Before we get too far down the road of whining, what happened in game 6, while memorable, was by no means unusual or as shocking as 28-3; teams come back from two outs and a couple of runs down. Moreover, my example was a team coming back from 3-0 in a WS. That has not taken place. In addition, game 6 was not a deciding game.
If you want to say coming down from 3-1 in games is comparable to coming back from 28-3, I can agree with that conclusion. Recovering from 3-1 is not common but it does happen, last year being the most recent example. 1979 and 1958 also come to mind.
On the question of game 6 itself, the game requires 27 outs and the Sox couldn't nail down the final out. They just weren't as good as the 1986 Mets, who are considered one of the best teams for a single season. If you expect me to feel bad for Red Sox fans, don't look here.
As far as post 1986 the Mets never reached their potential. They should have won in 1987 and definitely in 1988. Just as game 6 is George's cross to bear, game 4 of the NLCS is Mets' fans to bear. As good as they were, they obviously won an imperfect team.
I hate the term "miracle." There was nothing miracle about 1969. They were a better team. They zoomed past the Cubs like they were standing still and handled the Braves and the Orioles with ease. They did it with talent, hard work and a great manager, Gil Hodges, who should be in the HOF, still the best manager they've had in their history.
As far as being lucky, every team always needs a little luck but as Branch Rickey said, luck is the residue of design.
It is what it is and as Al and I have discussed both on this forum and via PM's, the losses hurt way more than the wins feel good.
The 1986 Red Sox were no tomato cans either; not to mention they were up two games to none heading home for the next three, they had plenty of chances to win games 3 and 4, just could not get the timely hit, I should know, I was at both games as well as game 5 that Hurst won for them to put them up 3-2 heading back to New York.
And I get that injuries are a part of the game, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada, but the Red Sox at the trade deadline got Tom Seaver from the White Sox and although he was no longer in his prime, he pitched well for the Red Sox down the stretch and had he not gotten injured and left off the playoff roster, would have gotten the ball for game 4 at Fenway and I'll go to my grave thinking he would have won that game for them, Hurst would have won game 5 and the Red Sox would never have had to go back to New York and Buckner would not have had 10,000 sleepless nights since prior to 2004 and you wouldn't be able to tell me about how there are 27 outs in a game (actually for game 6, it was 30).
But what's done is done, what miracles may be, it's the beauty of sports, no script, you see things that you never thought you'd see, like the Red Sox winning a WS or the sad sack Patriots, the laughing stock of the AFC for years, win not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Super Bowls to date.
It's funny to look at the ups and downs we as fans go through; on Wednesday, the Red Sox bullpen blew a 4-2 lead in the 8th by walking the bases loaded, then giving up a grand slam to lose the game 6-4. As I came downstairs into my workshop looking to smash something into 10,000 pieces (because 10,001 would have been excessive), I heard on sports talk radio "Breaking news; the New England Patriots have come to terms with recently released David Harris, formerly of the NY Jets".........................not going to lie, I literally burst out laughing, the rich get richer, the Patriots signing a guy who is a tackling machine and has missed a whopping 1 game in his entire career, just another of those veteran signings they make..........................what an unbelievable organization.
Ok, back to baseball fellas........................................
