39 years after a black cat walking through Shea Stadium reversed the fortunes of the Mets and Cubs, Johan Santana provides the sequel. On what should have been a 1-6-3 double play, his broken black bat flew out in the same direction as the ball, and a little faster. The pitcher flinched because of the bat and missed the ball, and then the ball struck the bat on the infield grass, creating a hop the shortstop couldn’t handle. All hands were safe, and they scored the tying runs on Wright’s single. Next inning Delgado’s bloop is just fair and just out of reach, Castro’s roller gets him on base and the error on the play scores the go ahead run. The rest of the inning includes Murphy’s pinch (pulled) single (go Murph!!) and Reyes becomes only the second Met to reach 200 hits in a season, doing it in style with a 3 run triple. If the Mets keep playing well, this game and the black bat will be remembered as the turning point, both because of their actual effect on the game, and because of the perceived psychological effect of starting to feel like the fates were lining up on our side.
Let’s Go Mets!!
