Where does Mets' collapse rank?
Todd Behrendt
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A mere 19 days ago, the New York Mets were contemplating making history in the form of the franchise's first championship in 21 years.
Today, they've got a different sort of legacy to contemplate.
After blowing a seven-game division lead in just under three weeks, the time has come to decide where the Mets' demise ranks among the greatest collapses in sports history.
10. Portland Trail Blazers, 2000 Western Conference finals
For most of Game 7, it appeared as if the Blazers' opponent — the L.A. Lakers — was heading for a spot on this list.
The Lakers were on the verge of becoming just the seventh team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead, trailing 75-60 with 10:28 left in the game.
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But the Blazers went cold, missing 13 consecutive shots at one stretch. And Brian Shaw heated up, keying a 15-0 L.A. run with a pair of big 3-pointers.
Shaq and Kobe — who were apparently still speaking to each other at that time — gave the Lakers their first lead with four consecutive free throws, and an alley-oop lob from Bryant resulting in an O'Neal dunk with 40 seconds left put the game away.
9. Greg Norman, 1996 Masters
Throughout his career, Norman has earned a well-deserved reputation for coming up short in majors. But what happened to him at Augusta National on this April Sunday was brutal, even by his standards.
After opening with a record-tying 63, Norman cruised into Sunday with a seemingly safe six-shot lead over Nick Faldo.
It wasn't.
In a four-hole swing (from the ninth through the 12th), Norman went from three strokes ahead to two behind, thanks to three bogeys and a double bogey. He would eventually shoot a 78 — 11 strokes worse than the eventual winner Faldo and 15 strokes worse than his opening round.
It was so ugly, Faldo almost couldn't enjoy his third Masters title.
"I felt for him," Faldo said. "I said, 'I don't know what to say. I just want to give you a hug.' "
Maybe that's what Willie Randolph needs today. A big bear hug from Ryan Howard.
8. Boston Red Sox, 1978
Bucky "Bleeping" Dent gets most of the credit for burying the Red Sox with his three-run homer over the Green Monster in a one-game playoff to determine the AL East champion.
But in truth, the Red Sox's collapse began long before that. In mid-July, Boston was 14 games ahead of New York, which was mired in fourth in the division race. By mid-September, the Yankees were three-and-a-half games up on the Sox, a stunning 17 1/2-game swing.
The Red Sox would win their final eight games of the season to force the playoff, but as it turned out, that furious rally would only set them up for more heartbreak.
7. Jana Novotna, 1993 Wimbledon
One minute, Novotna was serving to go up 5-1 over Steffi Graf in the third and deciding set of the Wimbledon finals. The next, it seemed, she was sobbing uncontrollably on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder.
In between was one of the more stunning choke jobs in sports history.
(Chris Cole / Getty Images)
Novotna double-faulted on the aforementioned game point, ultimately allowing Graf to break her serve and pull within 4-2.
Even after Graf cruised through her serve to make it 4-3, Novotna could have still simply held serve and won her first Grand Slam event. But three double faults changed all that and Graf was well on her way to finishing off a demoralized Novotna.
Novotna kept it together until she was approached by the Duchess during the post-match award ceremony.
"When she came to me and she started to smile and when she said, 'Jana, I believe that you will do it. I know that you will do it, don't worry.' I just let go," Novotna recalled.
As it turned out, the Duchess was right. Five years later, Novotna would get the Grand Slam that got away.
So maybe the Mets can take comfort from that. But I doubt it.
6. Brooklyn Dodgers, 1951
The most famous call in baseball history (if not all of sports history) would never have happened if the Bums had only managed to hold onto a 13 1/2 game lead in the middle of August.
We'd have never heard Russ Hodges screaming "The Giants win the pennant!" over and over and over again while Bobby Thomson rounded the bases if the New York Giants hadn't run off 16 straight wins and caught the Dodgers in the standings with two games to go in the season.
But fortunately for baseball fans (if not Dodgers fans), Brooklyn did cough up every bit of that insurmountable lead, Ralph Branca pitched to Thomson (instead of walking him to get to rookie Willie Mays) and Thomson hit the three-run shot that would forever be known as "The Shot Heard Round the World."
T4. Philadelphia Phillies, 1964 and New York Mets, 2007
OK, so maybe we're taking the coward's way out on this one.
But we like to think we're simply highlighting the irony of the 2007 Phillies being the benefit of the largest September swoon in major league history, given how that dishonor had previously belonged to ... the 1964 Phillies.
Back in '64, the Phillies could have claimed the National League pennant if they'd only managed to go 4-8 in their final 12 games. Unfortunately for them, they weren't able to win at that .333 clip, dropping 10 in a row at one point and blowing a six-and-a-half game lead in just 12 days.
Granted, with 12 games remaining, the Mets' lead in the NL East had already shrunk to a paltry one-and-a-half games. So at least on the surface, it doesn't seem like anywhere near as egregious a choke job.
But that doesn't change the fact that with 17 games left on the schedule, New York had a seemingly insurmountable seven-game lead. It doesn't make up for the team's inability to even manage a face-saving wild-card berth. And it certainly doesn't excuse the Mets for losing five of six at home to the Nationals and Marlins in the final week of the season, when going just 2-4 against a pair of teams that combined for 180 losses in 2007 would have at least earned them a one-game playoff.
In fact, all it does in our books is link the '64 Phillies and the '07 Mets in baseball history.
3. Houston Oilers, 1992 AFC wild card game
Bills fans may remember the pain of losing four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
Oilers fans only wish they had it that good.
Houston could have interrupted Buffalo's long run of Super failures had the Oilers only been able to hang onto a 32-point third quarter advantage.
But here's what happened after Houston took a 35-3 lead with 13:15 left in the third quarter on a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown:
Kenneth Davis caps a 10-play, 50-yard drive with a one-yard TD run. Oilers 35, Bills 10.
After kicker Steve Christie recovers his own onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, Frank Reich hits Don Beebe for a 38-yard score. Oilers 35, Bills 17.
Buffalo's defense forces a three-and-out, then Reich and Andre Reid hook up for a 26-yard touchdown. Oilers 35, Bills 24.
Safety Henry Jones intercepts Warren Moon. Then on a gutsy fourth-and-five call, Reich connects with Reed on an 18-yard TD pass. Oilers 35, Bills 31.
Houston could have extended its lead, but fumbled the snap on a field goal attempt. Buffalo took advantage, going on a 74-yard scoring drive that culminated in another Reich-to-Reed touchdown pass. Bills 38, Oilers 35.
Houston sent the game to overtime with an Al Del Greco field goal with 12 second left, then got the ball to start OT. But another Moon pick set up Christie's 32-yard game-winning field goal. Bills 41, Oilers 38.
"We choked," Oilers safety Cris Dishman would later say. "We choked as a team. We choked as management. Everybody in this organization just choked."
Well put.
Van de Velde was shin deep in the Barry Burn before electing to take a drop back in 1999. (Gerry Penny / Getty Images)
2. Jean Van de Velde, 1999 British Open
Jean Van de Velde's victory at Carnoustie was so certain, so unavoidable, they were already engraving his name into the Claret Jug.
All he needed to become the first Frenchman to win the British Open since 1907 was a double bogey on 18. And since he'd only made one double bogey in the previous 71 holes, it seemed a pretty safe bet.
But that was before Van de Velde pulled driver on the 18th tee, the first of what would prove to be several disastrous decisions. Despite putting his tee shot in the rough, he chose not to lay up ... and promptly banged his second shot off the grandstand and into the rough just short of Barry Burn.
But Van de Velde wouldn't come up short on his third shot, landing it in Barry Burn. And for a terrifying moment or two, it appeared he was going to try to hit the ball out of the water. After taking off his shoes and socks and wading in, Van de Velde thought better of it (the only time that happened on No. 18) and took his drop.
An up-and-down still could have won it for Van de Velde, but that became highly improbable once he'd hit his fifth shot into a greenside bunker. He did manage to get up and down from there to force a three-man playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie, but Van de Velde was never really a threat during the four extra holes, losing by three strokes to Lawrie, who began the day 10 strokes off the lead.
1. New York Yankees, 2004 ALCS
When you're the first team to blow a 3-0 series lead in 101 years of postseason history, that pretty much qualifies you for the top spot on our list.
When you do it against your biggest rival, ultimately enabling them to end 86 years of postseason futility, it pretty much mandates it.
And it's not as if anyone else had come close to duplicating Boston's unprecedented rally from three games down in the American League Championship Series. The Red Sox were the first team to even force a Game 7 after dropping the first three. Only two teams before Boston's merry gang of idiots had even made it as far as a Game 6.
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Truth be told, the Red Sox shouldn't have even gotten that far. They were down one in the ninth in Game 4, down two in the eighth in Game 5 and the Yankees had arguably the most dominant postseason performer of his generation sitting in the bullpen in Mariano Rivera. Both times, Boston rallied to win in extra innings, setting the stage for Curt Schilling and his bloody sock.
Schilling was supposed to be done for the series with an ankle injury that would ultimately require surgery. And the Yankees undoubtedly wish that had been the case, as Schilling's masterful Game 6 performance thoroughly demoralized the Bronx Bombers to the point where they barely showed up in a 10-3 loss in Game 7 to complete the collapse.
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mets is #1
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