The Best Citi Field Memory

It was an innocent Friday night. I was driving home from work, and I remember one of the intersections that I was at coming off the highway while listening to the pregame show. They were talking about Josh Thole coming back from his stint on the DL for that night's game. I can't tell you what I had for dinner, or how much of the game I watched before hitting the couch and working to clear space on my DVR. But at some point in the evening, I was done with reruns of Family Ties that I had recorded for the evening and switched back to the Mets back. It was the 7th inning, before Mike Baxter's suicidal catch in LF.

I could feel the energy coming through the television set. This was something different. I got onto twitter to try to understand things that had happened earlier in the game. At some point a bit later, I hit "record" on my DVR, recording whatever the DVR box had saved in memory of the program (a moving target over the course of a couple hours that the channel had been on SNY) to save whatever I could of this. I've done that once or twice with DVRs and VCRs in my years as a Mets fan (starting in 1987), but usually that proved to be a jinx. It must have been around the 8th inning that I started that because the recording starts during the commercial at the 7th inning stretch (the buffer holds about the last 15 minutes). And I kept recording, extending past the end of the scheduled program and recording the scheduled post game and extending it beyond. And somewhere in between was the final out. I have much much more than what the DVD has.

When the final out happened, I wanted to listen to both Howie and Gary (both voices of the Mets) call the final out at the same time. It has sound reasoning, even if there's no real way to execute it well. In some ways, I didn't need to hear them, and in others, mixed together, I couldn't.

I remember that I couldn't breathe normally after it happened (even to the point that I had to hang up the phone on my dad who called almost right away). I also remember coming on here and writing down some immediate thoughts. And I wrote a few posts here in the following days.

That was 2 years ago tonight.


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Bob Murphy and the No Hitter

A thought went through my head in the few days since Johan Santana pitched the first No Hitter in Mets history. We heard Howie Rose's call on WFAN. We heard Gary Cohen's call on SNY. They are holding down the fort as the voices of the Mets.

Howie Rose's call on WFAN with Jim Duquette


Gary Cohen's call on SNY with Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez


On Monday, I suggested that Santana appear on Kiner's Korner.

And today, I want to think about the man that I call "forever the voice of the Mets", Bob Murphy. Bob Murphy was an original Mets broadcaster in 1962. He wasn't the "network guy". He wasn't the "All-Star Player". He was the voice of the Mets for a couple of generations, until his retirement after the 2003 season. We lost him in August 2004. He was known as a "homer", a broadcaster (in fact, a Hall of Fame broadcaster), but one who rooted for the team which he called.

So how would Bob Murhpy have called the last out of Santana's no hitter? For argument's sake, let's put him on WFAN with his old partner Gary Cohen. That's how I grew up listening to the Mets, and that's where he was when he retired. This is how I think it would have sounded (you'll have to meet me half way and imagine his voice and emphasis saying these words). If you remember Bob Murphy, you remember the emphasis that he put on certain words and certain parts of words, so I am attempting to capture that with capital letters and extra letters.

now the crowd standing, roaring as loud as they can.
three and two, here's the pitch.
swing and a miss. STRIKEEE THREEEE! STRIKEE THREE!
it's all over, the mets win it!
JOHAN SANTANA HAS THROWN A NO HITTER!
the first one by a METS pitcher.
they're all racing towards the mound, MOBBING Johan Santana.
they had gone over fifty years without one, and now a mets pitcher has thrown a NO hitter.
and we'll be back with the very happy recap in just a moment!

Especially here, feedback and alternate suggestions are welcome.


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Kiner's Korner

Let me throw this idea out for the Mets and SNY to consider...

Johan Santana should appear on Kiner's Korner, and it's not for whatever the gift is up to these days.

Hopefully I don't have to tell you about Kiner's Korner, that we're all old enough to either remember it or have heard enough about it. But where did the player of the game always end up after a WOR/WWOR Mets TV broadcast from 1962 through 1997? Kiner's Korner with Ralph Kiner. Johan Santana had a feat worthy enough in the realm of Mets history that warrants an appearance on the ultimate Mets postgame show. Next time Ralph Kiner is calling a Mets game, SNY should set aside 15 minutes (or 30 if they want to go that long) on either the postgame show to do an old fashioned Kiner's Korner with Johan Santana as the guest. He's earned it.


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Eighty Twenty

I hope this is coherent. After all, a Mets pitcher has thrown a No Hitter.

It had to be Jo(han)! It had to be Jo(han)! He's the ace. He's coming back after more than a year off. He stepped it up tonight. Johan Santana threw a Mets No Hitter. His second straight complete game shutout. He's the guy who led us to the final day in the 2008 season with a win in the penultimate game at Shea...pitching that day with a bum knee and carrying the team on his back. That was known as "The Santana Game". Now he's thrown a No Hitter.

It was something that I could feel around the 7th inning when I put the game back on. I saw periodic updates with no hits, but I learned years ago not to get my hopes up. After the Baxter catch, I could feel it. I've always imagined how I'd react to it (with tears). In reality, I started breathing heavier and heavier starting in the 8th inning. So much that I couldn't take a phone call after the game ended. It was more hyperventilating than tears, but plenty of disbelief.

I thought I had jumped the gun a bit by starting to record on the DVR in the middle of the 7th. I recorded SNY for 2 1/2 hours. I'll record that to the computer later. Maybe I'll re-record the entire game when SNY replays it. That's a DVD for sure. In the 8th, I got out my audio recording equipment to record the broadcast on WFAN (for some reason, I pay for MLB.TV on the internet, and I have some basic wires and plugs in my laptop that lets me record audio). I recorded for about half an hour starting in the middle of the 9th and going until Howie signed off the game broadcast and switched to Mets Extra (when the MLB.TV audio shut off). I hope I can get Mets Extra later, even though I caught part of it on WFAN.com's live stream. I already uploaded the audio of the last batter from my recording. I saw that others have also.

It seems like a dream. Even though I'm watching the re-run of SportsNite on SNY, where they cover this and talk about it and I'm still reading Facebook statuses and tweets.

Howie Rose on WFAN and Gary Cohen on SNY both nailed it with their respective calls of the final out. Both were different. Both were right for their respective media (Howie on radio, Gary on TV). Both, I think, had some level of emotion in their calls. Both are lifetime Mets fans working in what some would call a "dream job" as a Voice of the Mets. I'm glad both were there tonight to make the call.

I can't wait to hear the beginning of tomorrow's respective broadcasts at around 4pm (WFAN for the radio and WPIX for the TV). I can't wait to hear Josh Lewin's remarks when he returns from his family weekend (there was a graduation in his family, so that lifelong Mets fan new to the club's broadcasts missed one of the greatest Mets games ever. I can't wait to hear the first interview with George Thomas Seaver ("The Franchise"), whenever that will be. I dreamed that this moment happened while I was at his winery and I could break the news to him.

I still don't believe it. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

LET'S GO METS!



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No Words

Just listen.




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Mets 2012 predictions

The new year 2012 is upon us, and I have a few predictions for the Mets for this year.

1. I will not win the Banner Day competition, but I will have lots of fun creating a banner and participating. And that's what it's all about.
2. The Sterling Equities partners will no longer control the New York Mets (by year's end). They will not get enough investors to loan them money in exchange for usage of Mr. Met and a Citi Field parking space (which I heard is actually only good when Citi Field's lot is used as a park-and-ride lot). They will have to pay more money than they can afford in Bernie Madoff-related lawsuits. And other owners in MLB will force Bud Selig's hand over the liquidity issues and loans from MLB that they'll basically kick Fred Wilpon out of the club. Sterling Equities real estate will also crumble over the weight of what Fred Wilpon will owe (remember, separate from the Mets, they made money from Madoff that will have to be given back).
3. The 2013 MLB All Star Game will not be awarded to Citi Field. Same with the 2014 game or the 2015 game. It won't be awarded until new ownership is firmly in place, though I expect to see it as something thrown into the pot for a new owner (sort of like how the Astros deal had a condition on them moving to the AL West).
4. The Mets will have a bad product on the field in 2012. It won't be fun to watch. And attendance will dip, again. That will cause the Mets to lose $100 million in 2012. It's kind of the opposite of "it takes money to make money".
5. The most attended event at Citi Field will be a concert and not a sporting event.
6. The NHL Winter Classic will not be at Citi Field in 2012 (or probably, ever). Reason - it's not Yankee Stadium. We just have to live with it.
7. David Wright will be traded before the trade deadline.
8. Johan Santana will be healthy enough to have trade talks centered around him during the season until a season ending injury (though it'll be something freak and mis-handled, and not related to any of the other injuries he's had with the Mets).
9. R.A. Dickey will be the Mets representative at the All Star Game
10. Howie Rose will be paired with Jim Duquette on WFAN. It should be fun to listen to.

Happy 2012 Mets fans! Mets 2012, rejuvenated at 50!


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The Pulsipher of the Nation

A few days ago, I was approached by Frank Gray of MetsGazette.com to share my opinion in their weekly segment "The Pulsipher of the Nation" (named of course for the ex-Met prospect whose name sounds like "pulse").

Frank's question to me, and also to Matthew Falkenbury of The Daily Stache, was "Which Mets pitcher has performed like an Ace this season and why?". I'll put the disclaimer now that I basically had my answer written up when it was announced that Johan Santana was going to be shut down for the season with the tear and pending surgery.

Since I don't give short answers to questions (and I was asked to make it take more than 2 sentences), I wrote several paragraphs breaking down the 4 Mets main starting pitchers before coming to my conclusion.

Go read my answer as well as Matthew's here, in this week's edition of Mets Gazette's "Pulsipher of the Nation".

Thanks go out to Frank for the opportunity to share my opinion and put me in the company of some really good bloggers/Mets fans as guests in this segment.

My Last Days At Shea - Part 2 - The Santana Game

This is part 2 in a 3 4 part series on my last days at Shea. I bring you now to the final Saturday of the season, the penultimate scheduled game at Shea. At the time, the Mets season was hanging on by a thread. One loss and it's over. Scoreboard watching to see what Milwaukee and Philadelphia would do to possibly get us in the playoffs desipte another late-season collapse.

I had never sat in the bleachers in left field. I'd always wanted to. Nothing special about being out there other than it was different. But I didn't want to leave Shea for the last time without having sat there. I'd sat just about everywhere else at Shea (speaking in terms of general areas). I'd been looking for a way in for probably the last 2 seasons. They didn't sell individual tickets out there, only groups. OK, how do I get myself into a group that can get me into the picnic area and bleachers? I can fake the interest if it gets me out there. I don't care what game it is.

And stepping up to the plate was GaryKeithAndRon, the charity organization run by Lynn Cohen, wife of Mets TV play-by-play man Gary Cohen. Their "main event" group outing, penultimate game at Shea. Too perfect. No need to fake interest here. If there's one group I'd want to support it's one affiliated with fan favorite broadcasters Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling. Picnic bleachers, 1,200 Mets fans, season on the line. This has the making of a great story. Let me add one thing, thrown in by the GKR group - anyone from the group wearing their t-shirt gets to walk on the warning track for the National Anthem. So now I get to sit in that elusive part of Shea, AND I get to be on the field. I was just glad the rain held off long enough to get the game in without much of a problem (there was about a 1 hour delay and the threat of heavy rain for the entire weekend).

I'm out at the ballpark early (as always, the first LIRR train from Penn Station to Shea), we get in and get our commerative pins and towels and I go to check out the sights (during BP). A different perspective on looking at "empty Shea" in its full vivid color. I get my food, GKR merchandise sale (I bought 3 more t-shirts), and appearances by Gary and Ron, all with a delay in the game while the fans are told to line up in the back to come out on the field. Somehow, with the delay and extra time and whatever else it was, I managed to be the first person standing in one of the two lines. I've got the camera ready to capture this one. First person on line isn't walking behind people to come on the field, only someone from the stadium security leading the group. First person on line gets to go as far down as they'll let us (which was to the foul line initially, then when the crowd swelled up so much, it was over the line and down a few feet).


For the game, well, it became known as "The Santana Game" in Mets lure, just like "The Imperfect Game" and some others. Our new ace Johan Santana came out on 3 days rest and pitched a complete game shutout (it was later revealed that he had a bum knee for at least that game and possibly even the entire month of September). Mets win 2-0. He kept the season going one more day. And that's another story.

A big "thank you" goes out to Lynn Cohen and the rest of the GKR group for setting this up, timing it perfectly in the Mets season, and allowing us onto the field. At the time of this writing, I have 5 of their t-shirts now and am looking forward to the 2009 "main event" group outing at the new ballpark on the final weekend of the season.


Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


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