And like that — it’s gone.
Maybe not gone, but on life support. The Mets managed to be the only one to drop their game while the Phillies and Brewers both won. The Phillies put the final nail in the Mets’ division hopes while the Brewers, at the very least, got the nail and hammer out of the toolbox.
And, what else can I say? Shea Stadium was embarrassingly empty for what the game meant. Maybe 15,000 or 20,000 used their tickets tonight under the threat of weather and bad baseball. They played a playoff game in front of a stadium half-full of people who couldn’t be bothered to cheer for most of the game. Meanwhile, the Brewers and Phillies played in front of raucous, full houses.
And they both won. Go figure.
There are two things that I never, ever want to hear a Met fan talk about again. First, not a Met fan on the planet should ever even consider questioning the fandom of the Yankees. You can say all you want about the Yankee fanbase — call them spoiled, call them asses, say whatever you want. There is one inarguable fact. If Friday night’s game was going on in the Bronx and the Yankees were playing an eliminated Blue Jays team back one from the Red Sox and tied with the Twins for the wildcard, the Stadium would be packed. It would be full of people and buzzing and rocking and rolling. Every two-strike count would be cheered and everything that remotely resembled a rally would have the fans on their feet. The Yankees might lose, but 53,000 strong would be there and in to every second of the game.
Second, the Met fan is never again allowed to bust on the Braves for their inability to fill Turner Field in playoffs. The Met fan could constantly throw it in the Braves face that their fans were spoiled and bad fans because they couldn’t fill their stadium in the post-season. “We’d always be there for big games” they’d say. That’s over, too. As it turns out — no, we wouldn’t.
The game played last night may as well have been at Dolphins’ Stadium. That’s how dead Shea Stadium was. About 15,000 made it, and good for them, but the people who didn’t go because of some excuse — be it weather, fear of losing, whatever — should be banned from ever going to another sporting event ever again. Last night, rain washed away the corporate jackasses and fringe fans that make up a healthy portion of Shea Stadium. Tonight, the mere threat of rain did it. Welcome to the new era of New York sports — tickets so expensive that most real fans can’t go and home field advantage is a joke. To the real fans out there, I’d tell them to enjoy the 2006 NLCS. It’s the last time Shea was full with actual die-hard Met fans. To Giants fans — we got one last Super Bowl run before the Maras and Tisches get their new, sanitized, corporate stadium like the Colts got. Enjoy it. It was almost to the point where, watching the end of the Brewers game, I almost wanted them to get in. At least the people in Milwaukee care.
Costas didn’t need a special — he just needed to show a clip of the 2006 NLCS and a clip of last night. That’s the cost of pricing out fans.
In case you’re wondering, here’s what happens tomorrow. By the time the drunken college kids on the west coast wake up — the Mets will have won their game, the Brewers will have lost to the Cubs, and the Mets will draw out this season of exquisite torture until the last day of the regular season. On that day, on the final day of Shea Stadium, Oliver Perez on short rest will play the role of Tom Glavine.
Whether or not they change the script along with the recast remains to be seen. Let’s hope.
