Goodbye, in more ways than one

I was going to write about the Mets' loss to the Marlins and the "Shea Goodbye" festivities in separate posts, but I can't.

For one, it's almost one in the morning Monday and I'd like to try and get some sleep before heading to work. Also, I don't think you can separate the two, at least not now. Perhaps if the Mets had won, you could, because there would be more baseball to be played. But the season is over. The Brewers are the Wild Card team, the Phillies are the NL East champions for the second straight year, and the Mets will never again play at Shea Stadium.

For the fans, this day will live as one, tremendously melancholy event. So let's treat it as such.

As far as the game is concerned, five runs in three days isn't going to do it. Yes, Scott Schoeneweis and Luis Ayala gave up home runs that gave the Marlins the lead for good, marking another in an unfathomable string of bullpen failures, but two runs? Against Scott Olsen, who the Mets had handled all season? Pre-game, the talk was about how many of the Mets starters had such good numbers against Olsen. Where were those numbers today?

There weren't many blown opportunities because there were few opportunities to blow. Carlos Beltran converted his chance in the bottom of the sixth, connecting on a two-run homer that tied the game at 2-2.

The only other chance came in the bottom of the eighth when Carlos Delgado came up with two outs and runners on first and second. I texted a buddy of mine, "Bunt," and I wasn't kidding. Delgado's numbers against Arthur Rhodes were brutal, and Rhodes has murdered lefties this season.

In the ninth, credit Damion Easley for drawing a walk against a young pitcher (fitting that former Met Matt Lindstrom closed it), to bring up a lefty against the righty. But that lefty, unfortunately, was Ryan Church, who had an awful September. He gave it a ride, and there was hope there for a second or two, but like the team itself, the drive fell short.

Oliver Perez put up zeroes for five innings before faltering in the sixth, but you can't fault his effort on three days' rest. Joe Smith came on with the bases loaded and one out and walked a guy, a major no-no, but he got the next two outs and you felt good about only being down by two. And when Beltran went yard, things were looking up.

They looked fantastic when Endy Chavez made a running stab in left to end the seventh, and everyone thought back to 2006 and his amazing catch against the Cardinals. The Mets lost that game, but they wouldn't lose this one, too, right? Maybe Endy needs to stop making game-saving catches.

For me, that was it -- I couldn't stick around to watch the long goodbye. I DVR'ed basically the whole day and my son was begging me to play outside, so we went onto the front lawn and played some wiffle ball. But not before replacing my snow-white Wright jersey with the Chrebet Jets jersey. Sorry, but the Mets jersey would have invited comments from the neighbors, and all I wanted to do was play ball with my son for a while and clear my head. And it worked.

I didn't watch the closing ceremonies until almost 11, having gone back to watch the "Shea Goodbye" special from the 92nd Street Y before zipping through the pregame stuff.

As for the ceremony, it may have lacked the drama and gravitas of Yankee Stadium's finale, but I was happy to see so many players from my youth -- the seventies and early eighties -- on hand. Because while we want to celebrate the great Mets teams of 1969, 1973, 1986 and 2000, a huge part of being a Mets fan was having to sit through some terrible teams.

So I loved seeing Felix Millan, and Dave Kingman, and Doug Flynn, and Craig Swan, and Ed Kranepool. We cheered for those guys while the Yankees were winning World Series, and it was great to see them one last time.

It was disappointing not to see Mookie Wilson or Davey Johnson there, or Hubie Brooks, or Frank Viola, or John Olerud. But from Cleon Jones and Jerry Koosman and Ron Swoboda to Len Dykstra and Wally Backman and Gary Carter and Jesse Orosco -- I found that seeing the former players back at Shea was incredibly healing. Maybe it was because I waited a few hours, but for me the closing ceremony with all the old Mets -- John Franco, Al Leiter, Robin Ventura , Edgardo Alfonzo -- made me think about what it is to be a Mets fan, and that is you learn to take the good with the bad, and even when it's bad, it's still your team and you're proud of it.

The cheers for Darryl Strawberry were expected. The ovation for Dwight Gooden was incredible, and like Gary Cohen, I got a lump in my throat. Gooden may have thrown his no-hitter for the Yankees, but he will always -- ALWAYS -- be a Met.

And of course the final entrants -- Mike Piazza and Tom Seaver. I miss Piazza. He was the best. And Seaver is Seaver -- The Franchise. Always will be.

I thought having them all touch home plate "one last time" was corny, but the players seemed to like it. Having Seaver throw Shea's last pitch to Piazza was a great move, unfortunately Seaver bounced it. Piazza's defensive skills were always underrated.

And having the two of them walk out through centerfield and close the place was also a nice touch, and it was then that the heaviness of the day and the disappointment hit me again.

It wasn't supposed to end this way. But, then again, these are the Mets. You learn to take the bad with the good.

I've been clear that if New York City allowed Shea Stadium to be imploded, I'd be first on line to press the plunger. That's not to say I don't have tons of memories of the place, from my first game seeing the Mets play the Pirates and shaking hands with John Candelaria, to watching Doc and Darryl, to the title in 1986, beating the D-Backs in 1999, the grand slam single, to Game 7 against the Cardinals.

Those are memories that will live inside us all. Thankfully, in gathering future memories, we won't have to endure congested concourses, narrow escalators, overflowing toilets and tiny seats facing the wrong way. The Mets will once again have a park worthy of the emotion their fans put into the team.

And maybe Citi Field will bring a change of luck. This team really needs it.