 
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans. Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here. Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here. Got something to say? Leave a comment, or email us at faithandfear@gmail.com. (Sorry, but we have no interest in ads, sponsored content or guest posts.) Need our RSS feed? It's here. Visit our Facebook page, or drop by the personal pages for Greg and Jason. Or follow us on Twitter: Here's Greg, and here's Jason. |
What is it with the Mets, the Marlins and Game 161s? (Games 161? Anyway.) I’m generally allergic to tidy narratives, but this one was undeniable: John Maine in 2007, Johan Santana in 2008 … and now Clay Holmes in 2025. No, Holmes didn’t go all the way. But that’s nitpicking — he’s a converted reliever who’s way […]  11 comments - (Comments closed) | |  Print This Post |  Brewers, Clay Holmes, Edwin Diaz, Eury Perez, Jeff McNeil, Johan Santana, John Maine, Marlins, Oliver Perez, Pete Alonso, Reds, Shea Stadium, Soilmaster Stadium, Tom Glavine, Wild Card Did any fanbase need a laugher more than we did? OK, maybe Tuesday night wasn’t exactly a laugher — call it a chuckler, perhaps — but a five-run first and a pair of homers in the second took away a lot of the tension, allowing us to monitor the “piggyback” experiment that saw Sean Manaea take […] 8 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Brett Baty, Brooklyn Cyclones, Clay Holmes, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil, Mark Vientos, Michael King, Padres, Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea For a little while Wednesday night the Mets played non-embarrassing baseball. Which isn’t to say they were leading — they weren’t — but that they weren’t being beaten as badly as seemed likely at first. Clay Holmes pitched OK-adjacent, giving up two runs in the first but escaping far worse harm, and hung in there until […] 15 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Bob Ojeda, Clay Holmes, Cristopher Sanchez, Disappointment, Gregory Soto, Phillies, Sean Manaea, SNY “Until you’ve been beside a man,” Detroit’s own Bob Seger wailed mournfully, “you don’t know what he wants.” And until you have a high-profile reliever on your team, you don’t know what he is. For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley was lights out. For the Mets, he turns them off on his own team. Had Helsley done […] 16 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Arrested Development, Bob Seger, Capable, Clay Holmes, Jose Castillo, Likable, Ordinary, Ryan Helsley, Special I remembered that the Mets had taken part in the Little League Classic before, though in my recollection they’d been walloped by the Phillies, which is further evidence that this woeful baseball summer has been bad for my mental health: In fact, back in 2018 it was the Mets who did the walloping. Maybe it was […] 6 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Clay Holmes, Francisco Alvarez, Little League Classic, Mariners, Mark Vientos, Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers The Mets have sunk from amazing to confounding to unwatchable. Tuesday night’s one-run loss to the Guardians showcased everything about this team right now that no one sensible would put in a showcase: one bad inning from a starting pitcher who (once again) didn’t give his team much length, a bit of ill-timed bad luck, and […] 7 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Bad Luck, Clay Holmes, Dismay, Guardians, Jeremy Hefner, No Offense, Tyler Rogers Friday night’s was the kind of game you were glad to stay awake for and through. The Mets jumped out to an early lead in San Francisco, built a substantial lead as things reached their midpoint, and tacked on late. Late is pervasive where West Coast start times are concerned. The first inning was late. […] 4 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Brandon Nimmo, Clay Holmes, Francisco Lindor, Gregory Soto, Perspective, Rico Garcia, Winning Streaks And on the last day of the first half,* the Mets presented us with a fan’s oldest philosophical conundrum: Is it better to come back and lose, or not to come back at all? The philosophy lesson came at the very end: Before that, the Mets followed one of their more frustrating 2025 scripts, in which […] 6 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Annual Loss Before the Break, Carlos Estevez, Clay Holmes, Futile Comebacks, Jared Young, Jeff McNeil, Kyle Isbel, Nick Loftin, Noah Cameron, Ronny Mauricio, Royals, Sean Manaea, Tyler Tolbert So you want to be a big-league pitcher? Baltimore’s Brandon Young entered the game sporting an ERA north of seven — hmm, come to think of it that’s less “sporting” than “lugging” or “enduring.” But there’s a reason they actually play the games: Young looked terrific against the Mets, allowing just a pair of hits in […] 2 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | Alex Carrillo, Baseball Cards, Brandon Nimmo, Brandon Young, Brett Baty, Bryan Baker, Clay Holmes, Comebacks, Edwin Diaz, Francisco Lindor, Huascar Brazoban, Jackson Holliday, Orioles, Pete Alonso, Reed Garrett, Ronny Mauricio, The Holy Books, Yennier Cano “Does anyone still wear a hat?” Elaine Stritch was known to ask. If anyone does — and I know it’s done at Citi Field — I hope hats have been held onto tightly, for the Mets won a ballgame in their ballpark Wednesday night. Surprising, I know. The Mets, losers of 10 of their previous 11, […] 6 comments - (Comments closed) | | Print This Post | 2021 Mets, Bench Mob, Bill Pulsipher, Clay Holmes, Didier Fuentes, Elaine Stritch, Halfway Point, Jeff McNeil, Jonathan Pintaro, Juan Soto, Ronny Mauricio, Stephen Sondheim, Time’s Flight, Youthful Exploits |
Piazza: Catcher, Slugger, Icon, Star by Greg Prince is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. 
Amazin' Again: How the 2015 New York Mets Brought the Magic Back to Queens by Greg Prince is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. 
Volume I of The Happiest Recap: 50+ Years of the New York Mets As Told in 500+ Amazin' Wins by Greg Prince is available in print and for Kindle on Amazon. 
Faith and Fear in Flushing: An Intense Personal History by Greg Prince (foreword by Jason Fry), is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. |
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