October 19, 2006

This was the night of Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS between the Mets and Cardinals at Shea Stadium. Oliver Perez with his 3-13 record and 6.55 ERA got the start for the injury-depleted Mets. Jeff Suppan was on the mound for the Cards. It was the top of the sixth inning and the score was 1-1; each starter managed to get through two lineups full of nervous players. Perez was due to face the Cardinals' 4-5-6 hitters. Juan Encarnacion (quite a cleanup hitter, right?) grounded out 5-3 on just 4 pitches. Jim Edmonds was due next. Perez walked Edmonds after a 7-pitch at bat. Manager Willie Randolph surprisingly left in Perez - who had given the Mets more innings than they could have asked for. Next up was Scott Rolen at about 10:03pm. The third baseman was sitting on a fastball and swung on the first pitch. He launched a towering fly ball to deep left field. Back went Endy Chavez, who was in the game because of an achilles injury to Cliff Floyd. Chavez lept over the wall and snow coned a certain 2-run home run. Chavez even had the awareness to double off Edmonds at first base. At the time this seemed like the greatest catch in MLB playoff history. Shea Stadium was shaking and the fans couldn't stop chanting "ENDY CHAVEZ, ENDY CHAVEZ." But what happened in the ninth inning certainly caused some of us Mets fans to forget how close they were to greatness. Looking back to another catch that happened three years ago last night, can you imagine if the New York Giants didn't end up beating the New England Patriots after David Tyree made the Helmet Catch? That amazing play would certainly be forgotten.

In retrospect it is oddly amusing that Endy caught that ball over an AIG advertisement that read "The Strength To Be There." Since then the Mets collapsed twice and wasted 2 seasons in their new stadium. In addition to several embarrassing off-the-field incidents, they fired two managers (Randolph and Manuel) and cleaned out the front office. Will the 2011 Mets have new ownership? Probably not, but I sure hope they will. In the meantime, I will try to remember the catch that made me believe for a moment I was witnessing something special.