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Rock On

I haven't seen this kind of refuse to lose attitude (altitude?) from the Colorado Rockies since Opening Day 1995.

Finally, the Rockies have a new signature moment to replace the Dante Bichette fist-pump that concluded that miserable evening of baseball, the play in which Matt Holliday scored the wild-card clinching run without ever touching home plate. And if Colorado keeps winning, that game against the Mets will be pushed farther and farther out of the memory banks. It's about time.

If you wanted to rate the worst losses in Mets history, that in hindsight didn't really mean much, Opening Day, 1995, ranks atop the list.

Remember that in 1995, we were welcoming baseball back after an early season's end and a canceled World Series, due to labor issues. The Mets would have been better off skipping over this one (the umpires did...they were on strike and the game was reffed by replacements). It was the first baseball game at Coors Field and the Mets felt hospitable enough to give the game away.

Consider this: The Mets led 7-6 in the 9th inning, 8-7 in the 13th inning, and 9-8 in the 14th inning, and lost the game! Wasted, among other things, were a game-tying grand slam from Todd Hundley, three stellar shutout innings from Blas Minor, and various other quality efforts. Bichette ended it with a three-run walk-off home run, one that followed an error by third baseman Tim Bogar. Oh, and lest we forget, the Mets blew a 7-2 lead the next day and lost via walk-off as well (Walt Weiss single).

The Mets history at Colorado's home park is rather rocky, if you'll pardon the pun, and you can trace it back to that game in 1995. In 50 games at Coors Field, the Flushing 9 have won 19. And they came up miserably empty in three tries this season, when one win would have perhaps meant they were playing today, and not Colorado.

True Metkies know...Perhaps all this good karma is payback for Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, who somehow managed to play for the 1985 and 1987 Mets, but had the misfortune to spend 1986 with the Cardinals.

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