Master Index of Archived Threads


10 Years Ago

Gwreck Oct 19 2016 05:08 PM

I spend more time thinking about this game than one really should. I also thought that the Mets' return to the postseason (and advancement to the World Series) would have mostly caused this to stop bothering me...but somehow not. Anyway, we have a time machine here. Somebody steals a sign from neck-tattoo, Carlos knows the curve is coming and he rips a double into the gap in right field. Valentin scores. Chavez scores. Anderson Hernandez (!) comes around from first and scores the winning run. So how do the last 10 years change? Definite: -Mets defeat Tigers in 5 games. -Willie Randolph is the Mets' manager through the 2008 season. Reasonable Inference: -Emboldened from their recent championship, team wins one or two more games against the Phillies and retains the division title in 2007. David Wright wins the MVP award. Glavine doesn't pitch on September 30, 2007 as he is held back to start game 1 of the division series against Jeff Francis of the Rockies. -Team holds on to win division title in 2008 as well. Randolph remains manager for first game at Citi Field. Less Clear: -2007 Playoff outcome: would they have also lost to the Red Sox in the World Series? -Santana trade: I think it still happens. Glavine and Hernandez are clearly too old after 2007 playoffs and team will need a front-line starter. Post 2008: Things get a little fuzzier for me. Delgado and Beltran first got hurt in 2009. Reyes might still have been allowed to leave the team after 2011. Could the team have won a championship (maybe 2) in the 2006-08 window, but still have had most of 2009-2014 playing out the same, leading to the resurgence of the team in 2015?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 19 2016 05:19 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

Interesting speculation! On board with the '06 WS flag I always felt that the 2007-08 malaise actually set in during September of 2006 -- before the pitching crisis -- and Willie for whatever reason was never able to get the guys focused again. And Omar made a buttload of idiotic trades and signings, Santana included. Of course the Wilpons would still be fucking up financially and gleefully dismantling Shea including a section of the godamned center field fence before the season was even OVER so as to sell its parts back to the fans.. arrrrgh. This is where revisionist history always leads me.

Ceetar Oct 19 2016 05:46 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

butterflies.. They probably don't win again in '07 or '08, but they make the postseason. Whether from confidence, the WS title making more of a seller out of Philly, or simply a team that won it all makes different minor moves next year that leads to better results. Wright DOES win that '07 MVP if the Mets make it, and the Phillies make different moves for 2008 which probably ends up worse than what happens. It's not the George Steinbrenner years but I still think the Yankees react differently to a Mets championship, and as a result don't win in 2009. Between the finances and the age the Mets window probably still closes in '09, though not as disastrously, and increased revenue and attention from a 3-year postseason run leaves them financially better off than what really happens. The Mets themselves are still profitable and while the Wilpons still siphon off the top of SNY revenue and naming rights and such, they can't and don't pillage it too much because that money is still Mets money and leaving it there protects it from the lawsuit. Further removed it's murkier obviously, the results are all different so the draft picks are all different and probably still made by Omar Minaya. They're both still removed after 2012 for a fresh start after 3 down years where some of the injuries sit on the payroll that the Mets can't increase, even if it's at a higher level than it really was. Different players means different pitchers means different sequences meaning David Wright never breaks his back at that play at third. He continues putting up solid to great years and is borderline Hall of Famer now. The spinal stinosis still creeps in, but his healthier back in general means it's not quite as debilitating yet, just a cause for concern. It's probably still Terry Collins managing. It might even still be Alderson.

HahnSolo Oct 19 2016 05:58 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

Sorry to throw cold water on our fantasies, but with a depleted rotation and a hurt Cliffy, the Mets were by no means a lock to beat the Tigers.

Edgy MD Oct 19 2016 05:58 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

As for me and my house, we knew Guillermo Mota was going to blow up in the post-season. Knew it. Historically erase that strikeout all you want, but the pall of the Duaner Sanchez accident still looms. It's still Omar Minaya playing fast and loose with money that we now know wasn't really there. Omar is still Omar. Willie is still Willie. Beltran is still Beltran, but microfractures are still microfractures. It's tough, man. What's interesting are all the small-but-stupid deals that might not have happened had a world championship tempered Omar's desperation — J.J. Putz. Ambiorix Burgos. Begone from history. I do like the idea of imagining a history of Willie getting Jerry's tenure at the helm. Jerry may have been two ticks brighter, but what good is that when you're so pigheaded?

TransMonk Oct 19 2016 06:04 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

I think the Mets beat the Tigers as well in '06. '07 and '08 had a lot going on even outside the final weeks of each season that it's hard to know where the alternate history goes.

Centerfield Oct 19 2016 08:13 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

I think the Mets beat the Tigers in '06. Such a crushing defeat that was. I really hate the Cardinals. 85 and 06 were so heartbreaking. I think they still miss the playoffs in '07. I thought that it was a flawed team, and Wagner still gets hurt anyway. Everything else plays out the same I would guess.

Frayed Knot Oct 19 2016 08:33 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

The Tigers were a good team that year -- won 95 during the season and went through the AL playoffs 7-1 -- but then played like shit in the WS. That they swept ALCS while the NLCS was going the full seven gave them a full week to kill before the WS, something that is often cited as the reason they looked stale and in particular why they made six errors in five WS games including five by their pitchers. The odd thing is that mgr Leyland said that with the down-week they spent a good chunk of that time doing what no team does once the early days of spring training are over ... they worked on pitcher fielding practice! The 83-win Cardinals were without a doubt the worst team in the playoffs that year from either league.

Mets Guy in Michigan Oct 19 2016 09:41 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

After the Mets won Game Six, my parents bought be an early Christmas gift -- and ticket to Game One of the World Series, thinking it would be the Mets. I still got to go to the World Series -- which is always glorious. I called them as soon as I got inside the gates and was pretty emotional. What a wonderful gift! And, since it was the Tigers, I was able to write some stories for the paper, too. But the whole game I knew that it should have been the Mets out there instead of the Cardinals. I'd forgotten that Ollie was on the mound for that play.

Zvon Oct 19 2016 09:59 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

I like Wright getting the MVP(and alladat other stuff). I really thought that was going to happen one of those years. I recall making more than one Wright for MVP graphic rooting him on.

Centerfield Oct 20 2016 01:14 PM Re: 10 Years Ago

I really am sad for David Wright. He looked like he was ticketed to the Hall of Fame. Bunch of bullshit really derailed him. I just wonder what could have been if he hadn't had to deal with those bullshit dimensions when Citi opened fucking with his swing. One day we'll discover that he fucked up his back trying to overswing to hit it over the Great Wall of Flushing. Then getting hit on the head, and the broken back. Fuck man. What could have been.