“The Mets, who are desperately in search of a victory,” I just heard Gary Cohen say in the truncated version of Sunday’s rebroadcast, “have had their ace step up big-time,” which got me thinking, “Well, I wouldn’t call me their ace…”
All right, I knew he was talking about Johan Santana, but c’mon — the Mets desperately needed a victory, I went to Citi Field, and they got one. Johan was on the mound, I was in a seat. I’m not taking the credit, but…OK, I am taking some credit, but can you blame me? I mean, thirteen wins in a row, my friends.
Is it really coincidence?
Considering the element of chance involved and the amount that my mere presence has to do with it, I don’t mean to be impressed by my 13-game Citi Field winning streak. God knows the results on the field are not my doing — I neither pump up the home team nor psyche out the visitors all by myself. Yet I show up and the Mets take care of business, much as they did Sunday, much as they had done a dozen consecutive times from April 19 through July 6 when I was there.
I swear I don’t know how this is happening. July 11 may have been No. 13 for me, but it also happened to be the 37th anniversary of my first-ever game at Shea. That one was a loss and I conditioned myself from that day forward to never expect a win out of any game to which I’m lucky enough to hold a ticket. Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism. Perhaps it’s a variation of the theory that it’s worse to lose than it is great to win. Whatever it is, it still takes me by surprise when the Mets emerge victorious with me in their immediate vicinity.
Though maybe I’m getting just a little used to it after it’s happened 13 times in a row.
Whenever the inevitable next loss materializes, I suppose I’ll be able to handle it. I suppose even without an impending victory I’ll be able to enjoy a summer’s day like Sunday; the company of a friend like Joe, my Shea/Citi companion for nearly twenty years; and the wry observations I make in my head to fill the space between pitches (“they gave us Jason Bay bobbleheads today and the likeness is spot-on — the doll doesn’t do very much, either”). I’ll take note of oddities like the black and gold butterfly that hovered in our section for several innings, a row or two from the guy in the Pirates CLEMENTE 21 t-shirt as if the butterfly was determined to find Pittsburgh. I’ll adamantly tell some kid kicking the seat behind me, “son — stop doing that!” I’ll wait for the A/V people to cue up Bobby Darin’s “Sunday in New York” if, in fact, the game is taking place on Sunday because Sunday in New York is always enhanced by “Sunday in New York”. I’ll tell myself that no matter what happens down there on the grass, it’s been fun up here in the Promenade.
I have a feeling, however, I’ll be lying to myself a little. Going to a Mets game is much better since I came down with this case of chronic winning. Johan winning is better than Johan at a loss. An Ideal Save from Frankie Rodriguez is far more the Way To Go than K-Rod’s pitches piling up en route to enemy batters filling bases. Ike Davis slugging is preferable to Ike Davis flailing. Alex Cora filling in nicely beats the hell out of fretting the uncertain absence of Jose Reyes. The Mets defeating the Braves outpaces the alternative immeasurably. Even the self-imposed pressure of “gotta get to thirteen, the streak’s gotta keep going” far exceeds the helpless acceptance of “It’s still fun even if we’re gonna lose.”
Someday “we’re” gonna lose when I’m one of the in-house we. A streak is called a streak because it’s not an enduring reality. It’s just a streak. My Citi Field winning streak is at thirteen and counting. I’m not counting on anything except that until it’s over, I’m really enjoying this strange twist of fate.
TONIGHT is AMAZIN’ ALL-STAR MONDAY, with Marty Noble and Howard Megdal. Come out to Two Boots Grand Central at 7 PM. It’s in the Lower Dining Concourse of Grand Central Terminal, 42nd Street and Park Avenue, accessible via Metro-North as well as the 4, 5, 6, Times Square Shuttle and, of course, the 7 train. Phone: 212/557-7992. Full details here.
13 games in a row– why, that’s 5 better than Paul the Octopus!
Can’t you just move in there?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by You Gotta Believe!, Greg Prince. Greg Prince said: Thirteen consecutive wins and counting…oh yes, I call it the streak. #Mets http://wp.me/pKvXu-1Bn [...]
Greg — What would you do if you were still on this amazin’ streak, had tickets today and, say, Ollie Perez was given one more win-or-leave start? Would you go? You gotta nurture a streak like this, seems to me.
Also, for your out-of-town fans like me, who need to do some advance planning … do you know the date yet of the NEXT Two Boots get-together?
The last loss was an Ollie Perez start. But so was the fifth win. You gotta go where the fates (and the tickets) take you.
Will post future Two Boots info as we have it. Thanks for asking.
Hi Greg,
Well, our losing streak for Citi Field is at 1 and we have the dubious distinction of never ever seeing the Mets win at the new ballpark.
Of course, Saturday was our first trek to Citi Field but now we know why you had no intention of being there yourself – your psychic powers forsaw the 4-0 loss and you instead went on Sunday with the knowledge this insured extending the victory streak…., or was the thought of Mike Pelfrey on the mound too much of a gamble to put the streak on the line?
Thanks for taking all 36,401 of us along for the ride to lucky #13.
http://metsilverman.com/
Glad it was a good one for all of us, particularly your boy.
The Jason Bay Bobblehead doll is only 6 home runs behind the Real Jason Bay at the All Star break. Who would’ve figured that…
He has certainly done things with his glove and his legs and his hustle (in the running hard to first sense, not in the Kevin Millar doesn’t shut up sense), but the bobblehead portrayed him with a bat. It might have been more endearing had they positioned him at his little locker demonstrating patience toward questions about when he’s going to start hitting instead. More lifelike, anyway.
[...] Yearbook: 1965 by Greg Prince on 14 July 2010 4:34 pm Time moves glacially between the last game before the All-Star break and the first game after it (a West Coast game, at that), but to make it through the final hours of [...]
[...] a matter of self-aggrandizing public record that the Mets have not lost in the last thirteen games I’ve gone to watch them at Citi Field. Yet for a month there’s been an insidious flip side to my streaking ways. Only now that it’s [...]
[...] night was going to be a loss, I was pretty certain. The Streak had been too strong and gone too long. It was a relic of the first half of 2010, like the best of [...]