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Last year, the Mets wasted a seven-game lead with 17 games to play, and lost the division to the Phillies.
This year, today, with 17 games to play, the Mets have a four-game lead in the loss column – with the Phillies again in second place.
The Mets have been given a golden opportunity here to redeem the disaster of last September – in that they can more or less fight the exact same fight against the exact same team.
Wednesday, on SNY’s Pre-Game Show, I said, “I believe the Mets can win the NL East.”
In thinking about it, though, last year’s team had already been struggling – long before September. And so, while 
September hurt, in hindsight, it should not have been such a surprise that it happened.
To me, that is the biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s team. If you recall, the Mets had been playing up-and-down, average, high-wire baseball, which we had been freaking out over and worrying about through much of the summer. It wasn’t until the first week of September that they turned it on, going 9–2 to start the month. They then lost 12 of their final 17 games. Again, up and down.
This year’s team – or, I should say, the post-June version of this year’s team, you know, the one with Jerry Manuel, the one with a strong Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey, the one with a productive bench and a Carlos Delgado contending for 
the MVP, the one with a large, effective bullpen, and, most importantly, the one that experienced last season and who appear mentally stronger for it – this year’s team, the one that ended August winning 8 of 12, and six of their first eight games in September, the one that is 38–19 since July when they were in third place and had to fight back to be where they are today – this year’s team just seems different, they seem more focused, more confident and more determined to keep fighting, regardless of the competition and where they are in the standings.
So, for me, no more guarded language, no more worrying, I’m ready to believe again. Baseball is supposed to be fun, and not a horror movie, and so I refuse to cover my eyes for fear of what could happen and miss what will be an exciting finish, all set to occur in the final days of Shea Stadium.
I have officially moved beyond the Collapse, and now believe the Mets will win the NL East…Sorry it took me so long.
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Not to play devil’s advocate here, but this year’s team also has a smaller cushion to work with (3 vs 7).
It’s going to be one helluva ride for the next three weeks.
The difference between this year and last year is that last year everyone on the team seemed to be waiting for the other guy to get the big hit.
This year it seems to be that everyone wants to be THE GUY. And not in a pressing sort of way (though I question whether that is the problem with DWright).
This Mets is more about “team” than any player, though no doubt Delgado is a more than legitimate MVP.
Through out this year players that you would not have expected stepped up- Tatis, Easely, Figgy, Ayala, Argenis, Church (yes in the beginning no one expected) and Pelfrey. Sure the stalwarts also contribued (i.e. Wright, Beltran and Delgado, Santana, etc.), but its alway “team” that is most important.
Yankees have bunches of “me” players. But to me their downfall is that “all-star” at every base does not mean “team”. In the mid 90s, when the Yankees had a few stars and a lot of quality ever day players that team thrived.
I think that is what the Mets are developing into, and why they are succeeding now.
Go Mets!
I do believe! And I approve this post.
I can’t believe I left off Smurfy and even Evans.
and Reyes off the list of stalwarts. jeez, do you even watch this team…j/k
All I know is I have tickets to the final regular game of the season. I want the Mets to have locked this thing up by then and enjoy all the “Shea Goodbye” festivities.
Because if that game turns out to be the deciding game for the NL East, I will have to be sedated.
At this point last year, I was pessimistic, even with the big lead. I’d seen too much listless mediocrity from that team over the previous three months, too much unimaginative strategizing by an over-matched manager. For months the mantra had been, “At least we’re still in first place.”
This team has built momentum over several weeks of inspired play. They’ve shown the capacity to overcome obstacles. They’re led by a capable, oftentimes brilliant manager. This year, I feel confident. This team is better than its competition. This team has character. This team will win.
Also, what the Mets needed a true “ACE”. This year they have their ACE and are heading in the right direction. The next two to three weeks will be interesting to watch! Hold on to your seats boys and girls!
Why Cerrone? Why the jinx? Metsblog needs an editor!
No Jinx man, “ya gotta believe” that this team can do it. They way they are playing right now (this does not include the pitching over the last two games), they can beat anyone!!
Off topic question here, does anyone know the name of the artist and the song that Jose Reyes comes out to when he is up? I am looking for it (I was thinking about making it my ring for my phone) but I can’t find it anywhere.
LET’S GO METS! HOOO! LET’S GO METS! HOOOO! LET’S GO METS! HOOO!
MoMoney25…You are right on the money! “YA GOTTA BELEIVE”!
Damn straight ya gotta believe!
Guys, I just got back from my 2 month vacation in a cave. Were we ever able to cut Delgado and get Richie Sexson?
No, but you missed a lot! Richie Sexson was let go by Seattle. The Yanks picked him up. He had a hit in his first game with the Yanks and all Yankee fans thought he was the 2nd coming. He proceeded to get cut about a month later by the Yanks.
To quote coming to America (church scene): “that boy good. he good.” ; “good and terrible”
Yeah, we’re running a very successful Sexson/Hatteberg platoon out theree at first base now.
Last year it felt like there was a giant shoe hovering over the team, just waiting to drop. It finally did at the end of the year.
I agree with the sentiment here. I feel more positive with this team.
you forgot about the egg inside of that shoe.
ha
I’m not convinced yet…… Although their offense has been raking, their starting pitching is looking shaky….. I certainly don’t have faith in the bullpen…… Heilman is the oppostions best friend……
The only time you are likely going to be seeing Heilman the rest of this season is in mop up duty.
Well I think what is happening is that our starters are getting tired. For the most part though, our BP is holding up their end of the bargain. Second Half Johan tonight though! w00t!
Does this mean the magic number will be posted soon? :-)
If you are confident, you are confident, jinxes be damned.
For me, winning the two games vs. the Nats were a big deal. Those are the exact kinds of games that they lost last year.
And the team didn’t let it slip away when the starters blew up. Picking each other up: it’s a good thing.
Post of the year, Cerrone! Gave me goosebumps for cryin’ out loud. Let’s Go METS!
Couldn’t agree more. Let’s do this thing.
I got goosebumps. Right on, Cerrone. Right on.
Last year, as willie kept saying, they were patiently waiting to play as good as they knew they could. This year they fight for it. Lately the hitters have been fighting like crazy.
However, pelfrey might be fading, perez has been sloppy,martinez hasn’t clicked. We haven’t yet felt the absence of Maine and Wagner. We’ve been lucky with that.
In the end, pitching not hitting wins baseball.
They can do it. But they will have to fight like mad for it.
Well, this is it– the beginning of the stretch run. No days off from today until the end of the regular season. Its going to be nerve wrecking, but fun. Hopefully things will go back to the norm with the Phillies not winning the East and missing the playoffs via the Wild Card by a game like they usually do.
But really I’m just happy to see the team be very competitive and in the playoff hunt for 3 straight seasons (you could argue 4 since they were in the wild card hunt for a bit in September ‘05) after the awfulness we had to endure the post 2000 World Series season.
they were in the hunt in 2001, don’t forget. The Piazza post-9/11 game had legitimate playoff implications at the time, which was what made it so exciting beyond all the other stuff. Of course, Armando Benitez and Brian Jordan then conspired to ruin the Mets season, and that was that…
SNY had the post-9/11 game on last night. I caught it starting with the bottom of the 8th with Alfonzo about to draw the walk. Then the HR. That game still brings a lot of emotion back.
SNY did a fantastic job showing that game and then on SportsNite with there remembering 9-11 and baseball’s role.
This one has a chance!
Cerrone!!! We all believe, ya gotta believe!!! No need to make bold comments saying so. The collapse went out the door @ 3 am with Willie. This is the new, new mets! Jerry’s Ganstas! The Amazins!!! The team, the time, this is our season, yadda yadda yadda! Lets go mets!!!
You mean Post-July. This team was streaky into August. They’ve managed to mostly eliminate that, although you still see the streakiness. David Wright, the Bullpen goes 15 scoreless, then lets up 15 in one game, etc.
Last year the craziness of these probabilities combined and they lost. They were one lucky bounce from cruising/stumbling into the playoffs again.
here here! And while I will TRY and not watch with my eyes closed…I can’ tmake any promises…but it’s sure nice to try…
Plus, the mets are coming to DC next week…and I get 4 games of METS (as awful, scary, horror movie-esque or WONDERFUL AND EXCITING as that may be!)…and not t hat it matters, but I really believe the METS need their FANS more than ever…so with signs, vocal cords, and tums we will a go!
Welcome to the club matt!! Enjoy yourself, hope you have your bathing suit cause the water is fine. Drinks are at the bar, don’t forget to tip your wait staff.
I see magic in this year’s team. Aura and mystique…
Also, here’s hoping that Larry goes something like 1-12 in his last games at Shea. The last AB being a K to end the finale on Sunday of course.
oh man, I completely forgot about the X factor that is Chipper this weekend. I hope he doesn’t torture us as his going away gift. Oh man
An important aspect of last year’s collapse was a ton of games head-to-head against the Phillies, which gave them ample opportunities to catch up and control their own destiny. As the two don’t play each other again this year, the 3 game lead is stronger than it might appear when comparing against last year’s 7 game lead.
plus the Phillies only have 15 games left, not 17. Heck, if the Mets only go 8-9 the rest of the way, the Phillies would have to go 10-5 just to force a playoff. When was the last time the Phillies went 10-5 over a 15 game stretch, May?
However, I think last year that was what we were doing. Trying to hold a lead. If we only do this or that. We were playing not to lose. This year we have to play to win every game. Another poster on here said it a few days ago, instead of focussing on HOLDING off the Phillies, why not try and CATCH the Cubs?
oh, hey I agree with you 100%. I’d be shocked if the Mets only went 8-9, I fully expect them to go like 11-6 or 12-5, which means the Phillies would have to play like 13-2 or 14-1 down the stretch, which is damn near impossible. I was just using those numbers to show how good a chance the Mets have to win this thing.
Good. Maybe we can get that magic number put up there again. PLEEEEEEEASE?
Over the past week or two I have felt myself getting over the collapse. Noticing this team is different they have fight, they have character. Collapse be damn we are going to win the east.
Yesterday I started to freak out a little bit. I am a Met fan it is what we do. Seeing the number 17 as our games remaining it bothers me to no end. I want to get past it as quickly and painlessly as possible. A win tonight will ease my fears.
I am anxious, nervous, excited, sad and pumped up all at once. This is going to be one of those 2 week stretches that we will all remember as a fan base. We will see the final games of the regular season at a place we called home for so long, we will see our team fight their way through horrible demons that we ourselves are fighting through, and we will see the completion of one of the best 2nd half runs this team has ever gone through.
I will be at the game tonight. Lets pack the stadium, lets show this team we are behind them, lets remember all the memories of Shea for it is close to the end and let us show that team across town how you really close a stadium in NY.
“we will see our team fight their way through horrible demons that we ourselves are fighting through”
Sounds to me that you need a Priest more than a ballgame. Have you been vomiting in pea soup green with your head spinning ? :)
perfect read to get my day started!!
Let’s Go Mets!!
Woo Matt’s finally on board. Now lets treat Atlanta like an egg in a shoe….and BEAT THEM.
I will be over the collapse when we clinch the division
I am ready to light this candle boys … Let’s Go!!!
Excellent post, Matt.
Here’s the difference between last year and this year. This week when they blew the leads against the Nats, I was angry but also confident that they would regain the lead. I never for a second doubted they would win. Last year, as soon as the other team even started to mount a rally, I knew it was curtains.
I was over the collapse in March. Why carry it around? It’s baseball and every year is a new year. Look at the Rays, who would have said that they would be in 1st place in that division? Or the Twins would compete this season?
In sports, as a coach, you have to forget last season good or bad on day one.
Beating up on this Braves team over the next two weeks would completely exorcise the demons of the collapse. Especially winning some games in Atlanta.
Let’s Go Mets!
They finish it up with 4 games with the Cubs and 3 with the Fish. Not that easy.
I remember when Jerry had only been manager for less than a week, and a lot of comments on this blog shared the sentiment that this team just had a different feel to it right from the start. Most were being cautiously optimistic as to not put their foot in their mouth with such a small sample of games, but really the attitude of this team was undeniably different as soon as Jerry became the manager, and we WILL win the east this season!
Remember Jerry’s first home game? I do. $5 seats courtesy of Subway. I had a great view of Felix Hernandez taking Santana deep for a grand salami. That was a scary time to be a Mets fan.
My how things have changed. Let’s win some ballgames. Using Willie’s logic, that champagne will taste really sweet – and be really cold.
Guys I mentioned this earlier and stole the idea from another poster. Instead of trying to hold off the Phillies, why not focuss on catching the Cubs for best record?
We are 5.5 out. The Cubs play the red hot Astro’s in Houston next (with rain moving some of those games and possibly making an unscheduled DH) then come home for Milwakuee and the Cardinals. All this to go back on the road for the final 7 games in NY (4) and Milwaukee(3). That has to be one of the hardest schedules left and it’s not like the Cubs have been playing great baseball. If we continue to play well there is no reason we can’t catch them.
Example Cubs go 6-10 we go 12-5. That leaves both teams with a 94-68 record. Unlikely but it’s a lot more fun to shoot for that than to worry about someone else catching us.
if we end up with the same record as them, do they go by head-to-head to determine who is the top seed in the playoffs? And what if take 3 out of 4 against them, meaning we’d be 3-3 vs. them this season, then what do they do?
Coin flip or record against the next best team maybe?
cant you wait til we get in to say that havent u learned yet just wait why did you have to say this i agree with u all the time but ur killing me smalls
Attaboy Matt, welcome back. Now how about that Magic number?
Magic Number Time!
Don’t Jinx it.
Right now the big difference last year to this year, in spite of the games lead being different…
Mets played the Phillies at Shea, and when they absolutely had to win ONE game to maintain sole possession of first they did, last year when they just needed to snuff out the Phillies believe they could not and gave them the cause to charge on.
Coupled with after the Phillies series last year the Mets bungled a series in Washington and this year even though the tightrope was out, they won two against the Nationals at Shea.
Last year their fate was in their own hands and they simply could not win even 2 of 7 home games in the final week.
If I had to guess the season will come down to the Mets holding off the Phillies by either 2 or 3 games in the standings.
As a Phillies fan you could be wondering about 3 games the way the Mets fan should have wondered about about 3 games head to head last year.
July 6th, July 24th and August 27th.
But right now, the Mets need to take care of their own business. They need to pummel a team like the Braves early and often.
You live in the past, you die in the past.
Welcome back….. LETS GO METS!!!!!!
I agree. And after the collapse of last year, the champagne will taste even sweeter this year.
That I wish you did not say. I was a backer of Willie, and that comment was the height of his blissful arrogance.
How was that blissful arrogance? more confidence. It’s a common phrase that things taste better when you have to work hard for them.
Manuel said he expected to be 3-4 by this point, which comes off as more arrogance. (Not that I have a problem with arrogance, they’re not arrogant enough in my opinion)
Sweet champagne? Yuck!
As I posted two days ago:
Comment by CaseStreet
2008-09-10 18:59:27
Enough looking back, I’m looking forward, and I see October baseball coming back to Shea.
I said the same in march.
I am past the collapse of last year because this team allowed me to believe again. The ownership made a move, however anyone feels about that, and it helped/worked/motivated/released, pick the adjective, this team. They are fun to watch, they seem to be engaged all the time and more than anything they allow me to believe they will be in the post season again, without their opening day LF, a big chunk of the season without their opening day RF, numerous trips to the DL from 2 of the 5 opening day SP and now they have made a move UPWARD in the standing with the so called suspect bullpen and without their All Star closer. Lets face it, they shouldn’t be up right now. As a matter of fact, if they were flip flopped with the Phils it would seem to make more sense. yet here we are, cheering on the first place team in the NL East and a team that has given us much reason to cheer since July.
Who rocks the house?
The Mets rock the house.
And when the Mets rock the house they rock it all the way down.
Wow. Its sad that I remember that from high school.
Cerrone,
Time for the magic number man. Let’s send a message to Philly and let them know the collapse is ancient history.
Hey Matt… please do me a solid favor: Absolutely no magic number countdown you heard?!? The Mets have less to play with versus last year and this weekend in playing the Braves, every game is important. Ollie Perez is going to have to put aside the Jekyll & Hyde act and remember: to get $60M you will have to pitch like an ace. Mike Pelfrey: Although you have been pitching lights out lately, find a way to get motivated to pitch and get into it. We’re lucky the Mets offense got you off the hook so there should be no excuses. Johan Santana: Mets showed you the money. This is where it all counts. John Maine: you could be 2008 version of John Smoltz (circa 2002-2004) and pitch out of the bullpen. As for Reyes, Beltran, Delgado and Wright: You boys know what you have to do.
no such things as fate or jinxes just put the # up and hold our colective breathes
Maine is done until the playoffs AT LEAST.
Ahhh – September is here, cat fight for the White House, Jets have Favre and our Mets are back where they were last year except this year they mean BIG business – I have 100% faith this year will be different for them. This is going to be a fun Fall.
well put ellen – except id say the prsidential elections will be a dog fight – both of the candidates are real dogs
Vote Obama!!!
This is NOT your 2007 September NY Mets.
Just saying…
Even if we don’t win the division, it won’t be for a lack of trying. I’m confident though, we’re going to get this done.
i agree – even if we don;t win the division this year – i can at least hold my head a bit higher than last year
Hey, Matt you are preaching to the converted here. We all remember the disappointment of 2006. Redemption is coming! I never stopped believing even after Game 7. I never stopped believing last year. I attended the Friday night meltdown against the Marlins on the last weekend of the season. Was picked up by Maine the next day and watched in horror on the final Sunday. Redemption is coming!
Sure I have been aggravated at times (especially early, remember 7 1/2 games out?) but have never stopped believing that redemption is coming. Anyone who was Mets fan in the 1970’s knows what I am talking about. Do you remember how sweet 1986 was? Payback for all those bad years was awesome.
Every true Met fan knows that we NEVER do it the easy way. Even in 1986 we went to the brink of disaster. The last 17 games will be filled with ups and downs and highs and lows. I am not nervous. The Mets are like a great novel and we are coming to the Final Chapter. Embrace the challenge. Enjoy the ride. Its what makes being a fan fun. We are gonna win and we believe because we are Met fans. Redemption is almost here!
are you saying the Mets are not going 17-0? I don’t know if I can handle that.
Without Willie…ya just gotta believe!
Some people have already stated this above but even if we do not make it past the regular season (but I truly think we will) I would not be crushed like last year. This team is playing with much more attitude right now than they were last September. I could be wrong but my biggest complaint last year was not so much they lost (ok ,that WAS big) but that they appeared to be “mailing it in” down the stretch. I do not sense that this year so not making it to the post season will be disappointing but not throwing me into the black pit of fan anger and resentment.
HERE HERE Matt. HERE! HERE!