Back to the Future

By Tom "Mr Star" Starita
Posted Friday, September 28, 2007

For the record I wrote this while staring at the playoff tickets I received on Tuesday.

Wednesday night, I didn’t even wait for the ball to come down.

As soon as Beltran popped up I stormed out of Mike’s apartment, jumped in my car and screamed out a word that sounds like fothermucker.

Thursday night, to change up the karma, Nick and Mike came here.

This time they left my apartment in anger. I just sat here, trying to comprehend what was happening. I’ve had this strange feeling of déjà vu for the past couple of nights, and today it finally came to me. But even after recognizing the memory I’m still not sure which one applies. The question all Mets fans should be asking themselves right now is,

“Are we the 1998 Mets, or the 1999 Mets?”

A month prior, you might remember a column I wrote discussing how a tight pennant race is new ground for Mets fans. How not having past experiences to rely on makes it harder when you’re in the middle of the chaos. Well toss that sentiment aside, because we are now in VERY familiar territory.

For those of you late to the dance, whether due to your birthday or just now becoming a fan, let me take you on a walk down memory lane. Those two seasons are responsible for shortening a Mets fan’s lifespan by at least five years. (No scientific proof needed, just roll with it.) Honestly, I know your knee-jerk reaction is to say 2007 is a million times worse, but that’s because you are living through it right now. Despite the type of history we could possibly be making, I’ll still go with the 98/99 combination.

Why?

Before then, the last postseason memory any Mets fan had was blowing the 1988 season to Orel and the Dodgers, spitting the bit in Game 7. For ten years the Mets fan endured Hernandez and Carter getting old and leaving, Dwight no longer being Dr. K, Strawberry signing with the Dodgers, followed by the slow descent into mediocrity. Then we sped past mediocrity, into the “Worst Team Money Could Buy”, followed by a baseball strike, Generation K and Dallas Green.

Welcome to baseball hell – a decade’s worth!

FINALLY things start happening in 98. We trade for Piazza, Turk wants the ball every day, Brian McRae does his best Willie Mays impersonation and suddenly not only do we have a shot, it’s OURS!

Until……

On September 20th, 1998 the Mets defeated the Marlins 5-0. Their record was 88-69, one game ahead of Chicago for the Wild Card with five games to play. Bobby Valentine had done the impossible and resurrected the dead franchise.

We controlled our own destiny. Win the last five and playoff baseball would return to Queens. My friends and I HAD to go to the last two home games of the season, which would be against the Montreal Expos. To not go would almost be blasphemy. So on Tuesday night, September 22 we arrived at Shea with dreams of October in our heads.

So of course we lost 5-3 — and the Cubs won. Goodbye Wild Card lead!

Ok, shake it off, hop back in the car the next day and drive out to Shea ... to see a 3-0 loss and a short two-game series sweep by Montreal. But the Cubs lost, so we were still tied.

However, like the green felt ninja (Nick Feldman – the guy from Mohegian Sun), the Giants had won their third straight game, leaving them only a game and a half behind.

New York 88 - 71
Chicago 88 - 71
San Francisco 88 - 71

The next night (Thursday) we were off, so all we could do was watch the scoreboard. The Giants won again. Now what was a two-man race was turning into a three-way orgy of doom. Still, no matter what, if we won our last three games, at the very least there would be a one-game playoff. Destiny was still in our hands. Sure, we were going down to Atlanta, but it had yet to become a house of horrors. Besides, the Braves already clinched; they weren’t playing for anything.

Friday night

Mets lost 6-5 aka The Jay Payton game
Cubs lost 6-2 to the Astros
Giants beat the Rockies 8-6

Cubs 88-72
Giants 88-72
Mets 88-72

Saturday night

Mets lost 4-0 – Glavine vs Leiter and Denny Neagle pulls out the win.
Cubs win 3-2
Giants win 8-4

Cubs 89-72
Giants 89-72
Mets 88-73

Sunday Afternoon

Mets lost 7-2. Who do you start with the season on the line against Greg Maddux? Armando Reynoso! Sure, he was 7-2 coming into the game. But an inning and two thirds and five runs later, the season was over.

Cubs lost 4-3
Giants lost 9-8

Cubs 89-73
Giants 89-73
Mets 88-74

The Cubs and Giants would play a one-game playoff, which would be won by the Cubs 5-3 (winning pitcher Steve Traschel). Mets fans would go home with the most bitter of tastes in our mouths and Tom Starita would not watch, listen to or even casually flip on another game until 1999.

ALL WE NEEDED WAS ONE WIN AND WE WOULD HAVE TIED; TWO WOULD HAVE WON IT!

(I actually just slammed my fist down on my desk like I’m 20 years old again.)

Now 1999

On Sunday afternoon, September 19th, the Mets beat the Phillies 8-6. They were 92-58, one game out of first place and leading the Wild Card by four games over the Cincinnati Reds. With only 12 games left, the wild card was firmly in our grasp. What we really wanted was the division. In those last 12 games the Mets and Braves would play six times, a series in each building. It was all coming together.

Fast forward a week ...

9/21 – 2-1 loss at Atlanta
9/22 – 5-2 loss at Atlanta
9/23 – 6-3 loss at Atlanta
9/24 – 3-2 loss at Philly
9/25 - 4-2 loss at Philly
9/26 – 3-2 loss at Philly
9/28 – 9-3 loss vs Atlanta

To say panic was in the air would be the understatement of a lifetime. If you were a fan back then I’m sure it’s not hard to remember the doom and gloom in the air. It was happening all over again. This time, the choke was even WORSE, the division and the Wild Card, both in our grasps, both slipping through our fingers. In only seven games we went from one game out in the division to eight, and from four up in the Wild Card to two and a half back.

National League East - 9/28

Atlanta 100-57
New York 92-65

The division was over.

National League Wild Card - 9/28

Cincinnati 95-63
Houston 94- 64
New York 92-65

We finally stopped the seven-game losing streak the next night, beating Atlanta 9-2. From here on out, with four games left in the season, every game was a must win. We HAD to beat Atlanta. When Edgardo Alfonzo dramatically tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot, Shea Stadium was a madhouse. Alas, the euphoria would be only temporary. In the top of the eleventh, Shawon Dunston would misplay a ball in right field, leading to the Braves winning 4-3. My crew and I were at that game, (seemingly every game in September) and when we left we all knew it.

The season was over.

National League Wild Card – Friday morning 10/1

Cincinnati Reds 95-64
Houston Astros 95-64
New York Mets 93-66

Two games out with three to play. The Reds and Astros had something bigger to go after, the National League Central. One of those teams would be winning the division, with the loser most likely taking the Wild Card. Friday morning, my friend, Nick, and I decided no matter what, we would go to the last three games of the year, against the Pirates. All we could do was hope for a miracle.

Friday Night – October 1st

Cincinnati lost 4-3 to the Brewers
Houston lost 5-1 to the Dodgers
New York beat Pittsburgh 3-2 behind a DRAMATIC bottom of the eleventh single by Robin Ventura

Cincinnati 95-65
Houston 95-65
New York 94-66

One game out, two to go.

Saturday Night – October 2nd

Cincinnati lost 10-6 to the Brewers
Houston shut out the Dodgers 3-0
New York, behind a complete game shutout by Rick Reed won 7-0 over Pittsburgh.

Houston 96-65
Cincinnati 95-66
New York 95-66

With one game left in the season, the Astros had a one-game lead for the Central; the Mets and Reds were tied.

Sunday Afternoon – October 3rd

Sunday morning me, Nick and my sister, Lisa, buy seats in the mezzanine, third-base side, and are scared to DEATH for eight and a half innings. We were hoping for an easy game, but like anyone reading this column can attest to, NOTHING is ever easy when it comes to the Mets! The score was tied 1-1 heading to the bottom of the ninth. With L.A. Woman (I still get goose bumps every time I hear it) exhorting the team in-between innings, the building rose to its feet when Melvin Mora (at the time Mr. Unknown) reached first. Our mojo was rising when Alfonzo singled him over to third. Up stepped Mike Piazza, the guy we were afraid would sign somewhere else at the end of the 1998 season. Now he had the entire season in his hands.

WILD PITCH!

Just like that the game was over and the Mets had won the last game of the season (tentatively) in the most dramatic and bizarre way possible.

Next time you’re walking or on the escalator going to your seat at Shea, look for the hanging poster that captured the moment Mora scored. Ventura’s face is priceless!

With Houston winning 9-4 over the Dodgers, they clinched the Central. Now, we had to wait to see what the Reds would do.

The Reds game at Milwaukee had a 2 P.M. starting time.

In theory.

Of course the entire Mets game we’re checking the scoreboard, only to see a D next to the Reds/Brewers game. Apparently, the mother of all storms came through Milwaukee, causing the game to be delayed to late Sunday night. Sometime around 1 A.M., with a crew gathered at Nick’s to see if we would be celebrating, we instead saw Greg Vaughn and the Reds crush Milwaukee 7-1. There would be a one-game playoff the next night in Cincinnati, a game the Mets would win handily 5-0 thanks to Al Leiter and Edgardo Alfonzo, forever cementing the 1999 Mets as my second favorite Mets team of all time.

So which year is this going to be? 1998, a year we had it and let it slip through our fingers? Or 1999, a year we did everything we could to blow it, yet somehow gathered it together and pulled it out?

I haven’t slept in two weeks, I can’t eat and my palms are perpetually sweaty. I have no patience for anyone. My head feels like it weighs 80 pounds. My entire life is being dictated by twenty five men wearing blue and orange laundry.

Back in 1999 I lived at Shea for an entire weekend. 2007 is going to be the same. I’ll be sitting somewhere Friday night, screaming my head off like a lunatic. Saturday is home in Mezzanine Section 16, and if there is a need for a Sunday I’ll be there as well.

In 1999 Kenny Rogers, Rick Reed, and Orel Hershiser pitched the Mets to the post-season.

It’s up to Oliver Perez, John Maine and Tom Glavine to do the same.

Just win.

Please.

Because there is nothing funny about this past week, there will be nothing mildly amusing here. Email is MrStarita@yahoo.com, forums are found below.