Double Bummer

B"H

For the second year in a row, the Mets have taken until the last day of the season to dash the hopes of their loyal fans. I have been a Mets fan for a long time and I wonder which is worse -- when the Mets are so terrible no one even expects them to crawl out of the cellar, or something like this year and last when they dangle a carrot in front of us all season only to pull it away on the last day of the season.

To make matters worse, they're demolishing the stadium I grew up with -- Shea Stadium. I'll never again walk up those steep ramps of Shea to the "nose bleed" section. I'll never again see those orange seats or the unisphere from Shea. I'll never walk from Main Street in Queens to the Shea.

I have memories of Shea -- one was a banner day that I went to with my brother and father and I wore my banner -- I sewed a skirt and batiked a tee shirt (with the number of my then favorite player, #23, Teddy Martinez -- I remember it was 23 because I was standing in the aisle watching the game (returning to my seat from the lady's room) and I was standing in someone's way and he yelled to me "hey, 23, skidoo!"

I remember my first time at Shea -- it was a night game and I was 9 -- and from our vantage point in "general admission", the slope of the seats was so steep and the night so dark, I thought I was going to fall on the field.

I remember a time when my brother and I (and I think my sister?) were leaving the stadium and we saw Ralph Kiner and Roy McMillan (who was a coach for the Mets in those days -- he had been a shortstop and I grew up wanting to be a shortstop) and I went up to them and pointed to the former shortstop and said, "aren't you Roy McMillan?" I think I made his day -- I have a feeling Ralph Kiner was the one who was usually recognized when the two of them walked together, but Roy McMillan was one of my baseball heroes.....

Sigh. What can we do about our Met? Omar, are you reading this? We need some relief pitching! Really.... seriously.... and some starting pitching would be nice too. I think we also need a healthy Ryan Church. And Jose Reyes to keep his good attitude, and Davie Wright to be there in the clutch and Carlos-squared to keep hitting those home runs ("... knocking those home runs over the wall...") and Damian and Luis and Endy and Duanar and newbies Daniel Murphy and Nicky Evans.....

So, Mets, listen to a long time fan -- I know you all can do it. You just need to believe (just ask the late Tug McGraw, to paraphrase Archie Bunker, "Mr. we could use a man like Tug McGraw again...." -- our first best reliever....) and you need to play like you have to prove to the world that the last two years were flukes (this year might have been very different if the team didn't start out believing they were losers after last years major crash and burn.....)

Any time a team loses not just a game but a trip to the playoffs on the last day of the season it means they should have been there, should have been with the "boys of October", should be the ones looking to the World Series.

So, next April (or March???) I will be there, at the TV, rooting my team on.... Let's go Mets (2009).

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