Finally!

I'm not even going to think about the terrible weekend in Pittsburgh. All I know was as I watched the post game celebration on SNY (home of the New York Mets) I was welling up. I almost cried.

18 years is a long time to wait in between division titles. When the Mets won their last title in `88, two years after the championship season of 1986, I figured the Mets would do this all the time. I became a Mets fan in or around 1983-84. The Mets weren't so good, but they were on the move up. A steady climb, pieces being added to the puzzle. I was spoiled, I figured it would happen every year, or at least every other year.

But it didn't. I sat through some tough years. Anthony Young, Gregg Jeffries, Willie Randolph (as a player), Mackey Sasser, Saberhagen, Bonilla and so forth and so on. I remember the future was coming soon, Pulsipher, Wilson, Isringhausen and Jay Payton. The first of the championships they were going to bring to New York would have been won 10 years ago.

Then there were the two wild card years, one ending up in the World series. But its not like winning the division. Those wild card flags out on the wall at Shea are pretty lame.

On a night like tonight, I am going to think about standing in line in 15 degree weather to buy opening day tickets. I remember thinking a wild card berth would be great. I never even imagined this. The first win of the season a cold wet day, fast forward to tonight, warm a little bit breezy beautiful for baseball.

It's not like the Red Sox who had not won anything in 80 years until 2004. But there are people who are Mets fans who never saw the Mets win a division. People who were too young to really appreciate it the first time around.

On a night like tonight I think about reading box scores in Spanish and watching games on TV in Puerto Rico with my grandfather. He really loved baseball, and became a Mets fan by default. I particularly remember watching a game with him and he was talking about Howard Johnson. He really was a good hitter.

On a great night like tonight, you have to think of people like Doris from Rego Park who loved the Mets so much, and Bob Murphy the voice of the Mets for over 40 years.