DRAMA QUEENS
Flushing never disappoints in postseason
CINCINNATI — Look, there isn’t a Mets fan alive who wouldn’t exchange their team’s history for the Yankees’, because there isn’t a fan of any team in any sport that wouldn’t exchange their team’s history for the Yankees’. If the goal of rooting for a team is to watch that team win a championship, then no team — and no fan base — ever has had a more satisfying run than the Yankees.
We can get that out of the way. It’s truth.
But there is one thing you have to say about the Mets: They may not have anywhere near as many postseason appearances as the Yankees (assuming both make it this year, that would read: Yankees 52, Mets 8). They may not have anywhere near as many postseason series wins as the Yankees (as of this moment, that would read: Yankees 49, Mets 9).
But the Mets do have a certain knack for squeezing a whole host of fascination out of their limited appearances. For one thing, they never have lost a bestoffive series (they’re 50) while the Yankees have lost eight of them (and won 15). If nothing else, you probably are staring at something unforgettable the next few weeks, good or bad. Don’t believe me? Have a look:
Chapter 1: 1969
Honestly, where do you start? With Tommie Agee’s two catches? With Ron Swoboda’s? With the shoepolish ball? With Al Weis’ huge Game 5 home run (one of eight he hit in a 10year career)? With the very fact the Mets never had finished with more than 73 wins before, that they won 100 in ’69, then ransacked the Braves and shellacked the Orioles?
Chapter 2: 1973
The NLCS so often is overlooked as one of the great upsets in baseball history, the 82win Mets beating the 99win Big Red Machine (in the midst of one of the most dominant sevenyear stretches any team ever has had). But you add the scuffle involving Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose, and the kerfuffle that ensued, and Rose ending Game 4 with a homer … and then a sevengame nailbiter of a World Series against the A’s? (And rest in peace, Yogi, but you should have saved
Seaver for Game 7 …)
Chapter 3: 1986
Again, honestly, where do you start? With the 16inning Game 6 war of attrition with the Astros (with Mike Scott looming like a spectre over the whole thing)? With Game 6 against the Sox, and the ball trickling through Buckner’s legs? With Game 7, a 30 Sox lead until Keith Hernandez turned the game around and Ray Knight put it away?
Chapter 4: 1988
This is the only postseason that hasn’t yielded at least one series win, but even so: There was a magical come back in Game 1, David Cone’s infamous column before Game 2, Mike Bleeping Scioscia in Game 4, Orel Hershiser coming out of the bullpen to lock down Game 4 … as we said. It’s not always a happy recap, but rarely a dull one.
Chapter 5: 1999
Todd Pratt — Todd Pratt! — ends the NLDS with a walkoff even as Randy Johnson looms as an ominous ghost the same way Scott did 13 years earlier. Robin Ventura has his grandslam single against the Braves. And Game 6’s unbelievable comeback is sabotaged by two blown saves and Kenny Rogers’ walkoff walk.
Chapter 6: 2000
Benny Agbayani wins Game 3 of the NLDS with a walkoff in the 14th, and Bobby Jones wraps it up the next day with a onehitter against the Bonds/Kent Giants. Ponder those names for a second. Then, of course, was the first Subway Series in 44 years; Mets fans still wince at the thought of Timo Perez not running full speed.
Chapter 7: 2006
How do you lose a game after that Endy Chavez catch in Game 7 of the NLCS? And you might have heard: The series ended with a pretty famous curveball.