A Night to Remember at Citi: HI57ORY

It was the first of June in 2012.  It was the Mets 8,020th game in the team's 51st season.  It was a night at Citi Field that Mets fans have been waiting their whole lives to see.  Me and the other 27,068 fans came out to see the return of Carlos Beltran to Citi Field in a Cardinals uniform.  What we ended up seeing was history.

At 9:45pm on a cool, breezy night in Flushing, David Freese swung on and missed for the 27th out.  Johan Santana had thrown the first no hitter in New York Mets history.  The Mets could not do it at the Polo Grounds for their first two years.  They could not do it at Shea Stadium for its 45 years of existence. They could not do it in the first three seasons at Citi Field.  Finally, in the celebratory year of the Mets 50th anniversary, in the team's 51st season and third ballpark, Johan Santana had completed the first ever Mets no hitter.  I was waiting for last night to happen since I started being at fan at the age of 8.  I have been to over a season's worth (162) Mets games in my life and the night finally came.  

There were so many moments in this game that made this such a special first no hitter for the Mets.  First, in the 6th inning, the ball hit by Carlos Beltran that was fair and got called foul.  After this, it seemed the Mets caught a break, and history could be in the making.  In the 7th inning is when it seemed that it was destiny for the Mets.  Yadier Molina, the man who beat the Mets in the NLCS in 2006 at Shea Stadium with his 9th inning home run, would hit one deep to left field that looked to make it the 8,020th game that the Mets would not throw a no hitter.  The pride of Whitestone, Mike Baxter, would put his glove out, catch the ball, and bang into the left field wall and somehow hold on to the ball to make one of the biggest catches in Mets history.  Baxter would leave the game with injury, but not before getting a standing ovation from everyone in the ballpark.  Baxter had somehow saved the no hitter and Santana was just seven outs away from history.  After that catch is when I said to myself...this could happen tonight.  

After the 134th pitch thrown by Johan Santana, the Mets woes of never throwing a no hitter came to an end.  Citi Field finally had the feel of home.  It was like the days at Shea as random fans all celebrated together.  High fiving and chest pumping with everyone at the ballpark was normal.  It was a night that you enjoy with the people who have been going to games for years, and a night you tell the youth to remember when they grow up.  Leaving Citi Field was hard as fans stuck around to celebrate together and realize how big of a moment this was.  It was a dream come true to be witness to such a tremendous moment in Mets history.  It happened in my last game before I begin interning Tuesday with SNY working Mets programming.  Being at the John Maine near no hitter in 2007 was incredible, but this topped them all.  

25 Years Ago Today....The Ground Ball

25 years ago today, we (well the people who were alive at the time) witnessed one of the most monumental plays in one of the most thrilling games in the history of sports.  The only words necessary are...."and it gets by Buckner!"  Game 6 of the 1986 World Series was one that no baseball fan will ever forget.

The Mets were down 3 games to 2 to the Red Sox.  They were down 2 runs in the bottom of the 10th inning.  They were 1 out away from being the team that would help break the "Curse of the Bambino."  The unthinkable would then occur.  The Mets would string a couple of base hits together to make it a one run game.  Then Mike Stanley would make a pitch to Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson that he wish he could get back.  The pitch would go wild and go to the backstop tying the game.  The Mets, who just minutes earlier seemed to be demoralized and getting ready to head home, were alive again and were a hit away from sending the series to a game 7 at Shea Stadium.  

Just two pitches later, one of the most memorable moments in the history of sports would have the city that never sleeps staying wide and awake.  

Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball to all star first baseman Bill Buckner.  It looked to be the simplest of ground balls.  The ball would trickle down the line and go right under the glove of Buckner.  The ball would roll onto the outfield grass and change the history of baseball and the life of Buckner forever.  World Series MVP Ray Knight would score the game winning run sending the series to a game 7.  A series that seemed to be over was now tied.  Buckner's impressive career would now be known for just one play.  A guy who would finish his career with 2,715 career hits and a batting crown in 1980 was known by many baseball fans as the guy who lost the 1986 World Series.  The people of Boston who have been waiting since 1918 to win a World Series were stunned in disbelief and "the curse" would live on.  

The Mets would go on to win game 7 in comeback fashion after trailing the series 3 games to 2.  One play changed the face of a franchise, the face of a player, and the face of baseball history.  The Red Sox would go 18 more years without winning a World Series.  Finally, after 86 years of waiting they would break "the curse" in 2004.  

The series of events that went down in this game were moments that we will never see again.  It was an ending that no person could ever script.  It was an evening at Shea Stadium unlike any other.  It was a night that every one of the 55,078 in attendance will relive for the rest of their lives.  October 25, 1986 would go down as one of the most memorable of all time.