Image credit: Chris Simon
You’ve felt this before. The magic of 2015 comes to mind. The locomotive of 2006 (well, for a while). If you’re of a certain age, you can easily and fondly recall the domination of 1986, 1973’s Amazin’ qualities, the miracle of 1969…
Sigh. We’ve had our moments. Mostly, high-water marks have been few and far between. Though, it feels like that’s all about to change.
Thursday’s thrilling 8-7, seven-in-the-ninth comeback win in Philadelphia was certainly a sign of something different about this group. Never say die has hardly rung so true. Almost makes you forget the combined no-hitter last Friday.
Sure, it’s only a victory in May. But how many times have we seen a Mets team fall behind by a handful early and mail it in through the 27th out? Wait. Don’t answer that. Let’s be mindful of the vibes.
Having won 19-of-28 to kick off a season with expectations just as high as Steve Cohen’s payroll, things are justifiably good. But, as we are well aware, there’s a whole lot of green between May 6 and Oct 5.
We don’t even need to look that far back to remind ourselves of the pitfalls of a 162-game season. The Mets woke up with a five-game lead in the National League East on August 1 last season. They finished the year nearly a dozen out of reach (11.5, to be exact).
So far, it appears these Mets are not those Mets. In fact, this could be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. And it’s been evident from the owner’s box to the front office, and from the orange button on top of the players’ caps to the spikes down low.
Tabbing Buck Showalter as manager. Billy Eppler coming onboard and assembling a roster stacked with veteran leadership, oodles of pitching, and an old-school but still willing and able to pound you into submission offense.
All of it’s coming together in an incredibly special way. And we know special when we feel it. As noted, it doesn’t come around very often. Let’s enjoy it. Long way to go, but this should be one heck of a ride.
Mets are rained out in Philly on Friday and the weather doesn’t look great Saturday, but we’ll hope for the best. As always. LFGM.
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