Just like the Yankees to upstage the Amazin’s.  A stunning, dominating 9-game win streak by the Mets has taken a back seat to the farewell to Yankee Stadium that the All Star Game represents.   Or as the insightful Jonathan Papelbon put it, “we’re in Yankee Stadium and blah blah blah.”  Not that Billy Wagner and David Wright wouldn’t love to lock up home field advantage in the fall classic, but I’m guessing the Mets more than any other team would have been delighted if the All Star game for some reason got cancelled this year.

If you saw the momentum generated by back to back home sweeps of NL doormats Colorado and San Francisco, you would have gotten the totally wrong impression of how the Mets got to this place (one half game behind Philly at the break and red hot).  You would have assumed the Met pitchers had been commanding all season if you saw a stretch where they allowed three or fewer hits per game over an amazing five games.  You might have thought pitching coach Dan Warthen had been working with the staff for longer than three weeks.  You could easily turn on the TV and think that Mets offense was operating smoothly and that the team was confident and in control.

I think the Mets honed their mental toughness, and maybe changed the tone of their season when they took three of four in Philadelphia, just prior to the Giant/Rockie broomfest.  All the games in Philly were tests of intestinal fortitide - gut-wrenching, seesaw affairs where even when the Mets won it felt like they lost. 

It began on Friday July 4.  Johan Santana was pitching in the last game of a six-game stretch in which the Mets scored a total of only 12 runs, and lost all six games.  Johan was chafed by his soft hitting teammeates and squandering his Run Support Karma left and right.  Santana blew a 2-0 lead when he allowed two 2-out RBI singles in the sixth and Mets ended up losing.  

Then on Saturday July 5, the Mets blew a lead again, this time a 3-0 lead which disappeared with one swing from the fearsome Ryan Howard.  But after the Phillies nudged ahead 4-3 on a two out pinch-hit single from Jayson Werth, the Mets got the most significant hit of their season so far.  It came off the bat of Brian Schneider, an unlikely source.  With the Damion Easley’s and Endy Cavez’s of the team moved off the bench and into the starting lineup due to injuries, the Mets were forced to turn to Schneider as a pinch hitter.  And Schneider delivered big time with a double on a rope into the gap that scored two and put the Mets up for good.  The Mets two out production has been anemic all year, so it was huge of Schneider to come through with a knock like that.

On Sunday July 6 the Mets were one strike away from a 2-0 victory when Billy Wagner let up a two run bomb to Jayson Werth.  But with all the air let out of them, the Mets somehow managed to pull themselves together and fight on.  Joe Smith gritted his way through 2-1/3 scoreless innings to get the Mets more chances.  Fernando Tatis ended up as the 12th innning savior once again with his go ahead homer. The game was truly epic, a 2:50 rain delay kept this game, which started at 1PM, going until almost 9!

To finish the series, the Mets shot ahead of the Phills 10-1 on Monday July 7.  Time to coast?  Hardly.  The Phills came all the way back to 10-9 getting the last two agonizing runs off an ineffective Wagner on a Pedro Feliz single and Carlos Beltran error.  Up to the plate comes that guy again, Jayson Werth.  But this time Wagner reaches down deep and gets Werth to fly out, and the Mets leave Philly winners of 3 of 4 but with no fingernails left.

The rollercoaster Philly series changed something about the Mets.  Somehow they figured out that even when it feels like they just blew the game they still have a chance to win.  That belief that you can always come back when you’ve lost momentum is such an asset to a winning team.  Certainly looking at events now through the lens of the last six games, the Philly series was a turning point for the Mets. Somehow the Mets got their confidence back, somehow they became Rocky AFTER he climbed the steps of the Art Museum.  (Excuse the stolen analogy Philly fans).

That turning point will only remain relevant if the Mets keep winning…hopefully their hot streak will blow through the all star break like a forest fire and keep burning on the other side!

Finally, a quick note to close on Josh Hamilton.  Not a big fan of the Home Run Derby, but Hamilton having his name chanted in Yankee stadium was a powerful moment.  Its a very human emotion to want to embrace someone who has gotten their life together after having big problems.  It gives us everyday people inspiration and the belief that we can conquer the demons in our lives, whatever they may be.  It reminds me of Robert Redford’s Roy Hobbs character in The Natural.  Hobbs’s demon was a black veiled femme fatale, but that’s really just a symbol.  In the real world demons take the shape of drugs and alcohol (in the case of Hamilton), or mental blocks (Rick Ankiel), or arm problems (Kerry Wood) or cancer (Jon Lester).  One of the things that makes baseball special are these stories of overcoming obstacles.

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Last post (s) by Mark Reichman

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