Daily Archives: September 26, 2008
Yesterday, on his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin wrote, ‘Surfing the Mets has learned that Jon Niese is the probable starter on Saturday, barring a rainout disrupting the rotation.’
However, according to today’s New York Post, Manuel has not yet decided on a starter for Saturday, adding, ‘Assuming there isn’t a rainout tonight, Manuel is likely to start Brandon Knight over Nelson Figueroa and Jon Niese tomorrow.’
By the way, it has been raining in New York City, hard, for roughly the last 14 hours, and the weather report for tonight does not look to be any better, calling for Rain, Wind and Thunderstorms through Sunday afternoon.
In other words, this is going to be a crazy, wet and jittery weekend at Shea Stadium.
If tonight’s game is rained out it will most likely have to be made up as part of a double header on Saturday. However, whether it will be a split-admission or one-ticket event is up to the Player’s Union, and not the two teams and the league at this point.
Now, if Saturday’s game or games are rained out, it will likely be made up on Sunday as a double header with the Shea Stadium farewell possibly occurring between the two games – not after as originally scheduled. I have to assume the second game from Saturday would get moved to Monday, should it be necessary.
I have no idea what happens if all three games are rained out, not to mention a potential tie in the standings for the variety of playoff scenarios.
Tagged Shea Stadium |Jerry Manuel, said the following, while speaking to reporters after last night’s dramatic, come-from-behind, walk-off win:
“I believe we’re ready to take off. I really believe that. I would be really surprised if we come out and not perform. I don’t think our fans will let us perform any other way. I mean, they really were pushing us tonight and that’s a good thing, that’s a good thing.”
I watched a lot of fans walk out of Shea Stadium, starting as early as the fifth inning. There was another exodus when the team dropped to three runs behind. However, the 20–or-so thousand fans who did stay, scattered through the stadium, did do an amazing job of cheering this team on.
By the way, the boos and jeers that the mainstream media loves to obsess over all seemed to stop once the crowd was whittled down, which suggests to me that the boo-birds all bailed on their team, which should not be much of a surprise 
if you read some of the hop-on, hop-off style comments that appear on this site every day.
Nevertheless, what I enjoyed most about the remaining crowd last night was how vocal and excited and positive we were without the prompting of the public address system. Lets Go Mets cheers spread from small pockets around the stadium, people were singing the Jose, Jose, Jose song, people were banging on the railings, side of the stadium and their seats, and there was a buzz before after nearly every pitch, while the public address system remained mostly quiet.
The camaraderie is so much more fun and natural when the speakers zip it and let the crowd lead the charge.
On Wednesday, I started making posts about my Five Favorite Moments at Shea Stadium, from games that I attended. To see Number 5, click here. I will post Number 3 later today, Number 2 tomorrow, and 
Number 1 on Sunday, which is the final regular season game.
In addition, each post will be followed by a quick video segment of me talking about the moment.
I hope you enjoy them, and feel free to share your favorite memories in each post as well.
Darryl Strawberry was made life electric when he stepped to the plate. When he came to bat in the ‘80’s, the lines would immediately thin out, the halls would become less full and I’d drop everything, no matter how close to the cashier, and scurry to the railing to see him bat.
On July 3, 1990, I abandoned an attempt to buy a pretzel and fled through the tunnel to see Strawberry hit against Xavier Hernandez. The ball sprung from his bat and slammed into the scoreboard, shattering an innocent light-bulb, which remained busted for more than a decade, and was only recently replaced. To me, the busted bulb represented Strawberry’s career: so many bulbs, and too few at-bats to knock them all out.
Tagged Shea Stadium |According to the Elias Sports Bureau, “Entering the day, the Cubs had the second-best record in the major leagues in games in which they had a lead of at least three-runs (73-4) and the Mets had the worst record in the major leagues in games in which they trailed by at least three runs (1-52).”
Jerry Manuel, on responding, said after the game:
“The one thing about this team is that it has responded to some adversity and to some tough, tough losses. Tonight was another example of that.”
It dawned on me last night, sitting in the rain, watching thousands of Mets fans do their best to rally this team to a win, that, while it’s easy to say this team quits and has no heart, the reality is that they have fought back from all sorts of adversity this season – from an early-season stumble, drama with the former manager, being seven games out of first in June, to having two players in Johan Santana and Carlos Delgado rebounding to potentially win post-season hardware, to dropping from first place in early September to rebounding last night when it looked like the season might be over in the middle innings.
This is not to say they are the Comeback Kids, but it’s a tad unfair to just paint them as quitters – considering the above, and considering there are still three huge games yet to be played.
In the bottom of the eighth inning last night and the Mets down a run, Ryan Church took off from second base following a single to right field by Robinson Cancel.
Church barreled around third base, with encouragement from the crowd and the third-base coach, while running hard but 
sluggish on the wet grass and mud. The ball arrived to the catcher from the Cubs right fielder in plenty of time to peg the runner by a mile, but it was received up the line, where the catcher planted his feet in anticipation of a head-on Church.
However, Church stopped his momentum, changed direction, pulled his body in and away from the catcher, sneaked around him and dove in to home plate, passing by the catcher’s mitt. The thing is, Church missed home plate, and so laying on his stomach, with Damion Easley barking orders from the on-deck circle, Church lunged with one final movement to tag the plate in time.
Following the game, Church told reporters:
“I was a sitting duck right there. I saw him grab the ball early and I was able to shoot out to the right a bit…I was watching [Easley] because the on-deck hitter is supposed to be out there by home plate and I was just trying to keep my footing because it was so wet out there…If I had slide in straight I would have been out by a mile. As soon as he hit the ball I was just trying to keep my footing because the infield dirt was slushy and around third base the ground was wet. I was just fortunate enough to keep my footing to make that move away from that first attempt.”
For more on Church’s slide-and-reach, check out Brendan Kuty’s report for SNY, and Dan Graziano’s story in the Star-Ledger.
Tagged Ryan Church |
In what could potentially be the final start of his legendary career, Pedro Martinez struck out nine batters, walked four and let up seven hits, while walking from the field with the score tied at three.
In the rain, Martinez received a pleasant standing ovation as he walked from the mound, raising his hands and pointing to the crowd before ducking in to the dugout.
To read more about Martinez’s walk from the mound, check out Marty Noble’s column for MLB.com.
Martinez, when asked what was going through his mind as he walked off the field, said:
“I appreciate their support, just in case this may be my last game…I wish I could come back and continue on with the Mets, but this is the wrong time to be thinking about that, but, at that time, once I was done, I quickly realized that was my last outing of the season – unless we make it to the playoffs…I couldn’t pass by without saying, ‘Thanks,’ to the fans and you guys for all the support, and to management, and actually to say goodbye to Shea. It’s been a fun place for me…
“Ever since I got here I’ve been treated the same by the fans, and it’s something I will never forget. It’s always going to be with me, whether I come back or not. The appreciation and respect they have shown to me has been my biggest impression about playing for the Mets…It goes from the last fan to the last employee at Shea Stadium, I haven’t seen anything different since I got here and I couldn’t pass by without saying, ‘Thanks.’”
I have been hard on Pedro Martinez, from a talent and results perspective over the last week or so, but I am not ignorant to what he did for this organization and just how excited I was that first year or so to see him pitch at Shea.
That said, though he seems to be getting stronger from start to start, he is seemingly a lock to let up at least one run in the first, while always leaving a potential disaster on the mound when he leaves – those middle innings, though, have been great.
So, here’s the question…
[poll id="176"]
Tagged Pedro Martinez |
The Mets rallied from three runs down to tie the game, then won it with a walk-off single from Carlos Beltran during a cold and raining 10th inning, giving him four walk-off hits during his four seasons with the team.
For more, go to Mets Walkoffs, where you’ll learn among other things, ‘Last night’s win came four years to the day of another Mets walk-off win against the Cubs.’
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