Genesis... and Moving On

I hate to do it, Mets fans. I hate to drudge up what is probably the most painful memory of your life as a fan of the boys in orange and blue (and black). If you'd rather not revisit the night of October 26, 2000, take your mouse to the top of your browser, find a new site, and come back tomorrow when Game 5 of the 2000 World Series can once again recede into that corner of your mind where you store your darkest memories.

But for now I can't help but bring it up. You see, this past weekend I watched an unusual amount of non-24 television (although I sure as hell caught a lot of 24 for that matter). Most of said television was The Twilight Zone, which was amazing, in spite of the slack-jawed, lazy-minded gawkers with whom I watched such classic episodes as "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", "To Serve Man", and "Time Enough at Last".

(Annie, if you're reading this, just so we're clear, that wasn't actually Hitler in that one episode. The idea was that he was metaphorically alive anywhere there was racism or bigotry. It was a metaphor -- cleaver, huh?)

Now, if I had limited my television to Rod Serling's fifth dimension everything would have proceeded as usual and I probably wouldn't have had anything to blog about today. As it happened, however, my scrolling led me past the dreaded Channel 30, the abyss that is the YES Network. Evidently anxious to start the new year by looking back at the triumphs of seasons past, YES execs decided to replay the fateful fifth game of the 2000 World Series.

For those who don't know, the Mets lost Game 5 of the 2000 World Series to the Yankees 4-2. With the win, the Yankees won the World Series, beating the Mets four games to one.

That game was a landmark in our lives as fans of the Mets, haters of the Yankees, and, at least in the case of Sippy Momo and myself, writers of obscure weblogs.

In the very first post here at Yankees 2000, Sippy Momo wrote the following:

The date was October 26th, 2000. Maybe the worst day of my life. I watched my beloved Mets lose to the Yankees, the team I hated more than anything in the world, in the biggest series of my life.

Watching this game get rebroadcast was like a dagger in my heart. I sat there and thought about all the Yankee fans watching the same broadcast with the toothiest of grins spread wide upon their faces.

But there were also images that melted my heart rather than stabbing it.

I saw Big Al, the warrior who threw 140-plus pitches that night, who came within one strike of going 9 full innings, before allowing a walk on a full count to Posada... a single to Brosius... and a goddamned ground ball with eyes to Luis Sojo (of all people).

I saw Jay Payton and the immaculate throw to the plate that would have gunned down Posada if only it had been maybe two feet further to the right.

I saw Bobby Valentine, pacing delicately back and forth in the Mets' dugout, a look of humbled incredulity spread across his face.

I thought of the more youthful A.F.O.M.G., hopeful until the last, bursting out of his living room chair (the same chair I was watching the rebroadcast from) when the ball burst off of Piazza's bat with Benny Agbayani (!!) on second. I was as certain yesterday as I was on that day some 5-plus years ago that Piazza had tied the game with a home run. But no, the ball jammed him ever so slightly, and instead of falling down safely over the wall, the ball fell into Bernie Williams' glove in left centerfield.

So I saw a lot of painful moments in Mets history yesterday afternoon, but none of them made me run for the 1986 Mets tape. They were hard to watch, but in a perverse way they were also somewhat satisfying. At long last, I feel like I can turn the page on that 2000 team, on that last great era of Mets baseball. You see, I'm genuinely excited again about what the Mets have the potential to do in the year ahead. I honestly believe things are coming around again back at Shea. The pieces are falling into place.

So how about this. I'm just going to throw this out there as the official new slogan for 2006:

This year is the year that last year was advertised to be when we said next year is now.

Catchy, ain't it?

OK, it could use an ad agency's touch to smooth out some of the edges. But I'll tell you what. Rather than looking back and dwelling on the disappointment of losing the 2000 World Series, I found myself looking forward, optimistic at last that newer and better memories could be forged in the years ahead.

In 2002 that option was pretty much nonexistant. In 2003, a kid named Jose Reyes showed up and offered a hint of promise before doing his best Mr. Glass impersonation. In 2004, it was a guy named David Wright breathing life into the organization and the fan base. Then Omar came on board. First he brought in Pedro and Carlos Beltran. Now he's delivered Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner.

In the coming weeks, Omar might actually find a way to turn Jae Seo and Kaz Matsui (!!) into Danys Baez. With any luck, he won't find a way to turn Lastings Milledge into Manny Ramirez, but ignoring that possibility for the moment, Mets fans have a lot to be excited about heading into 2006.

As I watched that horrible game in 2000, yeah, some really shitty memories were conjured up. How could they not be? But I also got to see some of my favorite players on one of my favorite Mets teams ever one more time again. Monster, Robin, Big Al, Timo (!!), Bobby V., and all the rest. It was like when the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Ebenezer Scrooge back to Old Fezziwigs pub. Like Scrooge I watched my old friends and felt happy to see them as they once were.

And truly, those days are gone. It's five years in the past and with Piazza gone now, there is not a single player from the 2000 team who is still a Met.

But you know what, it's alright. It's alright because they still gave us some great memories in spite of how things finished, and it's alright because at last we have a team capable of providing better memories in the year ahead.

Is our team in 2006 as good as the one in 2000? Maybe, maybe not. But the pieces are in place, and something amazin' could happen. Hey, it's possible, and that's a lot more than you could've said about any of those teams between 2002 and 2004.

Am I writing this post because my new year's resolution was to be more optimistic? To be less stubborn and to try new things? Actually, the answer is no. I didn't make that resolution, but I'm adopting it now, a few days late. So onward and upward, Mets, I'm right there with you.

- A.F.O.M.G.