An Army Invades Miami, in Mets Win.

  I had the pleasure of attending what amounted to a home game for our beloved New York Mets, thanks to the 400 strong (I didn't count) members who showed up to represent the 7 Line Army on a beautiful (thank God the roof was closed) Saturday afternoon in South Florida.
 

  From the moment I stepped foot into 'Marlins Park', I knew I was in the land of blue and Orange.  The atmosphere in my section was electric, even before the game started.  Then, once it did, every pitch was life or death.  Hell, even the soul of Mr. Met was with us on this day.

  We all had the pleasure of watching Jacob deGrom absolutely dominate the Marlins on this day.  And it seemed like the strategy, with all pitchers, but mostly the young pitchers, remained the same on this day.  Keep the ball down, throw strikes and get the leadoff hitter out.

  Time after time, inning after inning, the game played out just like we would hope.  As my buddy Scot (@scottyc9) pointed out during the game, every time Stanton stepped to the plate, he pretty much was up there with nobody on, and usually at least 1 out.  Oh, and besides the Mr. Met shown above, my favorite cut out was a picture of Stanton, wearing a Mets hat. 

  We continued to see what this team remain built on, pitching, timely defense and actually some timely hitting.  Even Chris Young, of all people, managed to pop one out just far enough out of the infield, and not deep enough into the outfield, to score a run in this game.

  And, also, another quite shoutout to Terry Collins and staff for the ongoing interesting idea to bat the pitcher 8th and Ey Jr. 9th.  It paid off on this day as EY, leading off an inning, walked and stole and base, and later scored in the inning.  In fact, it just so happened that deGrom never did actually have to leadoff an inning himself, which is obviously a plus (even though he has hit this year).

  But the day was about deGrom, and his solid pitching, low pitch count, timely strikeouts and a couple of extremely timely double play balls. The day was about the Captain and his three opposite field hits (folks, this is who he is, stop crying for more line drives and homers right now), the day was about Duda, who continue to quietly hit with RISP and the day was about the diehard Mets fans. (who let the marlins guy in there?)

  There is nothing like the feeling of sitting in a park with hundreds of screaming fellow fans, chanting Lucas Duda !  Lucas Duda ! Lucas Duda !........and then watch him smack a homer out to deep Right, in a hurry, to the delight of all wearing the orange and blue.

  Throughout the game, the crowd basically took turns chanting out everyone's name, especially in the bottom of the ninth.  Heck, even Teagarden got a chant in his honor. 

  This game, this day, and this atmosphere fully impresses upon me a better realization of why exactly it is that I remain a Mets fan.  As we were talking about during and after the game, name another franchise that has something like this going in their fan base? Especially for a team that hasn't won in years.

  This whole day, it seemed like, was about the fans.  Even poor old Billy the Marlin tried to have a little fun by spraying all of us with a water gun, but this fan base remained on absolute fire, not only until the last pitch, but even after the game ended and the Mets were shaking hands on the field.

  And, in a very classy move by the Mets players, as the game ended, and they were headed back to the dugout, the players starting pointing to, raising their hands and hats, and saluting the diehards who showed their love and appreciation for the team they go crazy for.  And a very big shoutout to Daniel Murphy, who over and over again throughout the game, acknowledged the fans during certain cheers.

  Again, this one game is why I still support this team, and its players. This is a team, still well below .500.  This is a team that can't even seem to figure out how to string together consecutive hits.  But this is also a team that I love, for better or worse.  And, apparently, I'm not alone in the feeling.

  Hundreds of men, women and children basically appeared to have what became a New York reunion of sorts, in Florida, at a game which was technically about the other team.  But, you would never have known it.  Not from where I was sitting.

  Thank you Mets, for putting on a show.  Thank you 7 Line Army (@The7Line), for......... well, putting on a show.  And a big thank you to all the readers out there who continue to follow this team.  



Oh, did I mention that I was on TV?  HA..............I'm ready for my close up..................