“Dear God, not again,” I lamented as Cespedes crouched in pain during last night’s 3rd inning against the Phillies. This team has come too far this year to have postseason dreams end in such a way. Much like the character Switch from the Matrix, I muttered “Not like this,” to myself as Yoenis left the game. I even said a short prayer as Keith compared the scene to Travis d’Arnaud’s broken pinky in April, as the Mets’ playoff hopes hung in the balance.
I sat on the edge of my seat staring at the my phone, too compulsively refreshing twitter to even care that the Mets were squandering a 5-0 lead. I felt a little better when Logan Verrett drilled Odubel Herrera on the back as retaliation, but it wasn’t enough. More text messages and facebook posts about the situation came in and the outlook was not good. I even got a few ill-timed heckles from a few Met haters which really set me off. Everyone was expecting the worst, because hey, why should Mets fans expect anything less?
And then it happened and I, along with the rest of Mets fans, exhaled. No break! For a franchise that has been accustomed to bad things happening at the worst possible time (think 2006 playoffs), Mets fans could call the team something they aren’t used to: “Lucky.”
And then it struck me as I think it did others. 99 out of 100 times for the Mets, this would have been a break. There’s no doubt about it if you’ve been following this franchise for any extended amount of time. Something strange is going on and it’s starting to cement the idea that 2015 is a special year.
Think about the way things have broken for the Mets so far this year. The non-Gomez trade, the suspension of Mejia leading to the emergence of Familia, and the collapse of every other team in the NL East. How about the fact that 2 of the 3 best teams in the NL (record-wise) will be eliminated before the Mets have to face any of them?
There are going to be tense moments over the next few weeks for sure, but I don’t know if they will compare with the angst Mets fans felt between the 3rd and 5th innings last night. The thought that the Mets’ playoff chances would be over already was too much to handle. And now it doesn’t need to be handled. Cespedes has over a week to let his fingers heal, which should be more than enough time to do so. And if the magic of this team this year has shown us anything, it will be.
