Two days ago I swore I would take a break from the Mets. Watching them lose games in lifeless fashion was bad enough. Reading about it in the newspaper and seeing the highlights on Sportscenter just added insult to injury. I love the Mets, and am always willing to pour a glass of koolaid, but it was getting to be just too much.
Then last night I accidentally flipped to SNY in the top of the 9th, just in time to see Jeff Francoeur’s tie breaking home run against the Braves. As Michael Corleone once said, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
Such is the life of a Mets fan. We watch our team get pinned against the ropes and swear that this is the last straw. Then we get excited when they throw a counter punch, believing there is still a chance to come out on top. But it almost always ends in disappointment as we see the Mets take that final knockout blow.
In recent times alone the Mets have excelled at delivering that ultimately fruitless counter punch. Ventura came through with the grand slam single and then Rogers walked in the winning run the next game. Endy made the miraculous catch and then Yadier went yard a few minutes later. Santana pitched an absolute gem in game 161 and then they blew a playoff spot in game 162. The list starts in 1962 and goes on and on.
Yet there is also a very, very short list of exceptions that have kept Mets fans believing to this day. In ’69 they came from nowhere and actually hung on to win it all. In ’86 they got the Buckner miracle in Game 6 and still managed to win Game 7 too.
Hopefully Francoeur’s blast can eventually, in some small way, join that short list. It got our hopes up just a bit, and now we fully expect to see those faint hopes dashed quickly. Yet maybe this will be another exception to the Mets’ rules and last night’s win will prove to be the spark the team needed to go on a miraculous run. We have seen the 2010 Mets run off big winning streaks before, so despite their recent poor play we know it can be done. What better way to catapult that run than with a comeback victory and 3 or 4 follow-up wins against the Braves and Phillies, the teams that the Mets are chasing.
When Francoeur returned to the dugout, his teammates greeted him with the enthusiasm usually seen in a playoff game. Let’s hope that thanks to last night’s win we witness that scene again, only this time it’s in October. It's about time that a Mets counter punch knocked out their opponent.
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