"There was Something in the Air that night..."

The game the Mets played last night was quite reminiscent of a number of games they played during the 2006 season, and even a few they played last season. But, for the most part, this is the kind of game that they haven't been able to come up with at all in the early going in 2008.

Those were the kind of games where the Mets would fall behind, sometimes by 3-4-5 or more runs, and yet you felt like the Mets had it in them to come back. This year's version hasn't been able to inspire that sort of confidence. I don't know if this is one of those proverbial "Games you can build on" that never seem to happen for the Mets, but if they have one in them at all, it would have to be a game like last night, wouldn't it?

After pitching as good a game as he'd pitched over the past month, Oliver Perez got burned in the 6th on Cody Ross's 3-run HR. Who else? This is a guy who is barely deserving of a Major League roster spot, and yet he always seems to beat the Mets. And he damn near did it again last night, giving the Marlins a 5-4 lead, and with the Mets offense ready to go to sleep for the rest of the night.

Someone, apparently, forgot to tell Endy Chavez.

I've been rather critical of Endy lately, in other forums and other situations. It's almost as though it's taboo in Mets Nation to be too critical of Endy, and I know there's a contingent of fans who still believe he should start. I'll never change my tune on that. But it had seemed to me that Endy, after failing, for the most part, to duplicate his success of '06 last year, had basically been trading high based on The Catch. This being with the fans and with the organization. Think about it. Endy could very easily have been cut this spring, and if he had been, fans would likely have rioted. But he wasn't playing much, he certainly wasn't hitting, and with Alou out and Pagan getting most of the playing time in LF and Church's hot start, Chavez had basically become a spare part. Then, Alou came back, Pagan got hurt, and Endy resumed his duties as the late-inning defensive replacement in Left. Then, Alou got hurt again, and Church got hurt, and suddenly, Endy was playing everyday. Not particularly well, but playing nonetheless. Endy is the kind of player who won't ever play spectacularly on a regular basis. But, he does play solid baseball, heady baseball, and more often than not, his successes are magnified by the circumstances under which they're accomplished. His lone HR in 2007 served as the winning runs in a game against the Yankees. And his lone HR in 2008 served to tie the game last night in the bottom of the 9th.

So, as I was saying about Endy Chavez...He sure knows how to pick his spots, doesn't he?

So, it was on to extra innings, where, unlike last Friday's game in Colorado, it wasn't particularly a matter of when the Mets would figure out a way to lose the game. It just didn't feel that way. Last Friday, I was listening to the game, and after Wagner allowed the HR to Holliday that tied the game, but got out of the inning, I turned to the nearest person and said, "Oh, come on! Couldn't you have just blown the game there? Why prolong the misery!?" Last night, the plane seemed to favor the Mets, with the back end of the Marlins bullpen being as suspect as it was. But in the top of the 12th, it was Alfredo Amezaga, who's good for about as many HRs per season as Endy Chavez himself, popping one off the banners in RF for the lead run. The way things have gone, it was very easy to expect the Mets to roll over and go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 12th. But, again, the Mets fought back. Wright walked and Beltran executed a perfect hit and run, and suddenly, the Mets were cooking. But Damion Easley couldn't come through.

That left it to Fernando Tatis. Tatis, who barely even made it to Spring Training, who hadn't played in the Majors since 2006 before hooking on with the Mets, who was regarded as an all-or-nothing, big bat, no head player during his days with Texas and St. Louis, who came up with the big hit. Somehow, Fernando Tatis, after all the years as a journeyman and the struggle just to get back to the Majors, turned into someone appreciative of what he'd had, and someone desirous to get it back. Abba was singing a song for him at that particular moment. And at that particular moment, he lined a double into the corner, allowing Wright to walk home, and sent Beltran streaking home behind him with the game winner, as Tatis rounded the bases with his fists raised. You could tell just by the look on his face how much it meant to him. And for the second night in a row, it was Tatis coming up with a key hit in a key spot to spur the Mets on to victory.

Bill Simmons wrote earlier in the week about how you can tell how close a team is by how long and how jubilant they are in celebrating walk-off victories. The "Walkoff Mosh Pit," he calls it. After all the talk about how the clubhouse is in dischord, and the Mets don't seem to like each other very much, I'd be hard pressed to believe that after half the team gang tackled Tatis at home plate and wrestled him to the ground.

Maybe they don't do it pretty, maybe they don't do it easy. They're certainly not making it easy on me or anyone else. But maybe, just maybe, the Mets are pulling a "Godfather 3" on us all. Every time we think we're out, we're giving up, and they pull us back in.

Maybe they build on it. I don't know.

For the 19 games: 6-9.

In Case You'd Forgotten...

The Mets still do exist, however marginal the headlines may be.

The re-signing of Endy Chavez yesterday wasn't exactly earth-shattering news. His incentive-laden 2-year deal basically ensures him of the same role he's had here for the past two seasons, that of the lovable, sharp-gloved fourth outfielder and super-sub, provided he stays healthy.

It's not at all worthy of a banner headline, but at least it gives me a good excuse to dust off that photo and remind us of better times.

Weekend Edition

First off, I'd like to thank Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for resigning effective September 17. That day happens to be El Guapo's birthday, and I can't imagine a much better gift than this. Thanks, Al!

So on to a weekend wrap-up of sorts. I spent Saturday up at the Barclay's golf tournament hopscotching around following different groups. I saw Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson (yes, he's just as fat in person), Retief Goosen, that weenie Zach Johnson who won the Master's, plus my boy Padraig Harrington. My mother, who volunteered at the tourney as a driver, apparently scored me Paddy's autograph on a cap. Thanks, mom!

Westchester C.C. in Harrison, NY.


l-r: Zach Johnson, Padraig Harrington, and Ryan Armour finish up on 18.


Sorry, Veej, maybe next year...

Despite the loss to David Wells and the Dodgers last night, the Mets are still in good shape in the division. The Braves and Phillies never capitalized on their respective windows of opportunity and have fallen back to 6+ games out. The Phils get another big chance starting tonight.

Meanwhile the Mets have personnel decisions to make. Endy Chavez and Paul LoDuca are ready to return. The LoDuca move is easy, only necessitating sending down Sandy Alomar (more likely) or Mike DeFelice (less likely), who've both filled in admirably. Endy presents a more complicated choice. If the team could put Luis Castillo on the DL, they could activate Endy without any playoff roster implications (since a DL player is playoff eligible even if he's not with the team on September 1). But since they don't know the extent of Castillo's injury that's not an easy call. (ESPN's Mets page has Castillo possibly in the lineup tonight.) If they activated Endy and demoted someone else, who would it be? It could hardly be Marlon Anderson or Ruben Gotay, and they just went to the trouble of trading for Jeff Conine for his playoff and pennant race experience (although I think he looked like a butcher at first last night, with one error plus a handful more plays he just didn't get to).

This Phillies series is for four games on the road, so obviously it's a big test. Am I nervous? Yes. Yes I am.

The John Starks Corollary

In 2006 the heroic late-inning win became something of a Mets specialty. The statisticians of the baseball world contend that a disporportionate number of one-run wins defines a lucky team—not that you're not good, you're just also lucky. My head knows they're right, my heart says, "Did you see that drag bunt?! En-dy! En-dy! En-dy!" I'm a big believer in having it both ways, you see.

Kevin Burkhardt tells Chavez in the post-game interview that he'll have his own statue outside the stadium before too long. And Endy is already reaching toward that firmament of New York folk hero unassailability next to John Starks, Jeff Van Gundy, possibly a few football players I've never heard of, whoever. Chavez tells us that he didn't plan the drag bunt; he made the decision when he saw the pitch. Imagine! Maybe in the scheme of things it's not that unusual for a professional athlete to make that kind of decision on the fly, maybe it's routine, but imagine from your layman's couch how that works. "Don't know what I'll do here, let's see, ohshitithinki'lldragbunt!"

And by the way, happy first major league win wishes to Diamond Joe Smith.

Good night, kids. I'm off to watch Steve Nash and Kobe and bask in what a ridiculous random Tuesday night of sports this is.

Still at It

Chavez, back in Venezuela, saves another's pitcher's ass:

The Most Popular Chavez in Venezuela? [New York Times]

The Strength To Be Endy

This is #2 of 5 Key Mets for 2007.

The ball is a blur as it flies through the air of the cool, wet October night off of the bat of Scott Rolen. Too high. It's surely a Home Run that will give the Cardinals a 2 run lead.

I watch the left fielder sprinting back towards the fence. Maybe a futile leap, but that's all.

Ball, wall and left fielder seem to converge at a frightening speed. That ball is coming down quickly! Perhaps a shot? Only the best timed of leaps could flag this ball down.


Suddenly, just as it appears the ball is gone, the left fielder takes a flying leap off of the warning track, as if he'd jumped off of a trampoline. He might have this one!

Leaping higher than he's ever leapt before, he goes over the fence with his glove extended. The ball lands safely in the webbing of his glove, momentum carrying it slightly backwards. But the left fielder's hand is sure. He squeezes it. He's Got It!

And as he comes down, the ball safely in his glove, he stops and rifles a throw back to the infield. Not only has he robbed Rolen of a sure fire Home Run, he's doubled Edmonds off of first base for a miraculous double play.

As he returns to the dugout, the sellout crowd screaming and chanting his name, he's given a hero's welcome by his teammates.


That was Endy Chavez. For the moment, it looked like he would be the great unsung hero in the Mets World Series run. Instead, the catch is simply remembered as an eerie prelude in one of the most miserable nights in Mets history.

But Endy did much more for the Mets last season than make that catch. Truth is, he'd been making catches like that all season long.

Picked up off the scrap heap following a 2005 season that saw him get released by both the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, Chavez was considered a 6th outfielder for a team that only needed 5 in Spring Training. "Why even bother picking him up?" people asked. "Useless." "A bum."

But Chavez stuck it out, and eventually made the team, against all odds. He would bring speed, and a steady outfield glove, we thought, but not much else. No punch offensively. Few thought he would last the season. After all, he failed miserably as a starter and a leadoff man for the ExpoNats, and had spent most of his career bouncing around from team to team, a fringe Major Leaguer at best.

But instead, Endy shined. Off the bench, he came in late in games for defense and sparkled, making great catches look routine. Offensively, he bunted and used his speed, and served as the key for several Mets rallies. And when Cliff Floyd went down with his balky achilles, Chavez stepped in and made the transition seamless. All year long, Endy produced for the Mets, in a fashion that was seldom spectacular, but definitely not un-noticed by Mets fans, who knew, that with Floyd ailing, Chavez would be a huge key player for the Mets as the postseason began.

Game 2, NLDS. It's Chavez, starting in place of Shawn Green, against the Left hander Kuo. See Endy square around and drag a bunt leading off the 3rd inning.

The Dodgers are befuddled. Chavez beats out the play easily and scores the Mets first run in a 4-1 victory.

Game 1, NLCS. Floyd starts, but can only last until the 2nd inning because of his achilles. Chavez comes in. The game is a pitchers duel. With 1 out in the 5th and a man on first, Ronnie Belliard hits a slicing line drive to Left. It's sinking fast. Endy knows he must dive, and at least try to trap it. It dare not get by him, for surely that would be a disaster. He dives.

He catches.
Seamless.

And as we look forward to the 2007 season, so we look as well to Endy to be that guy off the bench who comes in and always does something to help the Mets win. He'll never be spectacular. He'll never blow you away. But he'll be consistently good, tough in the clutch and sharp with the glove. He'll be forever remembered for that catch, but he contributed so much more to the cause and cannot be overlooked on the Mets roster.