Remember's Ramblings – Volume 1, Article 12
December 31, 2024
For Auld Lang Syne
And never brought
to mind?
Should auld
acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang
syne.
For auld lang
syne, my jo,
For auld lang
syne,
We'll tak a cup o'
kindness yet,
For auld lang
syne,
And surely ye'll
be your pint-stowp!
And surely I'll be
mine!
And we'll tak a
cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang
syne.
I guess it is only fitting that Remember 1969 should get the
New Year’s Eve kickoff piece and speak of Auld Lang Syne.
Roughly translated into ‘Old Times Sake’, it is the traditional Scottish poem that has made its way into American New Year’s tradition.
So for Old Time Sake, let’s kick 2024 out and bring in 2025. Ah.. 2024. It was a rather weird year for the Mets and us fans. Things looked pretty grim through the first 5 games, but as they say – “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”, and finish well they did. Just two games short of the World Series for a team that did not have an ace pitcher on the roster and the bullpen was solid for the most part, but overall rated middle of the pack in most statistical categories.
Pete Alonso had a ‘down’ year (only 33 homers). Francisco Lindor never got going until May, Brandon Nimmo led the team in RBI most of the year. Starling Marte showed his age. Francisco Alvarez did as well. Jeff McNeil forgot how to hit until July and Brett Baty was so poor he was back in Syracuse by early June.
So how did this team win 89 games and advance to the NLCS? A rookie manager seemed to be the right personality, Francisco Lindor took the team on his back from June forward and played like an MVP. He would have won one had it not been for that other-worldly 50-50 season by the guy out on the left coast.
And a lot of heart and some timely homers. Not many will forget Lindor’s two run go-ahead shot in the ninth inning of the final day double header after the Braves had re-taken the lead in the bottom of the 8th after the Mets finally come alive in the top of the 8th. Then Alonso’s big bash burying the Brewers followed by Lindor’s grand slam to finish the Phillies in the NLDS.
The reports are that the 2024 Mets had as much character and chemistry as any team in the majors and nearly as much if not more than any Mets team since 1962. Character matters – it is too bad we cannot put a WAR value on it.
For auld lang
syne.
Happy New Year to all the
Mack’s Mets writers, readers and commenters!
4 comments:
Nice thoughts here...we who participate in writing at this site do so not for headlines, certainly not for revenue and not because we need to stroke our own egos with a public publication on a regular basis. No, for me the whole idea of writing is to nudge the readers to continue their dialog as Mets fans and to offer up points of view that sometimes match and sometimes conflict with how others feel.
Well said, both R 69 and Reese. Happy New Years to you both, Mack, Ray and Paul and all of our readers who we've had wonderful exchanges with thru yet another year, something we do not take for granted. Remember Luis Castillo when you watch the ball drop tonight.
Kevin Kaczmarski already 33? I remember back to when both he and Pat Mazeika started out hitting .350 in their rookie ball debuts. Mazeika made it to the bigs briefly because he was a catcher. He had the game-winning hit where they ripped his shirt off and had me thinking, "has Pat ever been in a weight room?" Kaczmarski needed to add power, too, but never did, and ended up with just a few Mets plate appearances. Pump the iron, all you hitting gentlemen in the minors.
Funny for me that I DID forget that Lindor HR - many of the details have faded to black, but the general memory of a rousing, amazing stretch drive and playoff run makes me want even more in 2025, with SOTO.
Happy New Year everyone! Hoping the New Year brings new levels of success for the New York Mets!!
It should be a great new year if things go as planned. Happy New Year to all.
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