Category Archives: 1999 Project

1999 Project

1999 Project: Game 161

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October 2, 1999: Mets 7, Pirates 0

While the Mets prepared for the middle game of their series with the Pirates, art-lovers and curious souls lined up at the Brooklyn Museum to get their first view of “The Holy Virgin Mary”, a controversial mixed-media piece by Chris Ofili that had drawn the ire of Mayor Giuliani (Hizzoner’s main objection was that the mixed media included elephant dung). The debate over the artwork’s offensiveness (or lack thereof) had reached such a fevered pitch that it was now protected by a plexiglass shield and two guards.

Most people who actually bothered to go see the painting couldn’t fathom what the fuss was all about. Like Karen Masterson, who, despite being Catholic, didn’t find it offensive at all, and laughed at the small group of protestors handing out barf bags outside the museum. She availed herself of the free product anyway.

“We can use it later, when the Mets lose,” she said.

99_saturday_1002.pngSuch was the attitude of many Mets fans, after a string of nine games that had all but destroyed their season. But an inspiring (if slim) win on Friday night, combined with losses by Houston and Cincinnati, brought them only one game out of the playoff picture. Despite all the wounds they suffered down the stretch, the Mets were knocking on the door of the postseason.

Before the game on Friday, there seemed to be no hope whatsoever. Now, writers like Jack Curry of The New York Times wondered if everything was breaking their way after all.

How stunning would it be if the Mets wriggled into the post-season after the mess they caused by losing eight of their last nine? Almost as stunning as mishandling the four-game bulge they had in the wild-card race on Sept. 21. If the Mets win the wild card, they can laugh about the last two weeks. But those chuckles are at least 48 long hours away….

Before [Friday’s] victory, Piazza sheepishly mentioned that the Mets were not mathematically eliminated yet, and their chances improved last night. Someone reminded Piazza that the Mets could erase their pain with a memorable weekend and he mused, ”If the planets are lined up the right way, I guess that could happen.” Last night, they were perfectly aligned for the Mets. Finally.

The team’s fortunes had careened in so many directions in so little time that Rafael Hermoso of the Daily News provided a brief timeline of events of the last week, just so readers could keep track.
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1999 Project

1999 Project: Game 160

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

MetsCereal.jpgOver the final weekend of the regular season, Filip Bondy wrote in the Daily News of the sad tale of Famous Fixins. In the midst of the Mets’ hot summer, the company decided to produce 250,000 boxes of Amazin’ Mets cereal. (They also produced a Derek Jeter-themed version.) Making a quarter of a million of anything is a risky proposition, even more so if your product’s appeal hinges on the continued success of a sports team.

When the Mets cereal deal was first brokered, the team’s playoff chances seemed a sure thing. Now, as October dawned and the boxes began hitting the shelves, making the postseason was a longshot.

“Let’s just say I would have liked to be out with the stuff two weeks earlier,” said Famous Fixins spokesman Michael Simon.

The Mets must have wished they could’ve ended their season two weeks earlier, when they were still in striking distance of the NL East lead. Now, with three games to play, they were two games out of the playoff picture. Cincinnati and Houston were ahead of them, tied for first in the NL Central. Whichever team didn’t win the division would likely win the wild card, because they controlled their own destinies, and the Mets did not.

The Mets’ only remaining fight of the year might be against the league office. Following Bobby Valentine’s lead, GM Steve Phillips complained to the National League head office that umpire Phil Cuzzi (who manned home plate in the series finale against Atlanta) wouldn’t get help from the corner umps on check-swing calls.

For the moment, the Mets were still mathematically alive, hanging on to playoff hopes by the slimmest of margins. All they had to was sweep their last series of the year, and hope for some help from out of town. Standing in their way: the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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1999 Project

1999 Project: Atlanta, Round 4

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chipper2.jpgOn Monday, the Mets got a much needed off day and some more bad news. The surging Reds won yet again, which put them 1.5 games ahead of the Mets in the wild card lead. It also tied Cincinnati with idle Houston for the lead in the NL Central, thus throwing another wrinkle into the Mets’ playoff hopes.

The Mets now had not one, but two rivals for the wild card, which created a myriad of ways they could make the playoffs–or miss them entirely. No one needed to be reminded of the three-way wild card race of 1998 (a race that wouldn’t have happened if the Mets had managed to win two games down the stretch).

To begin their last homestand of the year, the Mets welcomed the same Braves team that had demolished them in Atlanta a week before. But it was also a Braves team that had already clinched the NL East (thanks to their sweep of Montreal while the Mets were being swept in Philly). The Mets could always hope the Braves’ sense of urgency had waned. Then again, they’d be throwing Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Kevin Millwood, pitchers the Mets had scored a grand total of seven runs against all season.

Bobby Valentine hoped the off day would rejuvenate his team. “When I’m on the slopes, I say that fatigue makes cowards of all of us,” Valentine told The New York Times. “That’s what mental fatigue is. You can’t concentrate enough because you’re physically tired.”

Another manager agreed. Valentine spent his off-day shooting an airline commercial with Joe Torre at Newark Airport. In between takes, Torre cautioned Bobby V, noting that “My cancer was stress-related.”
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