It’s a history without long stretches of success. Constantly badmouthed within its own residential area as well as around the county, to be a Mets fan is to understand pain. Those who remember the ticker tape from 1986 are constantly reminded again and again by the team calling the games on SNY.
But the number of those who can recall specific games from that season grows less and less by the day. How about the number who know the following lines by heart, like a karaoke tune where you only need the first line to recite the rest.
Little roller up along first.
Behind the bag. It gets through Buckner.
Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!
Vin Scully has plenty of famous lines, but it was Al Michaels who made the call two years later that provokes the pain and sadness truly associated with the New York Mets franchise. Michaels is on the mic when Mike Scioscia hit an 8th inning 2-run home run off Dwight Gooden, sinking the 1988 National League Championship Series before Oral Hershiser’s heroics take place days later.
To be a Mets fan means remembering Endy Chavez making a leaping catch in 2006, one that’s forgotten by all except Mets fans since the lasting memory from that series is Carlos Beltran staring at the nastiest curveball as it crosses the plate.
To be a Mets fan means riding the many ebbs into the basement of the National League East and flows to the top for a few moments of glory. It means always being second fiddle within your home city and being part of a nationwide fanbase consistently attacked for its enthusiasm, yet catered to by opposing teams’ marketing departments to help fill their stadiums when the Blue and Orange come to town.
Granted, for the past 20 years opponents can expect at least 27,000 in attendance when the Mets come to town and this year. The Queens-based train wreck has drawn 29,700 rubberneckers for their games away from Citi Field.
Kodai Senga hasn’t pitched as well away from Citi Field in his rookie season, his first with a new ball on a new mound on an entirely different side of the world. He was seemingly forgotten in NL Rookie of the Year, despite the legitimacy of the Ghost Fork. Despite legitimate talk about limiting his innings, Senga has the team's most innings pitched and his 22 games started are equal to Max Scherzer’s season total.
To be a Mets fan means staying quiet about this international scouting and free agent signing success story amid the storm of sour looks from afar concerning just about everything else.
Whether it's private conversations between business partners, the status of the analytics technology for team use or the general decision making of ownership, to be a Mets fan means taking a small slice of happiness when the loudest critics, like the New York Post’s Jon Heyman admit they were wrong. Which leads one to wondering why these same critics have treated the New York Giants with kid gloves despite both franchises cleaning up after the previous caretaker.
Is Dave Gettleman’s mishandling any worse than the Wilpons’ dedicated buffoonery? More importantly, it was obvious that Giants GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll would need a couple seasons; why is the same timestamp not afforded the Cohen regime?
I’m excited for Year 2 of the Big Blue and what quarterback Daniel Jones can do with actual talent surrounding him, excited to see how Darren Waller will open up the middle of the field and create space for Saquon Barkley. But I also see the lack of depth on the offensive line, a process that takes a couple seasons to develop.
I’m excited for MLB Bobby Okereke to fill a space that was frequently left open last year as opponent’s running backs seemingly upfield untouched. I’m excited for two young edge rushers to push quarterbacks into defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams. But I also see a secondary with noticeable question marks at multiple positions playing a defense that demands man coverage.
Expectations are high going into this year, especially after last year’s successful season. But an injury or two could easily derail things since there’s not much after the first string players. Overall, it appears as if the team is heading in the right direction.
Being a Mets fan means knowing that sentence is widely accepted for the Giants, but completely unacceptable for the Mets and that’s the truth.
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