Forgiveness

To get all the way there, you gotta go all the way

The New York Mets didn’t go full drama this time. There will be no win-or-go-home Game 5 in Philadelphia. Francisco Lindor took care of things a game early, hitting a grand slam in the 6th inning on Wednesday to give the Mets all the runs they would need, plus two. His home run trot was similar to the one he hit in Atlanta to send the Mets into the postseason in the first place: stoic. Businesslike. After the Atlanta dinger, he half-joked that he was too tired to act excited on the outside. This time he said his “non-reaction was a reaction.” He also said he wanted to win the World Series. There’s still work to be done. 

I am of a similar mindset. I didn’t know why at first. I know by now you should celebrate each time your team clinches a playoff berth or wins a playoff round. I perfunctorily enjoyed two cold ones, but that’s what they were: perfunctory. I felt like I was required to do so. Throughout the game, I was like Lindor after he hit his home run: virtually emotionless. 

I was also surprised by my emotions in the aftermath, when Carlos Beltran appeared on my TV screen. The Mets “special assistant to the GM” was on the field after the game, hugging some of the players. Adam Wainwright worked the game for Fox. When Howie Rose on the radio side noted the coincidence, he revealed that the two over the years had become friends – they were teammates for two years in St. Louis. I thought about how devastating 2006 was. And while I had been one of Beltran’s staunchest defenders between then and the time the Astros scandal story broke, I never actually, you know, stopped remembering. Frozen on an 0-2 curve from the hand of Wainwright, who I believe was only closing because former Met Jason Isringhausen was injured. Endy Chavez’s amazing catch for nothing. The season down the drain. 

And so on.

I came to a realization: I forgive Carlos. He was great all year. He put the Mets in a position to play for the World Series. He was fooled. One could argue it scarred him so badly, he decided he would even bend the rules to make sure he was never fooled again. He wasn’t free of pain either. 

So maybe that was it: I was in a forgiving mood. The Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies after all. The Phillies were the team that took advantage of the Mets’ choke jobs of 2007 and 2008. Well, it’s 2024, and in their first playoff matchup ever, the Mets came out on top. The Phillies thought this season might be The Year. They were dead wrong. I’ve been there. And after the clincher, I think I finally forgive the Mets for 2007 and 2008. Even Tom Glavine, who said the quiet part out loud after getting his ass handed to him that final day in ‘07 and said it wasn’t a life or death thing.

Lindor is right. This run shouldn’t end just yet. I want to forgive some more. I want freedom from sports-related pain. Maybe I can get it. If the Mets face the Padres in the NLCS they can avenge 2022’s Wild Card Series loss that extinguished their season which ended so damn poorly. Maybe, lord willing, they make the World Series and face the Detroit Tigers, the team they were supposed to play in the 2006 World Series. Maybe they play their 2015 World Series opponents, the Kansas City Royals. Or, heaven help us, it’s the Yankees that win the American League pennant, just like in 2000 when they hogged the spotlight that was supposed to be on us and won in five games. I haven’t forgotten losing Game 1 in extras, or losing Game 2 by one run after the Mets inexplicably got three runs off of Mariano Rivera in the 9th. Or Derek Jeter’s leadoff homer in Game 4 that ended that game and the series probably right then and there. Or Mike Piazza’s long fly ball landing harmlessly in Bernie Williams’ glove to give the Yankees their third consecutive World Series title. I haven’t forgotten being 17 years old and filled with disappointment and shame and jealousy. I haven’t forgiven the Mets for doing that to me. 

Not yet.