Before we get into the fondest memories for Mets fans through the 18-inning torture chamber that awaits them in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, let's start with some happier memories. Let's go back to 1973. This was the only time the Mets were forced to hold a doubleheader due to inclement weather the day after the regular season was supposed to have ended.
Let's go back to October 1, 1973. It rained like Forrest Gump for several days. You know: “A little bit of stinging rain…and big, fat rain. Rain that came down from the sides. Sometimes it even seemed like the rain was coming straight up from below. —The two-day game in Chicago is over. They will have to play a doubleheader on Sunday and Monday.
Then, come Monday, they needed to win one of two games at Wrigley Field to clinch the National League East championship. With more rain falling, they won the first match, but the referee was merciful and called the second match with nothing left to play for.
“If I had to, I would have waited until Thanksgiving,” Tug McGraw later said. “If we had done that, we would have won the game then too.”
They were a cocky, confident bunch, those Mets, and so were their fans. This is what Mets fans actually did in their history expected May good things happen to them. A miracle happened in 1969. In 1973, a small miracle occurred. Then October 1986 had so many good fortunes and so many preferential bounces that it was hard to keep track of them all.
Sure, the Mets lost a lot early and in the middle, but it's hard to pinpoint a single game they lost before September 11, 1987. It was a game that really made me angry, like “hatred to the gods of baseball.'' We are heartbroken.
Then, at old Shea Stadium, Terry Pendleton hit a home run off Roger McDowell in the ninth inning, meaning the Mets would not be able to get past the Cardinals and defend the championship. A year and a month later, also at Shea College, Mike Scioscia forced Doc Gooden into another disastrous bottom of the ninth inning, and the Dodgers, not the Mets, would be in the 1988 World Series.
And after that…
Well, I won't go into what happened in 2007 and 2008. Because if you're reading this, you know what happened in 2007 and 2008. We'll use the following names here, assuming you're well aware of their context: Yadier Molina, Alex Gordon, Connor Gillaspie — the names that many Mets fans will forever hang around with. The troublesome troika that darkened the clouds that you will see.
But no team added to the poverty index more than the Atlanta Braves. In 1998, they defeated the Mets in three games, when the Mets needed only one win to qualify for the Cubs and Giants. In 1999, the Braves beat the Mets in a late-season sweep to take first place and came very close to the brink, but a few weeks later Armando Benitez took the lead for both players. and John Franco missed a save and Kenny Rogers couldn't throw a strike when he absolutely had to.
On September 23, 2001, two nights after Mike Piazza's eternal home run, Benitez gave up a three-run lead in the ninth inning, halting the Mets' bid for a miraculous playoff berth and booing New York City for the first time. is back. Since 9/11. Six days later, Brian Jordan hit a walk-off home run off Franco, scoring 7 runs and 9 runs.
There were countless Chipper Jones moments. Greg Maddux has too many gems. Freddie Freeman has too many base-clearing gappers. And then there were the three games at the end of the 2022 season where the Braves defeated the Mets to move into the National League East.
Now, the Mets need to win one game in Atlanta on Monday. The split gave them their 89th win of the season and a spot in the National League playoffs.
This is why we started with a Monday doubleheader 51 years ago. Mets fans can only hope for one thing: a win on Monday. Maybe that's what it takes for dumb luck to affect almost every team so they can believe there are no jinxes, spells, pox or curses in their path. .
Hopefully they can use J.D. Martinez, who went 0-for-36 with a few hits in Sunday's 5-0 win over Milwaukee. He encouraged his teammates, who could see the pressure being put on them by an ill-timed three-game losing streak, to let it all go.
“If we lose, we lose,” he said. “There's no point stressing about it. Just go out and have fun. That's when this team is at its best, when it's having fun.”
Until the Mets record Monday's 27th out, no fan will feel at ease watching. In the past, Mets fans might not have even bothered to attend a game. I knew Good things will happen. Now they may not be able to resist breakfast. Maybe one win on Monday afternoon will change that forever.
But it would be a very good start.
