There was a hilarious viral video that made its rounds the other day featuring the crying image of Matthew McConaughey from Interstellar watching his children growing up. However in the spoof video he was watching the new Star Wars trailer.
All I could think about was how instead of a time traveling astronaut, that could just as well have been any Mets fan watching a time-lapse of the first few weeks of the 2015 season.
It’s been so long since the Mets were relevant it’s as if time was somehow warped so that a week from any of the last 6 seasons felt like 7 years, which I believe was a phenomenon last observed with objects that occasionally drifted too close to Barry Bonds (there were even rumors that Barry would suspend shot glasses and salt shakers in orbit around his head as a parlor trick).
Unfortunately the Mets of recent years drifted too close to the black hole that is Fred Wilpon’s wallet.
Somehow, miraculously, we’ve secured enough dilithium crystals, fired our booster rockets, engaged warp drive, and achieved ludicrous speed all at once by tapping into the blazing heat of our starting pitching… somehow we’ve broken the gravitational pull of planet cheapskate. Yes my fellow time traveling Mets cadets, we’re free of the doomsday machine. It’s like the weight of an extinction-level asteroid has been lifted off our shoulders.
Some of you may be experiencing things you haven’t felt in quite a while, like sunshine, and happiness, and even confidence in the Mets bullpen. You may find you walk into a staff meeting and you get the silent treatment even though every person in the room is aware of your keen affection for the Mets — like a rookie hitting his first home run. This turns out to be remarkably self-satisfying in an “I don’t need your affirmation” kind of way. We’ve rediscovered smug. The Yankee dominated 3rd floor water cooler is no longer a place to avoid.
Your family members wonder at the spring in your step, your tendency to yell out things like “Yeah BABY Mets BABY!!” And what of your recent habit of doodling large bold numbers on napkins … 6, 7, and now 8? Then there’s your tendency to incessantly hum Camptown Races over and over. Dinner has also become far more regimented for some reason, with “commence eating” at 6:27 and “last dish in the dishwasher” with the “start button engaged” at 6:53.
I myself have had a running not-so-funny joke involving the Mets with my daughter … every year I tell her how the Mets are going to be “real competitive” this season, how they might just “surprise,” and every year they’ve been incinerated upon re-entry.
Since she was too young to remember the last time the Mets were in the playoffs, it must seem like losing is an annual rite to her, a normal occurrence that cannot be disrupted by cosmic or planetary forces … So this spring I’ve kept quiet. Mum’s the word when it comes to the Mets. Now, whenever I see her there’s this weird unspoken tension.
“Yeah, so how about those … breakfast burritos … they weren’t half bad huh?”
“Umm, yeah they were ok.”
Nothing, zilch about the Mets … She knows something is up, but I want to be damn abso-freaking-lutely sure they’re for real. Or, even better, I want her to bring it up.
“Dad … why haven’t you been talking about the Mets? They’re in first place you know.”
“AH HAH!”
Anyway. Strange things going on to be sure … but nothing as peculiar as my wife actually watching the games with me. Making comments like “hey, these guys are pretty entertaining.” And “Where did this catcher come from?” and “I love the hair.” I was wary at first, thinking, oh she’s just trying to share in something I love, probably from one of these chicken soup for your marriage books she reads … What she doesn’t realize is she may have created a monster given my fledgling OCD.
“OK, now sit right there, say something about deGrom’s hair again … just like before.”
But in the end, it’s not cosmic rays or gravitational anomalies or a cupboard full of chicken noodle that are turning this into a strange and wonderful spring for Mets fans, it’s the winning. Injuries will happen, they happen to every team, but when have the Mets been this deep across the board? The reason why this rebuild has taken as long as it has, and the reason why the Mets are 10 and 3, is the same reason the Mets will be OK even with the injuries — pervasive organizational depth — it doesn’t happen overnight, but once established, it presents with a tremendous advantage.
It’s a special thing when you can replace a guy like d’Arnaud with a player like Plawecki, when you’ve got players like Montero, Matz, Herrera, Reynolds waiting in the wings. Not since the 80’s have we had that. You get the sense we’ll be fine — just keep the wins coming!
In the immortal words of Keith Hernandez. “winning is great, but there’s nothing like winning after losing.”
Even so, I’m not taking any chances … I just hope no one notices an odor wafting from my unwashed lucky winning-streak David Wright jersey …
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