As the Mets finished off the Marlins with an 11-5 victory at the end of Tuesday night’s doubleheader, Bobby Valentine mouthed two words: “We won.”
Valentine turned and shook hands with his players and coaches for the first time since July 31. The streak was over. Even though the Mets set the National League record for home futility with 15 straight home losses earlier Tuesday with a 3-2, 12-inning loss, Valentine was elated.
“We walked out on the field, we couldn’t believe it’s been a month,” Valentine said. “Hopefully we’ll create a habit here.”
The Mets players were obviously relieved, but it was a matter of degree during a miserable season. Mike Piazza, who crushed his fourth career pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning – a 440-foot, three-run blast – said, “It’s not really cause for celebration.”
Indeed, even though there was music in the Met clubhouse after the game for the first time in 33 days, it was muted.
“If we would’ve lost both of those, it would’ve been a real tough night,” winning pitcher Michael Bacsik said.
The Mets (62-74) had a decent home record when the streak started, and they still, at 31-38 at Shea, do not even have the worst mark in the National League. Pittsburgh (30-38 entering yesterday), Chicago (31-40) and Milwaukee (28-41) are worse.
In the American League, Detroit (31-39) and Tampa Bay (25-41) have been more pathetic at home.
During a streak that broke the old 91-year record set by the 1911 Boston Braves, the Mets were outhit by 57 (159-102) and outscored by 46 (87-41).
The loss took a toll on the entire team. As Mo Vaughn mentioned during the skid, even bad teams win at home. In baseball, most subpar teams do their losing on the road. San Diego, for example, is an extreme case: the young Padres are 37-34 at Qualcomm Stadium, but 22-45 on the road. And yet they were one of six teams to beat the Mets at Shea during the epic skid.
Although the epitaph on this season will be the team’s 12-game losing streak last month and the 15-game home losing skid, the Mets are hoping there’s light at the end of the tunnel. With 26 games remaining before the end of the season, there’s hope among the players that a .500 record can be salvaged, a second-place finish can be attained or some other modicum of respectability can be restored.
During the win over Florida, the Mets used five of their eight regular position players in both games. Piazza was out because of an ailing wrist, but played later in the game. So did Rey Ordonez. The Mets fell behind 2-0 and then scored 10 unanswered runs to finally win a laugher.
“I’m very happy with what this club did after losing a tough game in game one,” Joe McEwing said. “This team showed a lot of heart.
“It’s very encouraging.”
During the losing skid, the Mets had lost four games by one run and four others by two runs. It was almost too much to believe they had won.
“We won,” Valentine said in the home manager’s office, repeating his words from the dugout. “We played a lot of close games and we came up short. Maybe the tide will turn for us.
“This team battled too hard to not have something good happen for them. I hope it’s something good right now.”
