Saturday Seasons: The 2007 Epic Collapse

Much could be written about the first five months of the 2007 baseball season:

               About how the Mets were determined to erase the bad taste they left in fans’ mouths when Carlos Beltran took a called third strike to end game seven of the 2006 NLCS with the winning runs on base;

               About how the team once again was built to win, with a veteran squad that, while having its question marks involving the health and quality of the bullpen and the rotation, had enough hitting firepower to make them a formidable force in the pennant race;

               About how shortstop Jose Reyes got off to such a fast start that at midseason, he was mentioned in the conversation about who would be the league MVP;

               About how the two most veteran pitchers on the staff – Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez (returning from a late 2006 rotator cuff injury)—would notch significant milestones: Glavine’s 300^th career win and Martinez’ 3,000^th career strikeout;

About how Moises Alou, signed to replace Cliff Floyd in left field, would lead the team in batting, with a .341 average highlighted by a 30-game hitting streak;

               About how David Wright would hit 30 home runs and drive in 107; Beltran 33 and 112 and Carlos Delgado, 24 and 87;

               About how John Maine and Oliver Perez would each win 15 games and strike out a batter an inning;

               About how, on September 1, the team was 75-60 and three games up on their nearest rival for the National League East crown, the Philadelphia Phillies, a lead that would grown to seven games by September 17.

               But then……..the collapse.

               Not just any collapse. An epic collapse. A collapse that would wipe from the record books the 1964 Phillies, who blew a 6 ½ game lead that late in the season, largely because manager Gene Mauch lost confidence in half his starting rotation and overworked the other half, pitching Jim Bunning and Chris Short on two days’ rest. A collapse that would set the standard comparing future collapses. A collapse that would prompt the New York Post to comment as the season ended: “It’s never been more appropriate for a team to play in a city called Flushing.” A collapse that would produce this headline in the Bergen Record:

And it truly was a team effort, as the entire squad played like they were wearing uniform tops with neck sizes a few inches too small.

“One through 25, to me we’re all responsible,” catcher Paul LoDuca was quoted as saying in the Post story. Paul Lo Duca said. “We got every chance in the world and we didn’t deserve to go. Bottom line.”

“We [screwed] it up as a team,” Pedro Martinez said. “Plain and simple.”

Consider these examples that were part of the 5-12 finish that saw them lose not only the division but the wild card spot in the playoffs:

The team blows a 2-0 lead before Aaron Heilman gives up a sacrifice fly to Greg Dobbs, allowing the Phillies to notch a 3-2, 10-inning win on Sept. 14.

Center fielder Carlos Beltran misplays Jimmy Rollins' line drive into a two-run triple as  Mets squander a 3-1, seventh-inning lead and lose to the Phillies, 5-3, on Sept. 15.

The Mets commit six errors that lead to four unearned runs. Eight pitchers combine to walk 11 batters. Mets lose again to Phillies, 10-6, on Sept. 16.

The Mets take 4-0 lead before Nationals rally against Brian Lawrence. Five Mets relievers give up eight runs — seven earned — in 5ª innings as the Mets blow a 4-0 lead and lost to the Nationals, 12-4, on Sept. 17.

After holding a players-only meeting, the Mets stake John Maine to a 4-0 lead in the first. But Maine, who had given up four hits in 12 scoreless innings against the Nationals all year, allows eight runs and 11 hits in 4¤ innings and Mets lose, 9-8, on Sep. 18.

With Billy Wagner unavailable because of back spasms, the Mets turn to Jorge Sosa in the ninth in a Sept. 20 game against the Marlins. Sosa can't hold 7-4 lead, and then gives up game-winning double to Dan Uggla in 10th.

Mike Pelfrey is rocked for seven runs — six earned — in 5ª innings, and Guillermo Mota and Dave Williams give up another six in the final two frames as the Mets lose to the Nationals. 13-4 on Sept. 24.

Tom Glavine, who hadn’t lost a game since July 2,  gives up four first-inning runs, and Mets' ninth-inning rally from 10-3 deficit comes up a run short when Paul Lo Duca pops out with runner on third and the Mets lose to the Nationals on Sept. 25.

The Mets squander early leads of 5-0 and 6-2 against the majors' lowest-scoring team as they lose to the Nationals, 9-6, on September 26.

David Wright forgets to step on third base to get an easy force out, Oliver Perez, matching up against the typically wild Byung-Hyun Kim, hits two batters with the bases loaded as the Mets lose their eighth straight on September 28.

Throughout the dismal final 17 games, Reyes, who was talked about in July as a potential MVP, hit .187 and made four errors. Fans booed him loudly in the final games.

And yet, with all of that, as the season wound down to its final day, the Mets still had a chance, if not to win the division outright, then to force a one-game playoff against the Phils. Manager Willie Randolph sent Tom Glavine to the mound against the lowly Marlins and if you were to bet the game, you would have bet on the Mets.

But, as they say, that’s why they play the games. Glavine, in what would be his final game as a Met, put up one of the worst performances of his career, lasting only a third of a inning, during which he allowed five hits, two walks, hit  a batter, made a throwing error and allowed seven runs. To add injury to insult, Carlos Delgado fractured his left hand when he was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first and the Mets went on to lose, 8-1. Fans booed lustily and directed “Fire Willie” chants at manager Randolph.

Randolph kept his job, but he still did not escape emotionally unscathed. “I’ve always been associated with winning, and it hurts deep down inside, really hurts, to be associated with this type of collapse,” Randolph said in his postseason news conference. “That’s not how we play the game, and there’s no way in the world that I thought we would be in this position right now talking about this; I thought we’d be preparing for the postseason. But it’s a cruel lesson in life and baseball. Make your bed and you live in it. We definitely set us up for this disappointment.”

Let the record also reflect that the Phillies were anything but gracious winners:

For Mets fans, that made the collapse even harder to accept, as one celebrity fan, Hank Azaria, noted in an interview years later: