The 1986 Mets were a 108-win team best remembered not for dominance, but for stirring comebacks when all seemed lost. On the first night of the 1986 anniversary weekend, the 2016 Mets dominated the Dodgers for eight innings, only to need a walk-0ff homer to avoid a disturbing loss. I was at the game with Squawker Lisa and her brother Patrick, but as the only Met fan in our group, I was the only one to wear the commemorative 1986 shirt.
When the Dodgers roared back to tie the game with four runs in the ninth, I was afraid the ghosts conjured up would not be from 1986, but from 1988, when the Dodgers, who had lost 11 of 12 to the Mets in the regular season, upset them in the playoffs. The Dodgers rallied against Jeurys Familia, who came into the game with 32 straight save chances converted into saves. (Last night was not a save opportunity so did not affect the streak.)
But when Curtis Granderson led off the bottom of the ninth with a game-winning homer, it was back to 1986. I was at Game 3 of the 1986 NLCS when Lenny Dykstra hit a walk-off homer to give the Mets a 6-5 win. Last night’s final score? 6-5.
I was sitting in the upper deck in right field last night, just as I did for Game 7 of the 1986 World Series, though as Lisa pointed out, that was a different stadium. And the upper deck at Shea was a lot higher than the promenade section at Citi Field.
Last night also marked the major-league debut of 19-year-old phenom pitcher Julio Urias, which also reminded me of 1986, when the Mets had their own phenom pitcher, Doc Gooden, who made his debut at 19 in 1984. But unlike Gooden that year, Urias lasted just 2 2/3 innings and was sent back to the minors today.
This marked the second straight game Lisa and I have attended in which the highly-touted staring pitcher lasted just 2 2/3 innings. Urias can at least take solace in the fact that he had a better game than Matt Harvey did against the Nationals on May 19. And while Harvey has not been sent to the minors, the jury remains out on whether that should happen.
For one of the few times in her life, Lisa was glad to join in the chanting of a Mets crowd, as Met fans serenaded Chase Utley every time the archvillain came to bat. Despite all the abuse, it was Utley who tied the game in the ninth with a bases-clearing double. The Mets’ non-response to Utley breaking Ruben Tejada’s leg in the NLDS certainly does not invoke the spirit of the 1986 team, who would have already handled the situation much differently.
I would still like to see Utley get drilled in the ribs or back (but nowhere near the head). The Cardinals released Tejada today. Utley’s dirty slide may have ruined Tejada’s career.
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Glad the Mets have acquired James Loney. Seemed an obvious move considering that they only have to pay him the minimum salary. And the 1986 Mets acquired their first baseman in a midseason move as well three years earlier. Come to think of it, the 1969 Mets also acquired their first baseman in midseason. Of course, Loney is no Keith Hernandez or Donn Clendenon, but at least he should be an upgrade over Eric Campbell. Campbell’s walkup music is “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” and as Lisa noted, it’s hard to hear much of anything from the .182-hitting Campbell.
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