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2012
Remember When We Were MetsMerized In 2006?
An article by 
How awesome was this scene in the clubhouse?
Man, 2006 feels like so long ago now. That season was the most exciting one I have witnessed since the World Series run in 2000. The Mets were a juggernaut. We had swagger, power, pitching, speed. We had a attitude and everyone hated us, especially when Reyes, Delgado, and others would dance on the field.
Remember the slogan?
“The Team. The Time. The Mets.”
Remember how much we loved Willie Randolph? We thought he was our savior, and everything he touched was gold.
The 2005 off-season was Omar Minaya’s second season at the helm. He spared no expense, and left no stone unturned as he built a powerhouse of a team.
Notable moves from the 2005 off-season that helped lead us to the 2006 NL East Crown.
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The lasting image of the young Wright celebrating
November 18, 2005: Xavier Nady was traded by the San Diego Padres to the New York Mets for Mike Cameron.
- November 24, 2005: Carlos Delgado was traded by the Florida Marlins with cash to the New York Mets for Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit, and Grant Psomas (minors).
- November 29, 2005: Billy Wagner was signed as a Free Agent by the New York Mets.
- December 5, 2005: Paul Lo Duca was traded by the Florida Marlins to the New York Mets for Dante Brinkley (minors) and Gaby Hernandez (minors).
- December 12, 2005: Julio Franco was signed as a Free Agent by the New York Mets.
- January 22, 2006: Kris Benson was traded by the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for Jorge Julio and John Maine.
The pitching staff was headed by long time nemesis Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Steve Trachsel, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, while Oliver Perez and John Maine filled in when injuries hit.
The starting lineup boasted supreme talent across the board from the youngsters Reyes and Wright, to the veteran sluggers Delgado and Beltran.
This team had a great bullpen led by all-star closer Billy Wagner, Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez and Chad Bradford.
Despite the season ending in an utter letdown, 2006 was a wild ride. We had some of the greatest moments in our history during that season.
Boy, don’t you miss Lo Duca’s fire?
Remember the double play at home versus the Dodgers in the NLDS?
With nobody out and runners on first and second base, Russell Martin drilled a single toward right field. When it hit off the wall, it seemed definite that Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew would score. As Lo Duca looked up to see home-plate umpire John Hirschbeck call Kent out, he almost didn’t see Drew sliding headfirst toward the plate. But with one quick motion, the veteran catcher turned his head back toward the field and applied the tag that completed an improbable double play.
Remember Endy Chavez’s catch versus the Cardinals in the NLCS?
Endy made arguably one of the best defensive plays in Mets history, and it will be forever remembered as “The Catch”.
It’s too bad this catch did not
I’ll let Gary Cohen refresh your memory in case you forgot exactly how it happened.
“Edmonds at first and one out, and Perez deals. Fastball hit in the air to left field, that’s deep, back goes Chavez back near the wall…leaping, and…. he made the catch! He took a home run away from Rolen! Trying to get back to first, Edmonds… he’s doubled off! And the inning is over! Endy Chavez saved the day! He reached high over the left field wall, right in front of the visitors bullpen, and pulled back a two run homer! He went to the apex of his leap, and caught it in the webbing of his glove, with his elbow up above the fence. A miraculous play by Endy Chavez and then Edmonds is doubled off first, and Oliver Perez escapes the 6th inning. The play of the year, the play maybe of the franchise history, for Endy Chavez and the inning is over”
The Mets had so many memorable moments from that season, but now it just feels so long ago.
How does a big market team like us always find a way to fail?
We have so many resources, but fail to build a complete team. The 2006 team was the strongest we have had in a very long time.
It’s just really sad that we have to think back seven years to remember what it was like to really enjoy watching our favorite team. The Mets have had their moments over the past few seasons, but they always end in disappointment When will it end? When Harvey and Wheeler get here? I know they will help, but as my dad said the other day, “how awful would it be to have Harvey and Wheeler here and no team around them?”.
That would be awful, but it would also be typical of the Mets. I just really hope I get to stop saying that one day…
About the Author: Dan Valis
I am a staff writer for Mets Merized Online. I am a Mets team analyst with a focus on the minor league system, as well as the major league club. I am a lifelong New Yorker who was born and raised to be a Mets fan. The ups and downs of being a Mets fan is what makes following this team so much fun, but at times so frustrating. You can follow me on Twitter @BgAppleMetsTalk.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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Sigh… Yeah dan, i remember. Very good year, Willie Randolph inability to know how to manage killed that when in game 2 he left mota. then Wagner imploded once again in the playoffs allowing 3 runs in bottom of the 9th, DW disappearing act in the NLCS. then in game 7, everything just went wrong, after that catch in the 6th inning, mets loaded the bases with one out, Valentine Struck out looking HORRIBLY and mets couldn’t capitalize, then, Willie was forced to bring in heilman in the 9th inning of a tied game after using wagner on game 6 in a 4-0 game entering the 9th inning and he of course, allowed 2 runs, seeing his struggles willie brought in heilman, the rest is history. Winning cures everything as we have seen, what you call swagger, quickly became into a immature malcontent and disrespect to others. power disappear once citi field was built, pitching is still there minus the bullpen and no longer we have speed as it’s point out speed is a footnote. welcome to the dark ages again…
Even when Sandy Alderson took over the A’s, speed was a footnote and he traded a still young Rickey Henderson to the Yankees for garbage after 5 straight seasons of leading the league in stolen bases. He traded him because he said he was going to be the first $25 million dollar player. He wasn’t, he ended up being the fourth, but the Yankees gave him the money.
And how did rickey turn out to be??? Pretty good right?? MVP, HOF, one of the best players i’ve seen..
I was at game 2 and Wagner should have never been brought in. He was completely out of gas. His fastball was down about 4 MPH and it was very clear after the first AB that he didn’t have it.
The other big issue with that series was Floyd getting injured in game 1. He was those type of guys that everyone fueled off his energy and passion.
we were the best team that year. even with the beltran strikeout, still the best team and most fun to watch met team since 86. i have never loved watching baseball more than that year.
i miss those days!
As proposed in the caption of the picture above, I do miss Captain Red Ass! Endy’s catch was amazing! I remember when Rolen hit that ball I fell to the floor in my living room. Then Endy caught it and I lept up like I had fell onto a trampoline! What a team that was. It was a blast chatting over the Metsmerized myspace page throughout those playoffs! Seems so long ago. Great post, brings back memories!
I remember the sound of Chavez crashing into the wall like it was yesterday
The thing I will never forget about 2006 is that it was the 1st time my kids actually teared up after their hearts were broken when we were eliminated by the Cardinals. They officially became Mets fans that night.
“We had a attitude and everyone hated us, especially when Reyes, Delgado, and others would dance on the field.”
What’s funny is that almost every other team nowadays does their dancing w/o the local media making it a big deal…
The Red Sox had their fun…although in 2011 the local media took their eating habits ( chicken and beer ) and made it into controversy
The Yankees have their pie-in-the-face routine…
The Phillies have redefined swag in the past few years…
Somehow you would think Jose Reyes and Lastings Milledge were doing the ickey shuffle everytime they got on base…
( and for the record, i have NEVER seen Delgado do any dancing…he, Wright and Beltran were as straight-laced as they come )
NY baseball still suffers from the good ol boy syndrome b/c 99.999% of the media come from similar backgrounds…
hell flip bondy wrote an entire article on the choice of music the mets were playing ( rap ) in their locker room…
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/bondy/2011/04/sex-o-matic-static
Bondy is in his late 60′s….from a completely different era of American society….and can not relate at all to the current 21 year old rookie…who was born and raised in the Puff Daddy get jiggy with it era of pop culture…
But this is what makes the Nats different from the Mets…
they dont throw Bryce Harper under the bus for having swag and attitude…if anything THEY EMBRACE IT…
the mets and many of their fans thumb their noses at guys who SHOW their confidence…its like they all suffer that nerd syndrome where they hate on the arrogant jocks in HS….
This is why Ricky Henderson was a “problem” with the Mets…but was just fine in Toronto…and Oakland…and just about every other team he played with…same with Bobby Bo in Pittsburgh and Florida…the only time he was an issue was when he was here in Queens….same with Vince Coleman…he was fine in St Louis and KC…..at this point I think even Tony Gwynn could come to Queens and the press would turn him into Kevin Mitchell quicker than u can sell Blood or Crip …the problem in NY is that there are 8 newspaper all vying for the attention of 12 million viewers and now world wide…so rather than focus on stats and facts ( how boring ) they have to get ur attention by turning the paper into the enquirer…
would u rather read a story about how Carlos Beltran studies the opposing team’s relief crew while they are warming up ….or read a story about an unidentified inside source claiming that Beltran gave David Wright a dirty look while having dinner at Sofritos…
The press basically creates these bad guys and good guys to make their narrative easy for the public to digest….which then affects public perception…which then explains why Jason Bay gets booed in year 3 of his contract while castillo gets booed in year 1 of his contract…
eventually if u dont perform…the boo birds will come…how long of a rope u get def hinges on how the media feeds the masses their perception…
for example…Jose Reyes and David Wright both had confrontations with their managers on coming out of a game…
Here is Adam Rubin in 2008
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-06-17/sports/17900070_1_jose-reyes-casey-kotchman-jerry-manuel
“Mets tumble in Jerry Manuel’s debut as Jose Reyes throws early tantrum”
Tantrum?
ANAHEIM – Jerry Manuel’s honeymoon as Willie Randolph’s replacement lasted one play.
It took Jose Reyes that long to test the interim manager’s authority. After Reyes singled to open the tenure of the 19th manager in Mets history, the sparkplug’s left hamstring tightened and he looked uncomfortable at first base.
“test the manager’s authority”?
Reyes sounds like an “immature” kid here…not
————————————————————————————-
Adam Rubin on David Wright in 2012
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7936078/david-wright-publically-voicing-displeasure-terry-collins-mets-need
“Wright shows fire Mets require
Going at Terry Collins for pulling him is the emotion the captain should show”
So when David Wright yells at the manager for taking him out of the game…he is showing fire required for the team…voicing his displeasure….
basically…he sounds like an adult…even a leader….when Reyes fights to stay in the game…he is an immature brat throwing a tantrum and testing authority…basically he is a kid…
this is how the press manipulates public opinion…7-9 years of the SAME narrative and anyone is going to eventually be influenced…
What was most satisfying about 2006 and what transpired, is that it came just one year after Omar Minaya promised a post season in five years. We should have been there in 2007 and 2008 as well, missing only by one game each time. Still no team in baseball had a better record than the Mets did in that three year span.
I love that first picture! How did we get from that to this? This meaning the 2012 Mets?
Can’t agree with you about the pitching. Very old and fragile. Traschel was the human rain delay who couldn’t get it done vs the cardinals in the NLCS.
Omar pulled off a nice deal in getting Xavier Nady but then had a panic attack when Duaner sanchez got into the car accident – trading nady to the pirates for Roberto Hernandez ANNNNND Ollie Perez…… Who deals a starting right fielder for a middle reliever?? One of the worst deals in Mets history. Nady was having a very solid season AND would have been the firstbaseman after Delgado got hurt. Had the Mets gotten past St. Louis, I don’t think they would have beaten Detroit.
Ollie perez and John Maine as two of your starters in the World Series? OUCH!
Second year I was really into the Mets…REALLY fun.
It felt like the offense was up 1-0 or 2-0 after the first inning every single night. The starting pitching wasn’t fantastic (16th in SP ERA) but the bullpen was (2nd in ERA).
Honestly at this point, I hate to relive things like this. In fact, all it does is anger me, knowing we could’ve still been in good shape in the present day as we were then.