An MMO Fan Shot by Eric Heller
If “The ‘15 Mets” takes on that special status we give to those magic teams, like “86” or “69”, I think you can point to a very specific, mostly overlooked moment from an excruciating July game that transformed our frustrating, dead-end year into one of the most exciting regular seasons we’ve had since….well, since a long time.
I’m not talking about Wilmer’s Tears or Cespedes for the Rest of Us or all the other soon-to-be (hopefully) legendary moments from this (hopefully) legendary year.
Let me take you back to that brutal, toss-your-shoe-at the-TV game against the Cardinals. July 19. Eighteen innings. Remember that? Six hours of agony. Our crappy team was 1-26 with RISP that day, and I was about ready to shoot myself.
It was the top of the 13th. The Mets offense was offensive. As it had been for weeks. Yes, there was that winning streak in April, when we had first place by a mile, before we gave it all back by June. Now it was July, and the Mets were on their way to another “Just Wait ‘Till the Year After Next Year” year.
And then, something happened that changed them in a deep and profound way. Curtis Granderson hit a single, an actual hit in extra innings. That was miracle enough, but as he rounded first, he decided to try for an extra base. I really believe it was his way of saying “enough of this bullshit.” I swear, you could see the idea light up his face as he decided to do it. That’s how I remember it, anyway. Here’s the actual moment:
That’s right, a Hustle Double. I sat right up, and I said, “Whoah! Who are these guys?”
And then Kevin Plawecki did this:
Ok, they also left a bunch of runners on in that inning. And yeah. the Cardinals would go on to tie the game, and it took a few more innings for the Mets to score again and win the damn thing. And they didn’t catch fire right away. That win against the Cardinals just showed they had some pent-up fire in them after all. It took the trades, and the tears, for things to spark.
But I think you can point to Granderson’s Dash as the moment this team woke up. When they became The 2015 Mets, the one we’ve all fallen in love with, the team we’re about to ride into October, and maybe even November. That moment stands out for me as the turning point to all of it.
And the rest, we can hope, is history.
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This Fan Shot was contributed by Eric Heller. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 30,000 Met fans who read this site daily.
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