Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 3:08:00 A.M. EDT
Was there ever any doubt? Even as the New York Mets fell into a 5-0 deficit to the starved-for-wins, New York Yankees—and Gerrit Cole's dominating stuff—the positive mood of the sellout crowd in Citi Field would not allow the home team to give up, on this mild October night. A high level of enthusiasm could not be diminished by the early exit of Jacob deGrom—and instead, the crowd grew louder with each passing inning: Rhythmic applause, and the repeated chants of, “Let’s go Mets,” even as six innings of no-hit baseball was being pushed into their collective faces by Cole—like James Cagney pushing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s kisser in 1931’s Public Enemy.
A walk in the second inning interrupted Cole’s streak of 11 and 1/3 innings of perfect baseball (before beginning another 4 2/3 innings immediately afterwards) and Yankee hitters literally tattooed deGrom. Giancarlo Stanton’s line drive off deGrom’s right bicep, delivered an imprint of the baseball’s seams on the exposed arm, that television cameras captured vividly. The Mets’ righthander left the game at that point, having given up the five runs, but Justin Wilson’s brilliant long relief stint set the stage for a world championship. He never allowed a Yankee runner, as long as he was in the game.
Cole begin to lose location in the seventh and walks to Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto set the stage for Mike Trout’s triple that scored the first two Mets’ runs. Pete Alonzo singled Trout home and Paul Goldschmidt sent the throng of Mets’ faithful into delirium with a 430-foot blast, to tie it up.
It stayed tied until the ninth and manager Stix, chose Ryan Zimmerman—benched against righty Gerrit Cole—to pinch-hit for the pitcher Wilson against Aroldis Chapman.
“I just had a feeling it was Zim’s time,” said Stix.
It was.
Taking a cue from Ron Cey’s heroics, six months earlier, Zimmerman ripped a Chapman 104-mph fastball—on a rising line—to straightaway centerfield and over the fence for a Series winning home run. The scoreboard read: Mets 6, Yankees 5, as a tsunami of fans flooded the field for over an hour of celebration.
In the clubhouse, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy to GM Brodie Van Wagonen and manager Stix, who announced the second fait accompli of the evening—he was taking the head coaching job with the New York Jets (and you thought there couldn't be a sequel).
“I tried the Jets’ cap on for size in my office, but what fit even better was the contract offer hidden inside the cap--on a very legal sheet of paper.”
Then a surprise announcement.
“Mike Ditka has been hired, along with Bill Belichek—who is leaving the New England franchise—to assist in revamping the Jets into a contender this year. I want to do with the Jets, what I’ve done with the Mets—no matter how loud the NY Times and Washington Post complain about the lack of blacks on my roster—I’m here to win—and win without blm politics ruining the atmosphere of our sport.”
Van Wagonen said, “We’ll keep the Mets job open for you, just in case,” he laughed—“or maybe I’ll hire Donald Trump—if he’s available—or Tommy Lasorda to fill in for you, until you decide to come back to baseball.”
“It’s been a privilege, Brodie,” said Stix, “just don’t let the team get to 1-37 again”—after which, the two shook hands and then bid goodnight to the media.
So as the camera lights went dark in the clubhouse and the stadium lights were switched off outside, the faux 2020 baseball season wrapped up, as well.
I hope everyone enjoyed it (maybe there’ll be a couple updates about the Jets lol). Thanks to N.S. for posting these.
--GRA
N.S.: GRA, no thank YOU, for this great honor.
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