Friday, September 26, 2008

"The Slide" May Have Changed Meaning

The monkeys have written that it is slightly unfair to compare the end of the year struggles of the 2008 Mets to that of the 2007 Mets. After all the 2007 version had a 7 game lead with 17 to go and the 2008 team came from 7.5 games behind to take a never truly secure lead of 3.5 games before coughing it up. Nevertheless as Jerry Manuel is fond of saying "This is who we are." And knowing that, it is hard to completely criticize the desciption of recent events as a "slide."

After yesterday's game, the Mets pray that they have changed the meaning of "the slide." After trailing by 3 runs and looking at a grim suituation, the Mets received clutch hits from unlikely heroes Ramon Martinez and Robinson Cancel. It appeared that Ryan Church was a dead duck ay home plate, but Church stopped his momentum, changed direction, pulled his body away from the catcher, sneaked around him and dove in to home plate, passing by the catcher’s mitt. He actually had to dive back one more time because he probably missed the plate the first time.

Carlos Beltran got the big hit in the ninth that was lacking the night before, but if the Mets do indeed make it to October, we'll all be talking about "the slide" for years to come. And if the Mets to are able change the connotation of that word after all that has happened, it would mean the world to this franchise.

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