Wait, did that really happen? Holy crap, it did!

I’m late to the party on my Johan Santana post, but I think letting it sit inside me for 24 hours will ultimately make this more coherent.  Trust me, last night around this time, I was far from that considering what had happened.

It took over 50 years and 8,020 games, but last night Johan Santana did something that was incredibly special.  Special for himself, his teammates, the Mets organization, and Mets fans.   Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history.  Yes, it was their first no-hitter, ever.

Mets fans everywhere were locked in last night.  Whether it be those at the game, those watching at home, tweeting, or getting constant updates from a fellow Mets fan via text.  Everyone knew what was going on, but took their time at admitting it.  I personally didn’t allow myself to move after the 5th inning.  And for a team that never did it, oddly enough I really started to believe it would happen, especially after the incredible catch my hometown kid Mike Baxter, crashing into the left field fence (and likely putting himself on the DL).  The only dilemma came as to whether or not they’d let Johan throw with his shoulder.  SNY continued to show Terry Collins, who was clearly conflicted.  I’m sure plenty Mets fans were thinking “only the Mets would remove their pitcher with a no-hitter”. Our typical spirit, ya know?  But I knew there was no way, NO WAY, that Johan was leaving that game.

As he came out for the top of the 9th, I really sat their and said to myself “holy crap, he’s gonna do it”.  I still didn’t leave my seat, still had my hands crossed just praying to the baseball Gods (and apparently last night, praying to Gary Carter), hoping for this to happen.  Then to David Freese, after falling behind 3-0, Johan threw that nasty changeup, Freese swung and missed, and you heard Johan scream “YES!”  Well, we all screamed the same thing at that very moment.

I’ve been lucky, well at least kind of.  The Mets haven’t won a championship at all since I’ve been alive, but despite that fact, I have been lucky enough to witness many special moments in Mets history.  Whether it be Robin Ventura’s Grand-Single, the 10-run inning against the Braves, winning the National League in 2000, Mike Piazza’s 9/11 home run, and the Division Title in 2006, there’s been many moments that have had a special place in my Mets heart.  Last night ended up being a moment that absolutely matches those.

Sure, it was a no-hitter, and there’s already been two this season.  But just think about everything leading up to it.  This 2012 team was destined to be awful; they aren’t.  Johan Santana didn’t throw a single pitch in 2011, and his pitch count was limited to 115.  Last night?  He threw 134.  The guy shouldn’t have been out there, but he was.  Why?  Because Johan Santana is a gamer if I’ve seen one, and made me damn proud to say he threw the first no-hitter in Mets history, the year they are celebrating their 50 year existence in baseball.

The joke was the Mets never had a no-hitter.  I even hit a point where I believed it would never happen, I just thought it defined what the Mets and Mets were.  I remember Bobby Jones coming close, I remember Shawn Estes coming closes, I remember Tom Glavine coming close, I remember Steve Trachsel coming close, I remember John Maine coming close, and most recently I remember R.A. Dickey coming close.  And before all that, I know the older Mets fans like my Dad remember plenty of other greats (see Tom Seaver) coming close.  But last night, Johan did it.  He EFFIN did it.

It’s a game and a night I will never forget, and the same goes for all Mets fans.  It was one that will always mean something, and we’d all agree we are very happy that Johan Santana was the one to do it.  There hasn’t been much to celebrate over the past five years, that’s for sure.  But with all the bumps, we were giving one glimpse of light and joy.  Something to celebrate.

There’s really only one more thing I can say here; thank you, Johan.

Matt Dahl Radio RIGHT NOW

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we’re gonna talk The Hangover 2, NBA Finals, baseball and a lot more fun stuff. just click and honestly listen for like 4 minutes. I will be excited to see people went there to listen even if its not the whole thing.  Thanks! We bring it!

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Matt Dahl Radio, 4/19/11

Another exciting show, where we were joined by the one and only Mike Soroko to talk about the NBA playoffs, highlighting the Knicks/Celtics series, but plenty more exciting matchups going on.  Christian Gonzalez also stopped by to say hello, or something to that effect.  Brother Tim Dahl joined the show to talk about The Office, Party Down, and says “yes” to Cougar Town… but not Modern Family.  And then the legendary Joe Jennings from Matt & Joe Radio rounded out the show, ready to defend Modern Family, to agree with me that the Yankees hitting too many homeruns is NOT a problem, his new love on the Chicago Cubs and the state of the Mets.  A great show had by all and if you missed it you should check it out.

The Mets fans reaction

Am I mad at the Phillies? No. Am I mad at Cliff Lee? No.  But yes, the news of Cliff Lee deciding to go to the mystery team which was the Phillies is very upsetting news.  Yankees fans were a little disappointed about losing out on Lee, and a lot of people were happy that someone “stuck” it to the Yankees.  But this is a move that is incredibly worse for the Mets.

Last night the rumors came out and I still thought no way he goes there.  It was just a rumor.  Then about 20 minutes after I went to bed the rumor became true, and at 5:40 this morning after barely getting my senses to wake up I was honestly just frustrated as to finding out what happened.

I know the Mets are in a bind.  It was hard enough knowing Halladay/Hamels/Oswalt was the trio the Mets had to face within their division.  But I felt the suck level of their 4 and 5 could help the Mets chances.  Now that suck level has been replaced with an ace and a guy capable of winning 20 games if he’s healthy.

Realistically, this doesn’t change the complexion of the Mets and it’s hard to even say where this season was gonna go.  But it is a little bit demoralizing knowing that your division’s biggest rival and biggest threat has four guys who were all the ace of their respective staff in 2008.  Now they’re all Phillies and fill out the rotation from No. 1 through 4.  It’s great for Philadelphia, but I don’t need to see them find more great.  It’s worn on me and it’s only been beaten down even further by watching the Mets create suck the last few years.  And it sucks knowing that out of 18 games this year you’ll probably see that tandem all in a row in some mixture, every time.  It’s a serious road block.

In terms of frustration with people, I think the group of people that got on my nerves most in the last 24 hours are Yankees fans.  In no way, shape of form do I feel the sympathy they think they could possibly get.  You lost out, big deal… you made the wrong offer.  But guess what? Your team still has an ace and will be competing all season long.  Shut up and stop complaining that you got beat in the offseason. 

The only saving grace to the Phillies long term having Lee, Halladay and Hamels, and Oswalt for a few more years, is that Lee and Oswalt are probably running out of time.  Lee’s back is an issue and Oswalt always has something.  Just look at how much Johan Santana has worn out, and he signed a big deal just like Lee.  So really, you never know, and it is baseball.  This hopefully isn’t a nightmare for all 6 years, and I don’t think it could be.  But again, you never know.

In the mean time, get me my R.A. Dickey jersey…

The end, but waiting for a new beginning

mets

Yesterday finally closed the 2010 Mets season, and obviously it was a tough year.  I went to the game yesterday, as I’ve seen a lot of season finales over the past decade or so, and most of the time I was sitting there watching the game and listening to the broadcast on WFAN, it was hard to not think back to the 2008 ending, when sitting at the final game of the season and Shea Stadium, only to see the Mets lose and complete the choke, and how it’s been even more down hill since that very day.

Jerry Manuel will likely be fired in the next few hours.  Jerry’s a good guy, and I really have always liked him, but he wasn’t right for managing.  Too many bad decisions and a lot of confusion was shown during his days as Mets manager.  He shouldn’t be hated for how things went, it all wasn’t his fault, in fact most of it wasn’t his fault, but some of it was.

This team was poorly constructed for two years in a row.  Unfortunately guys like Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo were around this year, and clearly useless.  The bullpen was always too much of ‘who now?’, and the depth was once again very limited (guys like Tatis shouldn’t have been here).  But of course there was bad luck too, as Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran were pretty much empty names when looking at production and playing time this season, two guys they were figuring to heavily rely on, and then Reyes had plenty of bumps.

If you want things to be proud of, or pleased with, this season, then be glad you saw David Wright produce - and don’t say he didn’t do anything in the clutch, because his best month was June (.404-6-29) when the Mets had their best month of the year.  Angel Pagan was a nice surprise, and looked like an improved player from what we saw last year.  Mike Pelfrey and Jonathan Niese gave strong efforts throughout the season.  And then the two guys to be happiest for/about would be Ike Davis and R.A. Dickey.  Ike because he gave what was hoped for from us Mets fans, and impressed us the whole time, and Dickey because he put up a pretty incredible season considering what R.A. Dickey was thought to be.

But the tides will change starting today.  Jerry will be out, and Omar Minaya will be too.  There needs to be overhaul.  And I’m not gonna preach changing culture, or attitude, or any of that.  I won’t hype up needing to build around pitching, speed and defense.  But I’ll say let’s bring in winners, because that’s what will do it.  And do it by starting at the top.

While listening to the game, Howie Rose kept saying ‘it’s these fans who will enjoy it the most when the times are great,’ regarding the handful of us that stuck around for all 14 innings yesterday.  And he’s right, but it’s time we see this organization forcing their hand in making the good times come.

This video is pretty funny.  Luckily, the Mets are not in that bad of shape, but still a good laugh here.  I was personally a fan of the Roger Cedeno mention in there - good times in 2002 and 2003.  But boy, the Mets are a good punch line (still) these days.