Frenzied fans of the Mighty Mets say their Amazins are set to do it all over again today – beat the Braves! – while Yankee yahooers vow they’re out for blood after yesterday’s Boston massacre.
“I believe, BABY!” howled Ilan Goldenberg, 21, a rabid Met fan from Penn State University at Shea Stadium last night.
“We’re going all the way this time!”
His mother, Lorraine, chirped in, “We need hits! The pitchers are doing their jobs. We need hits!”
The Mets electrified the city last night with a thunderous 3-2 victory over the Braves to keep their dream alive – as the Yanks fell victim to the Sox at Fenway Park in a rout that ended 13-1.
The Mets head back to Shea Stadium today for a crucial 4 p.m. faceoff, entering the evening down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.
The Yanks – who stay in Boston for a 7:30 p.m. game – are up 2-1 in the American League series.
While most Yankee fans watched the Boston massacre in the numbing comfort of their New York homes, Flushing was the flashpoint for Met fan-mania.
As darkness fell on Shea Stadium, Met fans bit their lips through six scoreless innings in the do-or-die fourth game of the National League championship.
Then – with a single crack of the bat – first baseman John Olerud blasted one over the fence, setting off a frenzy in Flushing.
The Braves battled back – with back-to-back homers.
By the eighth inning, the crowd at Shea was on their feet, tense and hopeful.
Then Olerud punched a base hit through the infield to drive home the game winning runs. Shea Stadium nearly exploded.
“They’re gonna win it!” shouted Luis Salgado, 55, “Because they always come from behind. They always get better!”
Perhaps the strongest faith among the well-tested Met faithful this year came from little Dakota Salmous, a 13-year old diehard from Brooklyn.
“They’re going to win,” he kept telling fellow fans, some of whom walked out after the Braves dispiriting, back-to-back blasts last night. “I know they’re going to win,” he’d tell himself if no one else was listening.
After the game, as jubilant fans jumped up and down and hugged one another, Salmous sat calmly, content to smile as he turned to a reporter and said simply: “I told you.”
Up in Beantown yesterday, the World Series champs folded like a map under the unstoppable pitching of missile-launcher Pedro Martinez. But Yankee fans were nonplussed.
“The key to this series is that you have to win four games, and the Sox have only one dominant pitcher who can win them one game,” insisted Yankee fan Dan Alves, 26, of Massachusetts, after last night’s blowout at the hands of Red Sox pitcher Martinez.
Former Boston Red Sox star pitcher Roger Clemens – now in pinstripes – took a whole lot of heat.
Boston fans’ boos roared up over the immense left field fence called the Green Monster every time Clemens threw a strike.