The Day After the Day After
I wish I was at the seventh game, because from what I hear from people who were there, the consoling solidarity of the crowd after it was over, on the ramps and in the train cars, was beautiful. There was that gentleness and kindness of the big crowd that surprised the world on 9/11, but didn’t surprise New Yorkers. Alone in my suburban living room with my weeping daughter, I missed the crowd.
I understand how upset a lot of people are right now. And I respect everyone’s sense of loss. I even respect people choosing to give up baseball when something like this happens. As I wrote in “Marrying the Red Sox,” my wife, a devout Red Sox fan, never came back to baseball after the ball went through Buckner’s legs. But this is someone who, when we were in Pompei this summer, cried when she saw the plaster casts of people killed in the eruption. Someone who cries in sympathy for people who died 2000 years ago in a volcanic eruption should not be a baseball fan.
Most Mets fans, including me, are recovering by thinking about the wonderful things we have seen this year. Yes there are some who feel anger and bitterness. That’s okay, as long as they get past that. They have to realize that if disappointment always led to anger and bitterness, the fans of the New York Mets would be one sick and scary bunch of people by now. They would not know how to console each other on the trains back to Manhattan or Manhasset.
Chris Russo, of course, said he was upset with the Mets for not being more upset with their loss. Chris would say this. He lives in a kind of failure-free zone, so he doesn’t know how to deal with failure. He can be wrong about anything, he can know nothing about nothing, he can be the world’s biggest jerk, but as long as people listen to him, he has not failed. Carlos Beltran and David Wright live in a more complex world. So do the rest of us. You can be great and gutsy and not a jerk and still take a called third strike, when someone has thrown you a great curve ball that looks high as it’s coming in. All of us do stuff like this all the time.
Sure I thought Willie Randolph should have sent Chris Woodward up to bunt the runners over instead of sending up Cliff. On the face of it, that seemed to me to be a dumb move, since Cliff couldn’t run and the last thing you wanted was a double play. But one of the things I love about Willie is that he doesn’t manage as if he’s a card counter in Vegas, always going with the statistical probabilities. He’s playing with human beings. And who knows what was in his mind? Maybe he just sensed a Bobby Thompson moment in Cliff, in what would probably have been his last turn at bat as a Met. I don’t know. What the hell difference does it make? Would those of us who criticize him bitterly have praised him for being a genius if Cliff had hit a home run?
Mets fans don’t settle for mediocrity. Or, well, maybe we do sometimes (he says as he remembers his hopes for Steve Henderson and Mo Vaughn). But there is nothing mediocre about this magnificent ball club. Nothing in me believes they choked. I feel nothing for them but love and hope for the future. I am glad they are not kicking steps and water coolers to make Chris happy. Bravely hopeful people who accept their failures accomplish more than people who kick and throw things. This is the way I’d want my daughter to react if she loses something. This is the way I want to react. And this is the way most Mets fans react because we don’t have some Steinbrenner leading us, fat and stupid on the beach waving his arms and telling the waves to stop and that their disobedience is unacceptable.
My life would be poorer without the Mets. But do you want to know how much richer my life would have been if the Mets had won the seventh game of the ’73 Series, if Scioscia had not hit his home run, and if Kenny Rogers had not walked home the Braves winning run in 1999? It wouldn’t have been richer or better at all. Not even by one little bit.
This isn’t a war. It’s a show. It’s a great show and I will watch it until I die and it means a lot to me. It was particularly wonderful to watch this year and the best is yet to come.
October 21st, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Dana…..that’s another beautiful piece of writing, filled with sensitivity and awareness. It filled me with gratitude and love.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:26 pm
If you or any had told me that this club who be one good hit away from the world series In spite of
Two of its’ starters , both playoff experienced are injured
It’s gritty slugging Lf chronic achilles keeps him off the field
Steve Traschel, usually a steady member, not performing well for whatever the reason.
I would have told you you are crazy. What a year and what a team. It went BEYOND expectations. yes, it hurt to lose, but what a future this team and its’ fans have. the mets are a class act, not a “cursed” act as some think.
And to Mr. Larussa, Albert Pujols and the rest of cardinal nation, you better make it good with this world series against Detroit. You have proven again and again not only this postseason but throughout your time in St. Louis that your team, especially Mr. larussa lack grace, style, and dignity. something is very wrong with someone that refuses to even acknowledge the presence of a class gentleman in Ozzie Smith. You flunked the test of good sportsmanship when you failed to congratulate the mets for coming out and not giving up. Your whole organization is sowing bad seed for some tough times to come in St. Louis. The window of opportunity is closing, redbirds…make it good. while you can
October 21st, 2006 at 6:50 pm
I can’t believe that you made me cry. But I am sitting here crying. I Didn’t cry after the loss although I was sick over it. But I read what you just wrote and now I’m crying. I’m crying because this wonderful season is over and I have to wait another 4 months for it to begin again. I’m crying because I love my Mets and that last out broke my heart (and all other Mets fans). But I took my 2006 World Series tickets and substituted 2007 for 2006 and will proudly display it through the year. We will do it next year or at least have a lot of fun trying.
October 21st, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I’ve said dozens of times that class means winning with grace and losing with dignity. The 2006 Mets and their fans did both. The Yankees and their fans, who love to claim that their organization oozes class, do neither. To me, this is one of the major differences between their fan base and ours. Ours hopes for championships and appreciates them when they come our way, but their fan base expects championships and treats them like a birthright.
I like our way better.
October 22nd, 2006 at 9:41 pm
There you go again. The tornado of anxiety, and pride, and hurt and hope and longing had begun ever so slightly to lose some of its force since it was kicked into being on the arc of that ginormous 12 to 6 curve ball. I have turned my rally cap back to its normal position, and my heart was starting to think about leaving my sleeve and making its way back to my chest. Then you do that thing you do and make us relive the season with all its peaks and valleys and even if just for a second, help us recharge our Met battery. Thanks; it’s going to be a long off season but it will be a warmer winter if we can get that tornado going again every so often.
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:43 am
Dana,
You never fail to amaze me with your insights. They are so heartfelt and sincere, you make me feel proud to me a Mets fan. One thing this team had was heart. As part of my routine to help the Mets win, I would sing “Heart” from Damn Yankees, as I also remember the ‘69 Mets singing it on their LP. It just really sums up this 2006 team. For those of you who may have forgotten it, here are the words:
You’ve got to have heart, all you really need is heart, when the odds are saying you’ll never win, that’s when the grin should start. You’ve got to have hope, musn’t sit around and mope, things are not as bad as they may appear, WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR AND HOPE! When your luck is batting zero, keep your chin off of the floor, mister you can be a hero, you can open any door there’s nothing to it but to do it. You’ve got to have heart, miles and miles and miles of heart. Oh it’s fine to be a genius of course, but keep that old cart before the horse,you’ve got to have heart.
October 24th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Wonderful post as always.
My post on the subject
http://frameandcanvas.com/?p=19
October 24th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
That Steinbrenner line is great and so is the one where you see the season end and scramble for the remote. Wonderful writing! You’ve got a gift.