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The New York Mets, after a $375 million investment, ended a 12-game losing streak, bringing renewed hope to fans. Supporters rallied outside Citi Field with signs urging the team to stop the slump.
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NEW YORK - The sign was, at first glance, made for this moment.
āLETāS GO METS. STOP THE SLUMP.ā
Andrew Arrabaca was holding it outside Citi Field on Wednesday night, as he and thousands of other New Yorkers tried to will their team out of a 12-game losing streak that had become the punchline of text chains, memes and one savage New York Times correction.
But in a twist that is, when you think of it, very Mets, the sign was actually a retread. Arrabaca had made it last summer, as the team sputtered through September and fell one game short of the postseason.
āThey kind of have to win at some point,ā Arrabaca said Wednesday, before the Mets took the field against the Minnesota Twins. āTheyāre gonna have to play another not-so-great team.ā
A 12-game losing streak would rattle the fans of any franchise, but this is baseballās second-most-expensive roster, and this is New York, and this is the Mets*.* It doesnāt help that the team said goodbye this offseason to franchise cornerstones Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso. Or that, until Wednesday, the man responsible for the largest share of their $375 million payroll, Juan Soto, hadnāt played since April 3. Or that Steve Cohen, whose $20 billion-plus net worth makes him one of sportsā richest owners, was reduced to offering free tickets and complaining about low attendance figures on April 7. The losing streak began the next day.
The Mets were on a 12-game losing streak before their recent victory.
The Mets invested $375 million to enhance their roster.
Fans rallied outside Citi Field with signs encouraging the team to stop the slump.
The losing streak became a source of humor and memes, even prompting corrections in media outlets.
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As the losses piled up, things got even weirder in Queens. Two nights ago, Mets field reporter Steve Gelbs, citing the mystical B story of the classic 1989 baseball film āMajor League,ā held a ritual cleansing outside Citi Field, swapping in garlic for Jobuās rum.
āItās gonna start with this garlic necklace that Iām wearing to get all the demons away from us here at Citi Field,ā he said, holding up a piece of burning sage to expel all the negative energy surrounding the then-11-game losing streak. ā... One hundred and forty games to go, the season starts now.ā
In the booth that night, Gary Cohen and Ron Darling hung up horseshoes and lit candles, an extension of the ceremony in front of Citi Fieldās Jackie Robinson Rotunda, and the team wore their alternate black jerseys.
Poof! Rookie Nolan McLean carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, and Francisco Lindor hit a three-run homer down the right-field line, and Gary Cohen announced on air, āMojo works.ā
They lost in the ninth.
But thereās always another baseball game, and tickets - donāt tell Mr. Cohen - were very gettable. Annette Segarra drove from Connecticut alongside friends in custom Mets shirts. āWe are believers,ā she said. āObviously - weāre here after 12 losses.ā
Adam Tonis, a Queens native who now lives on Long Island, said the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. āIf we lost 12 games in a row and we were playing football, weād have a problem,ā said Tonis, revealing himself as a good quote for stories about both the Mets and the Jets.
Seated in the upper deck, Virginia Croft and Patrick Brunetti said they never thought of canceling their tickets for the game, despite the bleak vibes of a mostly empty stadium.
āItās very quiet. Whole sections are damn near empty. So it feels bleak because there is nobody here, but the fans that are here are in a good mood. Itās almost funny,ā Brunetti said.
Sad funny, not fun funny. But then, in the eighth, first baseman Mark Vientos looped a two-out single into right field, giving the Mets a one-run lead, and Luke Weaver struck out the side in the ninth. And the crowd - breathed.
āIt was like, āAt least we donāt suck,āā Staten Islander Albert Pica said afterward.
On the television broadcast, Gary Cohenās famous āand the ballgame is overā was recited with more the feeling of a mid-September stretch run win than a midweek pitchers duel in April, but they all count the same in the win column.
Somewhere in the upper deck, Croft must have felt something like pride. Sheād called it, after all.
āWeāre already at rock bottom,ā sheād said two hours earlier. āIt can only go up from here.ā
A diehard Mets fan, Lucas Trevor reported from Queens and definitely wrote this story while bracing for a 9th-inning collapse.
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