SHEA MEMORIES: BIG GAMES

The fifth in an occasional (OK, you caught me, weekly) series. I'm not going to sit here and try to defend Shea Stadium as one of the best ballparks of all time. I can honestly tell you, though, that I never walked into Shea and thought, "This place is a dump." The bottom line is, Shea is where the Mets play, and for me, it will always be special. I realize these are pretty individual memories, but I hope reading them stirs up something in your mind about some place that you may take for granted.

I've been thinking a lot about the big games I've attended at Shea through the history we have shared (me and Shea, that is). I mentioned last time the playoff games I attended. I've also written about one of the most exciting games I saw there, which came in the midst of a terrible season - the game where Anthony Young broke his losing streak. But I won't write about that again.

Instead, I'll tell you the story of what might as well have been a playoff game, since it was a do-or-die situation. It had everything - last-minute drama, everything was on the line - and it may in fact have been the biggest game I ever attended at Shea Stadium.

It was October 3, 1999 - a Sunday. Last game of the regular season, against the Pirates. This was after my college graduation, a month before I was regularly employed. Actually, at the time I was flat-out unemployed. And I was in New York to attend a wedding on October 2nd. I remember specifically that I planned only to be down for the weekend, so I only packed a suit for the wedding, and my jeans and gray t-shirt for travelling back on Sunday.

Well, when things shook out on Saturday the way they did, the Mets could face a win-and-get-in the playoffs situation on Sunday. So at the wedding, a couple of friends and I decided to pull some strings we had and go to the game on Sunday. I'm fuzzy on who I was with - I'm pretty sure there was a group of 3 or 4.


We had great seats - behind the plate, about ten rows up. I was on TV throughout the game, right behind the batter from the center-field camera.

The game itself did not match the excitement level (or the intensity) it deserved, considering the situation. The Mets played the Pirates, and the game went to the 9th inning tied at 1. (Ironically, future Met Kris Benson pitched for Pittsburgh that day.) In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets got back-to-back singles with one out, and with runners on the corners, the Pirates intentionally walked John Olerud to face Mike Piazza with the bases loaded.

Of course, we couldn't believe it - that's exactly who we'd want at the plate in that situation. The place was going nuts. So what happens - the pitcher throws a wild pitch, Melvin Mora scores, and the Mets win. Pretty anticlimactic...and, it turned out, the Mets would have to play the Reds the next day in a one-game playoff to decide the wild card (Al Leiter threw a two-hitter in Cincinnati), and I forget if we knew that at the time, but it was still a wild celebration at Shea, since we knew the Mets had kept their season alive.

A personal note: This was the game where while waiting for our tickets at the Will Call window, some older woman kept making passes at me. Turned out, she was Richie Hebner's wife - he was a coach with the Pirates at the time, and spent one season with the Mets as a player in the 1970's.

More importantly, though, that gray t-shirt and jeans turned out to be very lucky. I ended up staying in New York almost the whole week - I watched the Mets beat the Reds on Monday night at my parents', and then went to a Rangers game with my dad later that week - still wearing my gray shirt and jeans. Then the gray shirt and jeans were lucky for the Mets' win over the Diamondbacks in the first round of the playoffs, and it's what I was wearing when Robin Ventura hit his walk-off grand slam/double while I was interning at Channel 7 here in Boston. (OK, not really interning, since I had already graduated and basically just hung out and logged games...That was a great day though - I was watching the Mets in extra extra innings, and the U.S.'s dramatic Ryder Cup win all at the same time.)

The lucky outfit, which began its string of good luck on that Sunday afternoon at Shea, finally ran out of luck a few weeks later. I hate to end this story on such a down note, but the moment involved Kenny Rogers and Andruw Jones.

SHEA, SWEET SHEA

Mets 4, Cardinals 2 (Series tied, 3-3)


I asked for a little post-season drama. Now I have it. But I don't know that I really need it. Nothing's more dramatic than a Game 7 - and that's what the Mets face on Thursday night, for the right to face the Tigers in the World Series.

Game 6 was a little of everything that made the Mets such a good team all season long. I wanted Jose Reyes to set the table, get the Mets going...he got them going, but skipped the middle man by driving himself in with a leadoff homer in the first inning.

The homer came after the game's other MVP for the Mets made a key play on defense. Paul LoDuca made a nice backhand grab of a down and away pitch from John Maine with the bases loaded in the top of the 1st, saving a run. Maine then got a flyout, leaving the bases loaded. In the 7th inning, LoDuca provided the Mets with some much-needed breathing room with a 2-run single to make the game 4-0.

John Maine was fantastic in this game. He went 5-and-a-third, giving up no runs, and got key outs when he needed to. (He even made a spiffy defensive play on a comebacker by David Eckstein in the fifth - things were going his way in this game.) Maine's only mistake came at the plate, when he failed to lay down a bunt after an Endy Chavez leadoff bunt single in the third inning.

Willie Randolph punched all the right buttons, too. In the 7th inning, with lefty Chris Duncan pinch-hitting, Randolph called on righty Guillermo Mota instead of lefty Pedro Feliciano (who had given up a homer to Duncan in Game 5), and Mota promptly got the 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

I might question Randolph bringing in Billy Wagner in a non-save situation - those are the only times I don't feel confident in Wagner. Wagner made it very interesting - letting the first two batters reach base, then giving up 2 runs before closing the door....gently.

Aaron Heilman pitched a great 8th inning, by the way, setting up Wagner.

So we'll head to Game 7. These games are killing me on school nights - I'm going to bed late, and I'm too wired to get right to sleep...I need the weekend bad. But then I'll be watching the World Series - and I won't be able to sleep after those games either.

The Cardinals are battle-tested in Game 7's - the past two years, winning one and losing one against Houston. Jeff Suppan won one, and he's going for the Cardinals in this Game 7. For the Mets, it'll be Oliver. Not sure if it'll be Perez or Darren, though. I might prefer Perez, just because Randolph has been reluctant to mess with his bullpen all year - I'd hate to see him start now. If Perez gets into trouble eary, then bring in D. Oliver, I guess. Tough call. But I think you stay with the guy who's been a starter.

Let's Go Mets.

POWER SURGE

Mets 12, Cardinals 5 (Series tied, 2-2)

A single by Reyes. A hit and run by LoDuca. Reyes goes from first to third. A big inning for the Mets. That's the type of production from the top of the lineup that made the Mets successful all season long. And it's been sorely lacking in this NLCS. Until the 6th inning of Game 4.

That's when the Mets went from up 5-3 to 11-3, and it all started with a base hit by Jose Reyes, and Paul LoDuca doing what he does best. Josh Hancock also walked Carlos Beltran, then gave up a Carlos Delgado ground-rule double, followed by a David Wright walk, a Shawn Green RBI single, and a bases-clearing double by Jose Valentin. The result - 6 runs, and an infinite ERA for Hancock. It all started with a Jose Reyes single, moved along the basepaths by Paul LoDuca.

And Oliver Perez was just what the doctor ordered in Game 4. His final line reads 5.2 IP, 5 ER, but those 5 runs are misleading. He came out to pitch the sixth only after the Mets had blown the game open, and he really gave up just 3 runs - those final two were bombs because he was just out there throwing strikes trying to get outs. Thank you Oliver Perez for doing what Steve Trachsel could not - pitching a good game, and keeping the Mets in it.

I look at this game as the Mets proving they are the better team than St. Louis (something they should have proven by now). For starters, the Mets' 4th-best starter was a lot better than the Cardinals' 4-th best starter. Oliver Perez seemed confident from the start. Anthony Reyes was wild, and couldn't put the Mets away in any inning. Even after getting 2 quick outs, he'd go and walk someone and give the Mets a chance to rally. Everyone makes a big deal out of Perez's 3-13 record - let's not forget he played for an awful team. He was 2-10 with the Pirates, 1-3 with the Mets. His high ERA doesn't help my argument any, but I don't think it's fair to single him out as the worst pitcher to start a post-season game (or put him in the same category as an Albie Lopez - pitchers with records of 10 games below .500).

Also, the Mets drilled the Cardinals' bullpen. They had the chance to bury them, and did. The Cardinals had a chance to bury the Mets in Game 3, and though they stopped the Mets' bats cold, they didn't blow them away. So that's reason number 2 the Mets established themselves as the better team.

Speaking of the Cards' bullpen - they had some impressive numbers this post-season, but they never really scared me as a Mets fan. The Mets proved why tonight - and during the regular season. They beat up on Cards' relievers a couple of times.

I was ready to kill (figuratively, in the written sense, not literally) Jose Valentin in the fourth inning, when he missed the tag on a sliding Ronnie Belliard in what should have been a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play. Then he comes right back on the next batter and makes a tough play on a grounder to his right, backhanding it, then throwing a strike to Delgado to end the inning. He got a reprieve. Then his bat finally woke up, and he iced the game with a bases-loaded double in the six-run sixth, and all has been forgiven.

Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado have to be giving the Cardinals and their fans nightmares right now.

Speaking of the Cardinals fans, I'm going to again insult the "greatest baseball fans in America". Someone tell me if I'm wrong, but these have to be the "quietest baseball fans in America". They cheer when something good happens, but they quiet down right away. Am I misinterpreting this, or are other people seeing this? It can't be a very intimidating place to play. The loudest cheer (and I'm not just talking Game 4 when the Cards were getting blown out - I'm including Game 3 in this too) might have come as a mock cheer, when Cardinals pitchers finally got someone out in the sixth inning. Very odd. I guess I had a different impression of Cardinals fans - and they did seem more rabid in 2000. Maybe they are just taking this NLCS for granted, since they're in it every year.

SUPERSTITION: Just so happens I changed the Mets hat I wear during the games, since it wasn't lucky during Games 2 and 3. Looks like I have a new hat to wear the rest of the post-season.

COMMENTS: Don't forget to check the comments (or leave your own comments or e-mails, by the way - johnnymetsmail@yahoo.com). The Southern Bureau feels very strongly about the Detroit Tigers killing the Mets if they make the World Series. I'm pretty confident the other way - especially after a layoff. We might have to do something to make it interesting, if the Mets make the World Series (because he'll be right if the Cardinals make it - 4 and out). I haven't talked to him about this yet - but maybe winner gets a posting on the other's blog. Southern Bureau, let's talk.

DRAMA: I was thinking the other day, as I was going through some 1986 Mets-related materials, how there hasn't been any drama this post-season, whereas that one was filled with wins in final at-bats, etc. And I've decided I'll take 12-5 wins any day over drama-filled wins. As long as the Mets win.

I'm feeling pretty good about the Mets the rest of the way. Tom Glavine goes in Game 5 Monday night. (Rain is forecast, according to Joe Buck. Uh-oh.) Jeff Weaver goes for the Cardinals - I have a hard time believing he'll string together another great outing.
P.S. My dad has tickets to (now-necessary) Game 6 of the NLCS on Wednesday. There's no way I could go...but that could be the game that sends the Mets to the World Series. That would be neat. Back to work for me on Monday - I'm going to miss my little girl...and it's back to early mornings after late night baseball games.

I never got around to the Mets season summary (perhaps that will come), but I had to put in my two cents about last night's NLCS Game 5 between the Cardinals and the Astros.

Due to my current teaching life, I no longer stay up to all hours of the night playing video games and watching whatever sporting event that is on TV (like the old days of Arena Football, on the crappy ESPN2). Therefore, I went to bed last night with the Cardinals still winning in the seventh inning, 2-1. That's when the Astros came back, on a Lance Berkman homer, I hear, to take a 4-2 lead.

They took that lead into the ninth, with their invincible closer on the hill, Brad Lidge. All we've heard about this post-season is how Lidge didn't blow a lead for the Astros all season until the final Friday of the regular season. He looked a little shaky on Sunday, but got one of the best-turned double plays of all-time to end the game with the tying run on third, so that had to make him feel only more invincible.

So Lidge strikes out the first two batters of the ninth, then goes to 3-2 on David Eckstein. Eckstein rolls a single into left field. Then Lidge walks Jim Edmonds. Then Albert Pujols launches a bomb to left field, the Cardinals take a 5-4 lead, and go on to win. Now the series shifts to Saint Louis Wednesday and Thursday (if necessary), and everyone thinks the Astros are dead and buried.

I hate to promote the guy, but Bill Simmons wrote a very good article about how the Astros and their fans must feel right now on ESPN.com. (I don't like Simmons because I'm jealous - there, I've said it, OK. I'm jealous at what he does for a living.) Simmons knows the pain, because he is a Red Sox fan, and his comparisons between this game and Game 6 of the 1986 World Series are dead-on.

I'm not so sure that the Astros will collapse, though. I still am not totally sold on the Cardinals - I don't know that they'll be able to close this out. But they really have a home field working for them - the Cardinals fans are going to be nuts about having at least one more, and possibly two more, home games this post-season, and the Astros are facing a very tough go the next one (or two) nights. I do feel, though, that they're capable of putting Monday night's game behind them and closing out the series on Wednesday. We'll see.

I worry, though, about Brad Lidge. His situation too closely resembles Donnie Moore, and we all know what happened to him. I don't think Lidge will do anything drastic personally, but I wonder how this will affect him professionally. He was so dominant this season (and even last year) - I wonder how he handles this type of adversity, on such a big stage. I don't know anything about him, so I don't know his makeup - but I want to root for him to come back and pitch well.

So I should talk about the way I found out about this, just so I can answer those "Where were you when....?" questions. I was sleeping. We talked about that already. But when I woke up, and turned on ESPNEWS, the bottom right corner didn't say "Astros advance to first ever World Series", so I figured the Cardinals won. I was more surprised when I saw the Indianapolis Colts' score. But I waited for the NL spot on the crawl, and saw the final score was 5-4. Still didn't think much of it, other than the fact that it didn't end 2-1. Then it says, "Pujols GW 3-run HR", and I'm doing the math, and thinking "Wow." Then they show the highlights, and the situation was just - and I'm going to use a word here that is so overused today that it has lost some meaning, but here it is applicable - UNBELIEVABLE. This is unbelievable, people. Other stuff that gets tagged "Unbelievable" is really quite believable. It needs to be used less.

Anyway, I love hearing stuff about the 1986 World Series and how the champagne was all ready to go and the podium for the trophy presentation was all set up for the Red Sox in Game 6, and then it had to be all torn down. I'd like to hear about the stuff that went on at Minute Maid Park on Monday night - at least they had another half-inning to get things done, since the Astros had to hit in the bottom half.

At the very least, this NLCS just went from insignificant to somewhat exciting. I'll try to write about it on Thursday.