Ball Hype: Studeman: What If… History Weren’t: The New York Mets

‘Whew!”....For a minute there I thought Studes had pilffed Steve Keane’s nightstand diary.

He’s wearing his Mets hat, of course.  It never comes off.  It has occurred to him that he might sleep better if he took it off, but he can’t.  He just can’t.

He remembers another play from that cursed game against the Phillies on June 6th.  His darling Mets were losing 3-2 in the seventh, but they had the bases loaded with only one out and Endy the Hero at bat.  And yet even darling Endy couldn’t avoid the dreaded double play, and his Mets went on to lose, 4-2.  But what if Endy hadn’t hit into a double play?  What if???

There were so many villains this year, so many ballplayers who actually wanted to beat his Mets.  He can’t get them out of his mind, or his dreams.

Even the religious attacked the Mets.  The Padres’ Geoff Blum slapped a single to right in the bottom of the eighth to put the Pads up for good, 5-4, after the Mets had climbed back from a 4-1 deficit.  Adrian Gonzalez, a 10th-inning home run to beat us 9-8 in August.

Yes, the villains gang up on him, making his dreams feel like a crowded subway platform.  The sheer embarrassment and dread make blood run to his face, turning his stitches an even darker red.  He wants to get off the platform, but he can’t.

Thanks to JG