Expletive Deleted Expletive Deleted Interference!

By Tom "Mr Star" Starita
Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007

In the interest of full disclosure I didn’t write this right after the loss. First I shut off all the lights here, at the World Famous APT and sat on my couch, staring at the ceiling.

Following the staring, I threw on a hat and went for a drive. If anyone reading is from Staten Island and were on Hylan Blvd last night you most likely saw me flying up and down screaming like a lunatic.

Clearly I have issues.

For the past couple of hours this column has been in my head, I’ve just been trying to organize it and choose the right words. The problem is there is no organizing a coherent column tonight. There are too many feelings and themes running through me. Instead it’s going to be the waterfall version of the “stream of consciousness”. I guess we should start from the beginning and work our way through…

Why did I act like a crazy man from the moment Marlon was called for interference up until I sat here at my desk and started typing away?

The obvious answer is the way we lost tonight. The next layer of truth is the way we’ve played over the past four days. Going further, it’s the fear of not knowing what this team is. But at the core, the real TRUTH, for me and all my fellow Mets fans is this.

After forty five years of existence, this year finally saw the fan base lose its virginity. Before you start snickering or Xing out this column let me explain what I mean. The way you cope with anything bad is by relying on past experiences. I was able to cope with Heilman’s home run ball last year because I could vividly recall how, eighteen years earlier Mike Scioscia’s ball kept going over the right field bullpen, changing the way we view the 1988 Mets. I could deal with Braden Looper’s nightmare series in Atlanta during September of 2005 because God knows we have had plenty of nightmare moments in Atlanta before. I could deal with Brian Jordan's late September home runs back in 2001 because Terry Pendleton is forever etched in my mind. The point being, the Mets fan base is well established in the art of coping with baseball heartbreak.

But for the first time ever, this year is different.

The New York Mets have won the division in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988 and 2006. The first two involved miraculous September charges to steal the division away. The last three were blow outs from beginning to end. We knew back in April that the division was ours; the question would only be how far would we go in the playoffs?

2007 is a different animal all together. We have been in first place with a three to five game lead all season. Atlanta or Philadelphia cuts it close, we put some distance in between before they cut it right back. As of last Saturday the lead was seven over Philly. Now it’s down to three.

Making the entire fan base nuts.

Simply put, we are the hunted. For the first time ever, we have controlled first place for an entire season without a sizable lead. Thus every game has had a little bit more importance than previous years. For the majority of my Mets fandom I have had to watch the scoreboard during the summer and the fall, rooting for someone to lose. This year is different. We don’t need anyone to lose, just for our team to win.

So when we go through a stretch like the past four games we get crazy, because we have never seen this team blow a division lead. No one wants to be a part of that, and the honest answer is due to the lack of franchise success we haven’t been in this position ever.

Sure there have been seasons where we’ve entered September either with a slim lead, tied or just below. 1985 and 1987 immediately come to mind. So does 1999 and 2000. All four of those years saw heartbreak at the end of the year, not as much in the last two because of the Wild Card. But during those four years we weren’t leading the division for the entire season only to see it slip away, we were in a dog fight back and forth with the Cardinals and the Braves.

And when games end on an interference call, dropping the lead to three and the chance of getting swept in Philadelphia with Atlanta looming large the Tri-State area becomes an ugly place.

Not just because the lead is three, but because this team hasn’t had more than a four game winning streak all year. The first two months of the year we were playing like 2006 never ended. Then came June and the disaster that went along with it. The past two months have shown glimpses of what this team is capable of but haven’t been able to follow up on it. The perfect example of this, the series that sums up 2007 in a nutshell was the San Diego series last week. Three great games, three games we SHOULD have won and instead San Diego pulled out two. This is made worse because we played those games at home, where we haven’t played well at all this year.

We keep waiting for the boys in blue and orange to show us they are a great team. The excuse we’ve heard is the injuries has prevented the team from playing up to their true potential. Over the past couple of weeks everyone has returned to the lineup, and still the team scuffles along. Now we have the hope of Pedro being a week away, with the weekend series against Houston being the circled days on the calendar for his return.

I know some people have warned against pinning our hopes on the arm that is recovering from major surgery. I know some experts are saying he’s not going to be “Pedro”, more like “pedro”.

I’m taking a different tact all together.

The return of Pedro means so much more than just the potential of an ace pitcher on the mound again. It’s the return of the arrogance, the swagger we haven’t seen at all this year. Over the past three games in Philadelphia, this team has done more whining and complaining with the umpires than any Mets team since the Bonilla Mets. Has the strike zone been erratic at times? Sure. Do you see ANYONE on the Phillies getting in the ump’s face? No. Why? Because they are OBSESSED with taking us down, and they are doing a phenomenal job so far. Either they are beating our brains out, or winning the close game. Their starters believe they can keep their team in the game, their bullpen believes they can shut us down and their offense KNOWS if the game is close someone in red is getting a big hit.

Where is that on our side?

Our starters (I’m not counting Lawrence in this discussion) have done a great job. Our hitters are pretending they are facing Koufax and Drysdale. And our bullpen has inspired zero confidence in anyone.

But there is a silver lining in there, somewhere.

We somehow STILL control our own destiny.

For the first time in this franchise’s history we are in control of a real deal division race. Some pundits last year decried the Mets post-season chances because we weren’t battle tested. How would the team respond to pressure when the entire year was a cake walk? We learned when the bats became a little bit tighter and Traschel begged off the mound during the NLCS.

This year we returned, for the most part the same team. We added Moises Alou, who has already been in the pressure cooker of September and October baseball. This time Wright and Reyes know what to expect. And we have the glimmer of hope that the “cavalry” (Pedro) is arriving next week. Point being, WHEN we clinch this division it will be earned. Will it be as pretty as the previous three? Absolutely not. Will we be the underdogs of 69 or 73? Not a chance. But you don’t get style points for your division lead. That X next to your team name means the same if the lead is four or fourteen.

The bottom line is it doesn’t matter how we’ve played over the past three months. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t “feel” like 2006. The way we play in September and October can make us all forget the aggravation and frustration we’ve all had at times this year. Ask any Cardinals fan if the 2006 championship was tainted because it didn’t “feel” like 2004 or 2005. He’ll just laugh and show you the replica ring they gave out on Opening Day.

Tom just wants you to know he hates cheese steaks, the liberty bell and Rocky V. Especially since he just put $1500 on his Discover Card for playoff tickets this year. If you feel the same email him at mrstarita@yahoo.com or chime in on the friendly forums below