Speaking of the Mets Sucktacular September (and sequel), I've been meaning to transcribe Gary Cohen's remarks on the final
Mets Postgame show, so why don't I do that now? Gotta clear out that DVR, y'know.
After Zeile and Blevins blow smoke up the players' butts with their inane "well, it doesn't matter when you lose, it always hurts" attempt to minimize the Choke, a dose of reality from Gar:
Quote:
GARY COHEN: You know, the Mets this year won 101 games, the second-most games that the Mets had ever won in a season in their 61-year history. But this was an ignominious end.
For five months, this was maybe the best team in baseball, maybe the second-best team in baseball, you can certainly make that argument. But it was all there for this team. When they got out of that Dodger series on September 1st, they had the easiest schedule (on paper) in the major leagues. And they squandered it.
They squandered it. They just didn't play well in September. But it was still there for them last weekend when they went to Atlanta. All they had to do was win one game.
But their starting pitching (which had been carrying them) let them down, as it did this weekend. Their offense, which had been sporadic for the last month, was sporadic again, and they let it drop.
This year, and the way it has ended up, feels very much like 1988. That year, the Mets (two years removed from the World Series) won 100 games. They had dominated the Dodgers during the regular season (in those days, there were fewer rounds of playoffs), they had beaten the Dodgers 10 out of 11, but they lost a seven game series to the Dodgers and didn't get to the World Series.
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Gary goes on to propose that the difference is that 1988 felt like the end of an era for that team (where the core had been together since 1984 and was about to splinter; 1989 was the last season for Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez with the team, plus the whole trading of the CF platoon), but this feels like the start of something, blue skies ahead, yada yada.
And who knows, he could be right. But it's not money until it's in your wallet, so I'm less placated by possibilities than I'm bummed by actual "ignominious end" this year.
Also, I can't quite make the 1988 equivalency, because that team performed during the regular season. They met their challenges, where this team failed those it faced. That was an Upset; this was a Choke. Both are painful, but there are differences.
So I'll file this with 2007, not with a team that was going to be up 3-1 in the LCS before Mike Scioscia hit the second-most inexplicable homer that I've ever seen.
(#1 is the Alex Gordon shot in Game 1 of the 2015 WS, because I was at the park and balls that seemed to be hit much harder were dying in the humidity, not even reaching the track. I'm still agog that it went out, to CF no less.)
In 1988, I was happy until I was shocked. This year, I was pretty damn miserable, as I could see the trainwreck coming.
But thank you, Gary, for being more honest than many a home team announcer could ever dream of being.
Adieu.