Monday, September 18, 2006

Twenty years and a day

update - 9:40 pm - done deal; Willingham flies to Floyd in left. So far, only ballplayers on the field. The Bravos and their '95-'05 division run are officially cooked like Christmas ham. Oh, and "Takin' Care of Business" has been played out for what, twenty-five years? What, you couldn't find a cut of "Celebration"? Geez, Kool and the Gang probably would have done it live for you guys.

On September 17th, the Mets beat the Cubs and won the NL East, back when there were only two divisions per league, and winning one was the only ticket to the playoffs.

On that occasion the fans stormed the field afterward and tore it to shreds, leaving the Mets with a nearly unplayable field for the next game. This year, there's three outs left (it's currently Beltran leading off the home eighth), and I think it will be better; the Mets have made the playoffs a few times in the past eight years (albeit as a wild card) so the only mayhem should be in the plastic-shrouded lockers down in the clubhouse.

The Mets' starter 20 years ago was Dwight Gooden. This year, it was Steve Traschel. Amazingly, Trax held the Marlins to three hits in 6 and 1/3 innings. But things really got loud when the Mets turned a sweet 3-6-3 DP in the top half of this inning, and even louder when Aaron Heilman struck out the third guy on a 96-mph heater.

Otherwise, it's interesting that the Mets, both then and now, sort of backed into this - the '86ers were swept in Philly before clinching at home, and the '06ers took the mickey three times in Pittsburgh before tonight's game.

I'm afraid to call the Barking Spider, what with this and the Gints/Iggles last night.

Thanks to all of the visitors following Sheila's link - there's plenty below so help yourself and join the commenting!

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