Anthony Bonelli

Happy Recap

The Orange and Blue Diary has returned! For those that don’t remember, The Orange and Blue Diary is a series of articles I wrote when the New York Mets won the National League Pennant and made a World Series appearance in 2015. The articles chronicled my emotions while watching every playoff game that year.

April 30, 2022- Last night, the New York Mets became the 17^th team in Major League Baseball history to throw a combined no-hitter. A combined no-hitter is when more than one pitcher contributes to a no-hitter. Usually when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter, he or she will finish the game. Unfortunately, due to the emphasis put on the amount of pitches a pitcher throws during a game nowadays, one pitcher completing a game has become a rarity.

Last night also marked the second no-hitter in New York Mets history. The first one was thrown solely by Johan Santana on June 1, 2012. During this no- hitter, Santana threw a highly scrutinized 134 pitches.

The following pitchers appeared during last night’s no-hitter: Tylor Megill, Drew Smith Joely Rodriguez Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz. As Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose exclaimed, “It takes a village, but 5 Mets pitchers complete the combined no- hitter!”

Ironically, prior to last night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, SportsNet New York, (SNY) the television station that airs the majority of the Mets games, showed the Santana no-hitter. While I was watching it, I vividly had images in my head of being in my college apartment watching the game. I remembered the emotions I felt: how I was locked in on every pitch, and how when Santana through the final strike, tears came streaming down my face!

While I was eating dinner last night, I was listening to the pregame coverage. When I finished my dinner, I went into my room, and was planning to listen to a book about Pete Rose, who holds the Major League Baseball record for career hits. Just as I was about to hit play on the book, something told me, “Pay attention to the game tonight.” I had my eye on the early part of the game while working on my computer. As time went on, the 0 in the hit column for the Phillies became more prominent, despite Megill not having pinpoint control of his pitches. As the game went into the 6^th inning, I quickly shut off my computer, and realized that the Mets had a chance to throw their second no-hitter in team history. Similar to when I was watching the Santana no-hitter, my eyes became locked in on every pitch!

As the 6^th inning came to a close after Smith’s 29^th pitch, I realized that the idea of a no-hitter was becoming more of a reality. Smith recorded the first out in the 7^th inning, then Rodriguez recorded the next 3 outs, including the first out of the 8^th inning. Forgive me, at this point I was just counting the number of outs needed to finish off this improbable feat, not how the outs were recorded. Lugo got the next two outs in the 8^th inning. The Mets actually had two runners in scoring position on second and third base in the bottom of the 8^th inning, but didn’t score. Usually, this would thoroughly annoy me, especially because the Mets were only up 3-0. For some reason, in this instance, I was actually happy they didn’t score, maybe because I didn’t want the anticipation to be prolonged. The Phillies had their 3, 4, and 5 hitters due up in the bottom of the 9^th inning.

Diaz came out of the Mets’ bullpen to a standing ovation, because the knowledgeable Citi Field crowd knew what was at stake. Bryce Harper stepped to the plate while the knowledgeable and feisty crowd serenaded him with boos. Diaz had all his pitches working, and continuously came inside on Harper before striking him out with a Slider that had a late downward turn. Nick Castellanos stepped to the plate, looking to silence the noise of the Citi Field crowd, which was becoming more deafening with every pitch. Castellanos was unsuccessful, he merely became the second strikeout recorded on the scorecard in the 9^th inning. I could see that Diaz’s pitches were becoming more unhittable as the inning progressed. It was now JT Realmuto’s turn to try and turn that, what now seemed to be a gigantic zero in the Phillies’ hit column, into a 1. As Realmuto stepped to the plate, I was screaming at the moving pictures on my television. “One more,” I shouted! Apparently, Realmuto found Diaz’s pitches unhittable as well, because he struck out on yet another slider, which was perfectly placed on the outside corner, and took a downward turn into the dirt, which caused him to swing and miss. I must admit before Diaz through the last strike, I was already celebrating because I knew what was about to occur.

Prior to beginning the next few paragraphs, I must tell you that, although, you won’t see it, as I write these paragraphs, I will get very emotional. As the Mets celebrated on the field, I watched with pride and happiness. When the celebration began to dissipate, I decided to go to bed. When my assistant turned out my bedroom light, several images flashed before my eyes. It took me a few minutes to decipher what the images were, as it seemed that they were all blending together. When the images started to separate, I clearly saw my grandfather Ralph Bonelli, who I spent every Sunday of the 1999 baseball season with. During this season, the Mets went to the National League Championship Series, and my grandfather was so happy! The second image was a picture of my grandmother Rose Bonelli, who really wasn’t a baseball fan, but she knew how important the Mets were to me. I began to cry, because those images reminded me how much I miss them. I then saw a collage of the moments I have witnessed as a fan of the New York Mets. These are just a few of them:

I remember all the above moments with the same clarity that the videos depict them with.

I then saw an unforgettable image of me throwing out the first pitch at Shea Stadium on September 8, 2007, prior to the Mets versus Astros game. This image combined itself with an image of me warming up in the Mets bullpen. The latter is an image that flashes before my eyes nearly every time I watch a baseball game.

If that wasn’t emotional enough, finally I found myself wanting to text one of the biggest baseball fans I know, my Uncle Wayne, who passed away earlier this year. I mentioned above that the Mets are the 17^th team to throw a combined no-hitter, well my Uncle Wayne would be able to tell me the other 16 teams to do this without flinching. Sure I can Google it, but it won’t feel the same.

Legendary Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy, used the phrase “Happy Recap” to characterize every Mets win. He passed away in 2004, but I hope he would define this diary entry as a “Happy Recap!”