The other New York team

It was a collapse. A collapse that was only supposed to happen once. Only, it didn’t. It happened twice – and in back-to-back seasons. The New York Mets closed out the final season at Shea Stadium by blowing the lead in the National League East and falling in the final game ever at the stadium. But it wasn’t just a loss. It was a loss that meant the team would again miss the playoffs after once being in command of their division.

The entire season for the Mets seemed a little off. General Manager Omar Minaya fired Willie Randolph after a night game on the west coast. Randolph didn’t even have a chance to sleep off the loss to the Los Angeles Angels before he learned he was being let go. He in turn was celebrated as a New York Yankee great during the final game at Yankee Stadium.

After Randolph was fired, bench coach Jerry Manuel took over. Manuel had a shaky time with the club while guiding the team for the remainder of the season. After Johan Santana pitched a shutout on the second to the last game of the season, Manuel described Santana’s performance as “gangsta.” Not exactly the thought I had, but I might have to incorporate that word into my vocabulary more to describe great pitching performances.

But back to the subject of being the “other team” in New York. Was I the only one that thought Yankee Stadium got much more of a goodbye than Shea? ESPN sent their Sunday Night Baseball crew to the Bronx to cover all of the action at the House that Ruth built, but Shea was forced to be sent out on TBS? It doesn’t make sense to me.

Maybe ESPN knew something the rest of us didn’t… Maybe ESPN knew the Mets were going to tank. After all, that’s what the did last season too. But, it didn’t seem right that the Yankees sent their stadium out in a night game and all Shea got was the biggest game of the season and their fans could only see them blow it on TBS.

Next season, the Mets will ring a new era in Citi Field and you have to wonder if that means changes for the club. Will they keep Manuel? Will Carlos Delgado be a contributor again? There’s so many questions that have to be answered, but unfortunately for the Mets, it will have to wait until next year and in a new park.

Image: Newscom