I love bacon.
Now, as truthful as that statement is, I haven't mentioned that fact in any of my blogs........yet. But what I meant to say was that I love the New......York......Mets. I grew up a Met fan in Stamford, Connecticut. Watching them on WOR-TV Channel 9 in New York with my aunt Bea (yes, just like Opie Taylor) in her apartment which was downstairs from the floor where my family lived. We would shake our heads un unison at some of the many faux pas they would make and marvel when they made plays that looked like they'd actually gone to rehearsal recently. She collected every Mets yearbook, including the original issue in 1962, and handed them over to me to continue the tradition. This year I completed the set and now have a copy of every one of them.
I would listen to the games on my Radio Shack transistor radio (Google THAT, kids) under my pillow at night on school nights, falling asleep to the voices of Lindsay Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner. Sometimes I would turn my black & white tv on and turn the brightness control down in order to keep the room dark as to not tip off my mom by having any light showing from under the door. Some of you may not even know what a brightness control on a television is or that at one time they had them at all. Trust me, it had nothing to do with the IQ of the user of the television.
Bea was in the stands at Shea Stadium in October of 1969 on the afternoon of game 5 when they won their first World Championship and I was in New York on the night they won their second in 1986. They should've won another by now. 1988 comes to mind first off. They lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS 4 games to 3 after dominating them during the regular season, winning 10 of their 11 meetings. But then we wouldn't have had the whole Kirk Gibson/Roy Hobbs moment in game one and all that came after that, would we?
They should've gone to the Series in 2006, but alas, the Cardinals and Yadier Molina got in our way that year. Endy Chavez's phenomenal catch had us all thinking that it was a done deal. Just before Adam Wainwright went into his windup before the final pitch of game 7 I uttered two words out loud. "Curve ball" crossed my lips as though I'd found the solution to the ending of a movie like "Inception" but was powerless to make it worth anything because I was in Minneapolis and Carlos Beltran was in Flushing, New York. Howie Rose told me the outcome through my car's speakers and the Cards were off to the World Series to beat up on the Tigers. How did I know what the pitch would be? Especially since I couldn't see Molina's signs over the radio waves? Because I knew that Beltran was looking for a fastball and Wainwright wasn't gonna bring it. I didn't want to be right about that, I just was.
The orange and blue have frustrated me extensively for many years since that night, but on one glorious late-spring evening it all went away, just for a moment.
The Mets had come close to ho-hitters in the past, most notably the Tom Seaver gem in 1969 against the Cubs when he had a perfect game broken up by Jimmy Qualls. I, like most Met fans, pretty much got comfortable with the notion that the team would NEVER have a pitcher throw a no-hitter. Going into 2012 the San Diego Padres were the only other team to not have had a no-hitter thrown for them.
I've been lucky enough to see two no-hitters in person. Both were at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The first was by Scott Erickson on April 27, 1994 and the second by Eric Milton on September 11, 1999.
But on June 1, 2012 the Mets hosted the Cardinals at New Shea. It says CitiField on the tickets and on the signs and virtually everything else. But those of us who are real Met fans know better. The Cardinals were the defending World Champs. But on this night Johan was "on". There were two crucial moments during the game. In the sixth inning former-Met Carlos Beltran led off and hit a scorcher down the third base line. The ball he hit actually did hit the foul line but umpire Adrian Johnson missed the call. If replay had been in use at that time the call would no doubt have been reversed and the no-hitter would've been over at that exact moment. Then again, if there had been replay the Cardinals would've been World Series champions in 1985 and Don Denkinger's name would be known only in his own home.
In the seventh inning with one out, Yadier Molina (yes, him again) hit a ball into the left centerfield alley which was run down and caught by outfielder Mike Baxter, who grew up only 10 minutes away from the ballpark.
With those heart-stoping moments behind him Santana honed-in on his goal and on his 134th pitch of the game he struck out David Freese to close it out and the Mets had their first ho-hitter as a franchise. As I heard Gary Cohen, the tv voice of the Mets report the event as I watched, I thought about the fact that I never thought this would happen. Keith Hernandez asked Cohen if he ever thought this would happen. Without skipping a beat Cohen answered "No." I also realized that I was shedding a few tears of happiness. My wife and converted Met fan Bryn looked at me and said, "Are you...crying?" And while slowly shaking my head from side to side and in a quiet partly-cracking voice I said, "You don't understand. This was something we knew would never actually happen." I did not anticipate this at all. But it stands to reason. When you feel as passionately about a team as I do about the Mets, an event which you never anticipated will touch you in just such a way.
Like I said, Johan threw 134 pitches that night and, basically, was never the same after that. Talk about "leaving it all on the field". Johan was paid a large amount of money to come to New York. I had seen him pitch locally for the Twins and dreamt of their rotation having someone like him to roll out every fifth game. And then they made the deal happen. His arm basically resbounded from the effort and even though he missed the entire 2011 season, his 2012 season was essentially done and he then missed all of the 2013-2015 seasons. Johan had hoped to return one more time. He wanted to pitch once again for his son to see him do so and for that I applaud his effort. I ran into Johan at Twinsfest in January 2020 but he knew me from my Twins employment days. He had no idea that the Met fan was who had greeted him so warmly that evening.
The Mets may never have another no-hitter thrown in their history, or at least in my lifetime. Goodness knows they've had a wealth of talent on the mound whom we all thought would've done it. Tom Seaver (who threw one for the Reds), David Cone (who later threw a PERFECT GAME for the Yankees), Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden (who later threw one for the Yankees), Nolan Ryan (who threw SEVEN for other teams in his career), Ron Darling, and the man I thought would do it first, Sid Fernandez. Even with the current crop of hurlers including Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Marcus Stroman I don't know that they will make it happen. deGrom has the potential every time he takes the mound, that's for sure.
.........I'm just sayin'.
P.S.- I composed this blog a few years ago and a couple of things have transpired since then.
In 2015 the Mets went on a monumental playoff run starting in early-August. They went on to win the Eastern Division title, clinching in Cincinnati in late September. I actually flew to Columbus and drove to the Queen City to see the last five innings in person at Great American Ballpark. I was behind the dugout when the players came out postgame and even got champagne sprayed on my jacket by Terry Collins when he emerged.
In the seventh inning with one out, Yadier Molina (yes, him again) hit a ball into the left centerfield alley which was run down and caught by outfielder Mike Baxter, who grew up only 10 minutes away from the ballpark.
With those heart-stoping moments behind him Santana honed-in on his goal and on his 134th pitch of the game he struck out David Freese to close it out and the Mets had their first ho-hitter as a franchise. As I heard Gary Cohen, the tv voice of the Mets report the event as I watched, I thought about the fact that I never thought this would happen. Keith Hernandez asked Cohen if he ever thought this would happen. Without skipping a beat Cohen answered "No." I also realized that I was shedding a few tears of happiness. My wife and converted Met fan Bryn looked at me and said, "Are you...crying?" And while slowly shaking my head from side to side and in a quiet partly-cracking voice I said, "You don't understand. This was something we knew would never actually happen." I did not anticipate this at all. But it stands to reason. When you feel as passionately about a team as I do about the Mets, an event which you never anticipated will touch you in just such a way.
Like I said, Johan threw 134 pitches that night and, basically, was never the same after that. Talk about "leaving it all on the field". Johan was paid a large amount of money to come to New York. I had seen him pitch locally for the Twins and dreamt of their rotation having someone like him to roll out every fifth game. And then they made the deal happen. His arm basically resbounded from the effort and even though he missed the entire 2011 season, his 2012 season was essentially done and he then missed all of the 2013-2015 seasons. Johan had hoped to return one more time. He wanted to pitch once again for his son to see him do so and for that I applaud his effort. I ran into Johan at Twinsfest in January 2020 but he knew me from my Twins employment days. He had no idea that the Met fan was who had greeted him so warmly that evening.
The Mets may never have another no-hitter thrown in their history, or at least in my lifetime. Goodness knows they've had a wealth of talent on the mound whom we all thought would've done it. Tom Seaver (who threw one for the Reds), David Cone (who later threw a PERFECT GAME for the Yankees), Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden (who later threw one for the Yankees), Nolan Ryan (who threw SEVEN for other teams in his career), Ron Darling, and the man I thought would do it first, Sid Fernandez. Even with the current crop of hurlers including Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Marcus Stroman I don't know that they will make it happen. deGrom has the potential every time he takes the mound, that's for sure.
.........I'm just sayin'.
P.S.- I composed this blog a few years ago and a couple of things have transpired since then.
In 2015 the Mets went on a monumental playoff run starting in early-August. They went on to win the Eastern Division title, clinching in Cincinnati in late September. I actually flew to Columbus and drove to the Queen City to see the last five innings in person at Great American Ballpark. I was behind the dugout when the players came out postgame and even got champagne sprayed on my jacket by Terry Collins when he emerged.
They edged past the Dodgers in five games and eviscerated the Cubs in four. The Royals of Kansas City were more than formidable and the magical run came to an end in five games. For THIS Met fan it was quite a fine October as I my team played a game on my birthday, October 28th, for the first time ever. I was proud to sport my orange and blue for weeks afterward.
Early January 2016 saw the passing of my aunt Bea, the person who started me down this path over 40 years ago. I know that she shared my enjoyment as the team moved through the postseason. She has passed the torch to me and I will take it from here......to the next no-hitter and beyond.
............I'm just sayin'
Early January 2016 saw the passing of my aunt Bea, the person who started me down this path over 40 years ago. I know that she shared my enjoyment as the team moved through the postseason. She has passed the torch to me and I will take it from here......to the next no-hitter and beyond.
............I'm just sayin'
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