After another summer when it seemed like they’d have the NL East sown up by mid-September, the New York Mets played their last game at Shea Stadium and eliminated themselves from the playoffs:
The Mets have tried distancing themselves from last year’s epic collapse, but they cannot help themselves. For the second consecutive season, they were bounced from postseason contention by the Florida Marlins on the final day of the season, losing Sunday, 4-2, to send off Shea Stadium without October baseball in its final season.
The defeat, coupled with the Brewers’ 3-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs about 30 minutes earlier, will linger through another dreary winter for fans, players and every former great who gathered for the Shea farewell. The Mets’ flaw Sunday, as it has been for most of the season, was its bullpen, which allowed back-to-back homers in the eighth to Wes Helms and Dan Uggla to snap a 2-2 tie. The Mets had tied the score in the sixth on Carlos Beltrán’s two-run homer.
Pitching on short rest, Oliver Pérez allowed two runs and four hits in five and a third innings, though Joe Smith forced in one of those runs with a bases-loaded walk. The Mets did not realistically expect Pérez to duplicate Santana’s magical three-hit shutout Saturday that extended their season, but he got them through 16 outs that the bullpen did not have to. Brian Stokes pitched a spotless seventh, but Scott Schoeneweis gave up a homer to Helms, the only batter he faced, and Uggla greeted Luis Ayala with a booming blast to left field.
Meanwhile, CC Sabathia pitched the Brewers to their first playoff appearance in 26 years:
MILWAUKEE (AP) — CC Sabathia and Ryan Braun put the Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs for the first time since 1982 — with big help from the New York Mets. Making his third consecutive start on three days’ rest, Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and Braun hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning to lead the Brewers over the Chicago Cubs 3-1 Sunday.
The Brewers, who fired manager Ned Yost with only two weeks left to go, won the NL wild card less than a half-hour later when the Mets lost to Florida 4-2. Milwaukee (90-72) and New York (89-73) went into the final day of the regular season tied.
Thousands of fans stayed in Miller Park to watch the Mets’ game on the giant video board in center field, standing and cheering wildly as the Marlins recorded the final out.
Streamers and confetti fell from the rafters and fireworks went off in the outfield as interim manager Dale Sveum and the Brewers began showering each other with champagne in the middle of the clubhouse.
Congrats to the Brewers and, Mets’ fans, well, maybe next year.
