september. it’s ON!
And thanks for the reference to The Black Cat and last night’s anniversary tweet with the famous photo, Greg. I like to say that my black cat Pandora is that cat’s great-great-great-great granddaughter or something. Impossible to prove or disprove, but I’m sticking to the story. She’s at least spiritually descended from her.
Thanks for the word of the day:
com·i·ty
ˈkämitē/
noun
noun: comity; plural noun: comities
1.
courtesy and considerate behavior toward others.
2.
an association of nations for their mutual benefit.
“The Mets have Johnson!”
They sure do. I think we’ve found this year’s team slogan.
i attended the black cat game with my family — an impromptu treat that my dad sprung for, because all new york was alive with the mets’ possibilities. stadium was packed, and we were second deck, left field, hard by the visitors bullpen. i remember dad saying these seats aren’t so bad, we can see everything — and right about then, we could see the black cat come out, the stadium started roaring and subsided into a hum and buzz that was louder than most crowds are today when responding to scoreboard cheering prompts.
i wrote yesterday that all year i have been comparing this season to the miracle mets — the 11-game streak; the no-hitter — but that this team is making its own history and that comparisons aren’t necessary. while that remains true, i am experiencing the exact amount of ecstasy this september that i did back then. this sweep of the nats was a revelation: i literally do not think the mets are ever out of a game. we have rarely had that spirit here since 1969.
Greg, Greg, Greg…. Have you learned NOTHING?
It is NOT over. It is NOT OVER!
It will be over when it is over, and not a second before.
It may FEEL over — but it is not.
Ask Marty Barrett. Ask Terry Pendleton. Ask Dave Henderson.
It is not over.
Thanks for saying it, Nick. Lot of baseball left. Braves always give Mets a hard time and due to snap out of their torpor, not to mention the Yankees and those pesky Marlins. Nats still have a very good team and can make up ground – no doubt there will be drama throughout September.
But man, what an amazing series! I think it’s a good idea to rest most of the regulars tonight so they can come back strong for the weekend. Besides, the guys on the bench really contribute when given a chance. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Duda, Murphy, Wright, Cespedes and TDA all sitting tonight and still get a W!
Fret away, my friend. I’ve done my time.
Oh Greg! Please, I beg you, for all of our sakes, stop tempting fate! Think of Dewey against Truman! Think of Tyson against Douglas! Think of Gene Mauch!
I hope, I believe, I FEEL that you are right — this FEELS like ’86, like the rest of September is now a romp, a preparation for the playoffs, a coronation…
But to say it so boldly, to do anything but press that damn pedal to medal, knowing we have got NOTHING locked up yet… it just seems wrong, incorrect, arrogant – behavior designed to mock the baseball Gods. Will you (we) get away with it this time? Yes, probably…. but if we don’t… Well, my friend, there will be a reckoning. You will be greeted by Ralph Branca at the Pearly Gates…
Amazing series. Amazing season. Weird, wonderful season. Somewhere in Tibet, Sidd Finch is smiling.
Am a little disappointed that you did not follow your Black Cat of ’69 remarks with a reference to the Yellow Parakeet of ’15. Minor quibble.
Finally, not to be too Debbie Downer here, but don’t let up against the Braves. They would dearly love to be spoilers. And Freddy Freeman still wears their uniform.
Heady times for the New York Mets and their fans. Let’s keep it rolling.
One quick footnote to the famous black cat incident on Sept. 9, 1969: As was the custom of some Shea vendors at the time, such as myself, we would eat our dinner (usually a sandwich) seated in the right field box seats located just outside the vendors’ locker room. We had plenty of time to kill before the gates opened and the fans poured in. On that evening, while talking to a fellow vendor, I glanced down at the field in front of the Mets bullpen and noticed a black cat edging its way around the warning track and coming in our direction. A bit unusual, but not earth-shaking. A few seconds later, the cat was gone. It was not until a bit later, while selling soda in the Upper Level, that the roar of the crowd indicated that something was happening on the field worthy of checking out. (By the way, it’s a long-held misconception about vendors that they get to “see the game for free.” Most vendors are far too involved in trying to make a buck to waste time following every moment on the field.) Well, in this case, of course, the action on the field wasn’t the game, but the feline. And the rest is history.
And, the following day, Sept. 10, the Shea scoreboard declared “Look Who’s No. 1” and the Mets never looked back, winning the NL East title on Sept. 24.
Lastly, picking up on Howie Rose’s reference to Ron Swoboda: I don’t think Ron would mind my sharing a line from an email he sent to me a couple of weeks ago. After briefly noting the Mets current string of success, Ron ended with, “Nothing has been won…but it’s on, and it’s theirs to win or lose.”
Indeed, Rocky, it’s on!
Two fellows who should be mentioned in the context of all the good vibes:
Jacob deGrom, who seems to have rediscovered his deGrominating ways;
and Howie Rose, who has apparently come up with a home run call for the ages. Although one hopes he doesn’t give it the full John Sterling (“It’s going for a ride!!! It’s…..coming back.”)
You know what’s odd about this team? As we sit here today, there are maybe four position players assured of starting spots next year (d’Arnaud, Wright, Granderson, and possibly Duda). Everyone else is playing for their jobs, and Cespedes and Murphy are playing for contracts. And except for deGrom, Clippard, and Familia, all the pitchers are playing for post-season spots.
So yes, it’s NOT over, but almost the whole team is playing for something, and they sure have been playing like it. I don’t think it matters who they play. They control their own destiny, they’re playing with confidence, and I have faith.
Listening to Howie has been one of the great pleasures of this extremely pleasurable ride. Like most of us, Howie has suffered through decades of bad, bad baseball. Unlike us, he’s had to talk about every single lousy pitch and awful at bat, for every game, for every stupifying season. So his evident delight only makes this more enjoyable to me. He’s the best baseball announcer I’ve ever heard, and I’ve been a Mets (and baseball) fan since 1969.
I agree. As Mets fans, we are blessed to have Howie & Josh on the radio in addition to Gary, Keith & Ron doing the TV. Always love Keith’s seemingly once a week reference to Strat-O-Matic as well!
I also agree that our announcers are top notch.
And I discovered one bonus feature of listening to Howie Rose and Josh Lewin on the radio side. When the game is on and I am busy with something that keeps me away from the TV in the living room, I listen to the WOR broadcast. Where I live in Midtown Manhattan, the radio signal precedes the SNY announcers by about 10-12 seconds, which leaves me plenty of time to hear what happened and scoot into the living room to watch the TV action in full. By the way, when the games are broadcast on WPIX, the “lead time” is only about 5 seconds.
I want to believe it is over, but there are 23 games left. So much can happen in 23 games. Love what I’m seeing though, absolutely love it!
Man, when Johnson hit that home run I yelled so loud I scared my wife. It also stopped my modem for some reason.
Wiser baseball minds than any of us have reminded us of exactly when it’s not over, and obviously, it’s not over. But equally obvious is that the vast majority of teams in the major leagues would give everything to trade places with the Mets right now, none more than the team that is nominally chasing them. We couldn’t ask for more on September 10.
1969–The black Cat VS Cubs.
According to Donn Clendenon’s book-“Miracle in New York”-page 119-“We knew Leo Durocher was one of the most superstitious men in baseball. Leo always sat in the same spot directly in front of third beam on the right hand side of Cubs dugout near bat rack. So three days before Cubs came to New York, we went out and got a black cat and fed the cat sardines from Durocher’s favorite spot in visitors dugout.
Tom Seaver pitched the second game of the doubleheader on September 8th. During the 7th inning stretch, a ground crewman released the cat. The cat immediately ran over to the visitors dugout where we had been feeding it the past three days–directly in front of Leo Durocher. There was serious stare-down between the black cat wanting his food, and Leo wanting to get the hell out of New York. The timing was perfect as everyone was standing up and singing Take me out to the Ballgame during 7th-inning stretch.
We won the second game of doubleheader 7-1`. Seaver won his twenty-first game of the season……
The wounded Cubs left New York still in first place but with only 1/2 game lead over the Mets…and Leo didn’t take the black cat with him”.
For ever & ever!
Let’s Go Mets!
Rendon did not beat out an infield hit, he purposely bunted for a hit. That’s right, the clean-up hitter, one batter after Harper had homered to give the Nats some life, bunted. Let me word this a little more crudely: Anthony Rendon, in a critical one run game, reached down into his pants, inside his cup and found nada. He reached down and found he had no sack, no cajones.
Like the rest of this Nationals team he is a fraud with no guts. Just like Worth striking out and taking 45 secs to wander back to the dugout wondering how dare someone have the audacity to strike out the almighty Jason Worth. Just like Ryan Zimmerman staring out with faux machismo at Hansel Robles after striking out on a quick pitch when everyone knows HANSEL ROBLES LIKES TO QUICK PITCH!! Jus tlike Bryce Harper, great player that he is, walking to first base after grounding out over and over. The best dynasty that never was, the 2012-2015 Washington Nationals.
Bunted within the confines of the infield, but I changed it for clarity. (The issue of his sacklessness I shall not touch, so to speak.)
I remember that black cat well. I was at Shea the night before, as a 10 year-old, the first of a 2 game set with the Cubs coming in 2.5 games up. That was the game where Agee was knocked down leading off in the Bottom of the 1st by Bill Hands, and then Koosman retaliated against Santo leading off the top of the 2nd, hitting him in the wrist. Those were the days.
Agee hit a 2-run HR next time up, and scored the winning run in the 7th when Hundley somehow missed a tag up the 3rd baseline. Mets won 3-2.
The next day, we saw the black cat, and Seaver besting Jenkins, 7-1. We knew it was over, even though, as you noted, the Cubs limped out of town still in first place
With the lead now bigger than the Yankees and season-ending Nationals series, the Mets can exhale … half a breath.
Don’t forget the Mets recently lost series to the Red Sox and Marlins. The Mets starting pitching is in flux and the middle relief needs to be sorted out. The Mets can start preparing for the play-offs by increasing rest for their young stud pitchers and hurt veterans, but can’t yet expect to coast to the finish line.
Like Howie said, the Mets stormed into DC and staggered the Nationals. But don’t count them out yet. The magic number is a robust 17. There’s work left to do.
I expect the Nationals to pull together whatever they have left for a final do-or-die charge in their next 20 games.
They can make one. They’re still a potent team. Don’t overlook that the Mets were forced to come from behind to win the 3 games in DC. The Nationals almost swept the Cardinals and Mets; they had late leads in each game they lost. The Nationals have won their last 5 series that weren’t against first-place teams, and their next 20 games are not against the Cardinals and Mets.
The only move the Nationals have left is to go on a tear and pull the Mets lead down to 3 for the season-ending series. Don’t forget that in front of the Nationals series, the Mets dropped 2.5 games in the standings in only 4 games. Making up 4 games over 20 games (let alone 7 games over 17 games) is not unrealistic.
Like the Mets followed up well against the Marlins after their last sweep of the Nationals, it’s important for the Mets to follow up their 2nd sweep of the Nationals by playing well against the Braves.
Coming back to win games is not a sign of weakness. Ask the respective aforementioned teams that came back to win 5-3 in 1969 and 8-5 in 1986.
Nationals have talent. Lots of it. This would have been an excellent series to put it to best use.
Mets need to beat Atlanta tonight. Anything that happens to Washington is welcome, but the driver’s seat is over here.
“Peerless Yo (from Manzanillo).” Love it, Greg.
He “came a long, long way, to be with us today!”
Grew up by the Gulf of Guacanayabo!
In all his tenure here, no sign of the TC who, in previous incarnations, had team mutinies on his hands, and resigned (?) in tears, I believe. Fascinating story here.
That dugout scene after Yo’s HR was pure celebratory joy, for the team and the fans!
Which commenter asked earlier in the season if ‘Citi’ was a boy’s or girl’s name, referring to what Freeman might name his kid?
Still hilarious!
Was in my kitchen preparing dinner for my two young sons when I heard Gary Cohen’s voice start to rise and my 6-year-old confirmed Kelly Johnson had homered. Went back to chopping peppers and heard Gary again and my 6-year-old telling me Cespedes had hit his 32nd of the season (he loves to keep track).
And speaking of omens, my 3-year-old goes to preschool and they have a keypad lock on the outer gate. The code for the gate is 1-9-8-6.
Nice omen Jake…..hope that follows through with the same result!
For 54 seasons, I’ve been in the roller coaster ride we call being a Met fan- this article is so precious to me, because I’ve forgotten more baseball than you’ll ever know/ and it was a beautiful reminder of what it truly means to be that Met fan: loyalty at each & every bump in the road will be rewarded someday. The fruits may be at the 100th step, don’t quit at 99! Thanks for writing this- made me cry, made me proud, made me joyful.⚾️
Okay. I give. It’s over.
Y’think?