When my oldest daughter, Morgan, was still very little, the Mets played against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 1999 National League Division Series. Morgan was very artistic, she still is.
While we were watching one of the games, she took notice of the signs and banners. She got out her crayons and drew a sign for us to display. I still have it.
The sign read, “Go Mets: Will You Win?”. Actually, I’m not sure what the last punctuation mark really is; its sort of a cross between a question mark and an exclamation point. It really didn’t matter though because as we all know, Todd Pratt hit that HR to center field off Matt Mantei to win the game in the 10th inning.
We still laugh about this sign today. If we are watching a game, one of us might say, “Lets Go Mets” and the other might say, “Will you win?”. To us, it is as important as that HR.
This is a fitting sign right now because of the game implosions we’ve witnessed during this road trip. The 11-10 loss against the Colorado Rockies was demoralizing and the 4-3 loss against the Miami Marlins was horrifying.
Over the years, Morgan has given me other Met drawings and sketches. Maybe a picture of Mr. Met and Lady Met. Maybe a picture of a Mets’ World Championship ribbon. Maybe a picture of Patrick the Starfish wearing a Mets’ hat.
This Saturday morning, I will get up and watch Morgan graduate from college. Maybe by the end of the season, Morgan will give me a drawing of the new Mets’ manager.
There appears to be so many bright spots, yet, it is not working.
Bright spots: Starting pitching, Daniel Murphy, catching defensively…Noah is beginning to come through in the minors and may be in Flushing next month.
The dark spots are obvious. No one not named Murphy is hitting and the bullpen is atrocious.
I find myself more and more at issue with the manager’s calls…Terry Collins is rough on the English language, but…
I don’t find that Chris Young is a great signing and Granderson echoes Jason Bay.
A few games above .500 felt like a cruel hoax.
My son is also graduating from college next Saturday.
We used to go down to PSL every spring. One spring, while trying to get Tyler Yates autograph, a fence rolled over his finger and severed the tip. Thankfully a Met surgeon reattached it and life went on. In middle school he had such a bad experience with the Mets chocking for two years straight that he gave up baseball and became. huge soccer fan.
Now he gives me the finger every time he sees me watching a Met game.
(true story)
Congratulations on both of your kids graduating college! It’s a nice reminder that life goes on even when the Mets are looking terrible.