Okay, I'll admit that I was kind of down on the Subway Series the last time around, but that is not the case now. Why is that? Because back then the Mets were playing like they were in the Pee-Wee Herman League and the New York Yankees were doing their best Incredible Hulk impersonation in the American League East. Since then the Mets have incredulously bounced back from adveristy (even with key players on the disabled list) - with Jose Reyes taking the part of The Flash while his teammates, even the AAA Buffalo contingency, are looking like superheroes in training. So now it is at least interesting enough for this old Mets fan to put on his blue cap with the orange NY and brave the Number 7 train to get out to Citi Field.
Make no mistake - the Yankees have to be favored today. They just steamrolled over Milwaukee, but these are the Brewers and not the Boston Red Sox or the Philadelphia Phillies. When you put the pitching poor Yankees up against those types of teams, they wilt and that is what they will have to face once again in the playoffs this year. Of course, at least they can say they have the playoffs in their future, but that is still a reality for Yankees fans; too bad Sabathia can't pitch every day.The Mets led by Reyes and much lesser names like Turner, Murphy, and Hairston, are definitely going to be David going up against Goliath in the Subway Series, but we all know how that turned out. Truth be told, the Mets are playing like the Mets of old - most notably the 1973 version - and that team was the little engine that could, knocking out the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati and taking the Oakland A's to the seventh game of the World Series.
I'm not saying anything like that can happen this year, but there is hope in Flushing and the Mets fans can invoke the old Tug McGraw mantra of "Ya Gotta Believe" again, so in that way it becomes very personal for me (and most Mets fans). And don't forget, these are the dreaded Yankees, the minions of Darth Steinbrenner who once circled the city in his Death Star thinking he could rule the baseball galaxy.
So break out your old copies of Return of the Jedi if you need inspiration, Mets fans, and "you gotta believe" the force is with these young Met padawans. Jose Reyes is wielding that bat like a light saber, and maybe, just maybe, some Yankee heads will roll this weekend. So yeah, it's personal this time, and Mets fans have to get out there and cheer this underdog team for no other reason than they are New Yorkers who are not Yankees' fans.
Let's go Mets!
Photo Credit: NY Daily News
Yes, I can see that regional rivalries could attract interest - St. Louis and Kansas City, Cleveland and Cincinnati and so on - but this would be limited at best to one three-game series a year. Here in New York City the luster of Mets-Yankees games has long worn off, making me long for the old Mayor's Trophy Game that was played once a year.