A Mets fan not ready to see 2015 go

Ah, New Year’s Eve. Time to drink out the old year, say good riddance to all of the bad stuff that went on the past 12 months and think about all of the good possibilities that come with a fresh start. But what if you don’t want to say goodbye? What if the last year, you know, didn’t stink? What if there are things that happened in the past 12 months that are unlikely or impossible to happen again? What do you do then?

It wouldn’t take much convincing to get me to drink away December. But it would be erroneous to accuse me of wanting to see it be 2016. My preference would be for Bill Murray’s Groundhog’s Day, but instead of a 24-hour period, my choice would be to re-live August, September and three quarters of October.

But even in the movies they don’t let you re-live the days you meet an otter-loving girl and eat lobster in the islands. Nope, it’s the dreary day where you’re snowed in and you step in pool of ice water and get accosted by Ned the Head.

Maybe that’s for the best.

Still, come with me and let’s remember and discuss the NLCS. If asked to recall three things from the series against the Cubs off the top of your head, what would they be? Mine would be: We swept them, Daniel Murphy homered in every game and our pitching dominated. Excuse me while I let those thoughts linger for awhile…

But we have to remember context, too. The Cubs swept seven games from the Mets during the regular season. They had ace pitchers in the same category as the Dodgers and better supporting hurlers. And they had young guys who were a threat to go deep each and every time they came to the plate. They established a major league postseason record with six homers in a game against the Cardinals. The Cubs were favored to win the NLCS and advance to the World Series.

Against that backdrop, the Mets not only won, but they never trailed in the series. They scored in the first inning all four games, tallying a combined nine runs in the opening frame. The Cubs tied Game One in the top of the fifth and the Mets took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. In Game Three, the Cubs tied things in the bottom of the first. The Mets took the lead in the top of the third and the Cubs knotted things up again in the bottom of the fourth. The Mets took the lead for good in the top of the sixth.

That’s it, those were the highlights for the Cubs. Calling it a sweep doesn’t go far enough in showing the total domination by the Mets in the series.

Speaking of domination – Murphy put on quite a show, huh? He homered in the first inning of Game One off Jon Lester and did the same thing in Game Two, off Jake Arrieta. He also added a double and a walk as the Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Cubs’ two aces. It was another two-hit game for Murphy in Game Three, although this time he made up wait until the third inning before going deep, this one a bomb to center off Kyle Hendricks.

The Mets settled Game Four early, scoring four runs in the first inning and adding two more in the second. While the outcome wasn’t in doubt, whether Murphy could add to the legend with a homer in his sixth straight playoff game remained a question most of the night. He popped up in the first and had an infield single in the second. Murphy followed with another single in the fourth inning. We thought he had it in the seventh inning when he crushed a ball to center field. But it didn’t have quite enough to go out and Murphy had to settle for a double.

The Mets sent six men to the plate in the seventh, ensuring that Murphy would get another chance to bat. The veteran Fernando Rodney was on the mound for the Cubs in the eighth inning and he retired the first two hitters with strikeouts. But after David Wright drew a walk, Murphy took Rodney deep, with a home run to the opposite field. Reviewing the Game Chatter thread, no one could quite believe it. The near-miss in the seventh and the lopsided score made it seem like it wasn’t meant to be. But it was and Murphy was the easy choice for MVP, with his .529/.556/1.294 triple slash line.

And let’s not forget the pitching!

Matt Harvey – 7.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 Ks
Noah Syndergaard – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 Ks
Jacob deGrom – 7 IP, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks
Steven Matz – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 Ks

The starters combined for 25 IP, 6 ER, 6 BB and 29 Ks. That’s a 2.16 ERA. The whole staff combined for a 2.00 ERA and a 0.8333 WHIP. The Cubs batted just .164 for the series and fanned 37 times in four games. Jeurys Familia appeared in each game and did not allow a run. Addison Reed also did not allow a run in the series, as did converted starters Bartolo Colon and Jon Niese.

What a ride! Everything seemed possible in mid-October. Players and fans who had been through so much were being rewarded in ways that none of us could have possibly imagined. If we could bottle that feeling and sell it, we would all be billionaires. Forgive me if I don’t want to let that go, just because the calendar says we should do that tonight.

Or ever, really.