WHAT A RIDE! Manager Terry Collins (center) congratulates outfielder Marlon Byrd after the Mets completed their first Subway Series sweep over the Yankees last night at Yankee Stadium. (
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It humbles you, this game. It hardens you.
It tries to break your heart, this game, tries to vacuum your soul. It makes you feel invincible. Bulletproof, even.
“Everyone goes through a stretch like this,” Joe Girardi said.
“If it was easy,” Terry Collins said, “you’d be watching other people play.”
You can be 12 games over .500, coming off a victory in which you were two outs, nobody on, two runs down in the ninth inning, you can start to believe that anyone can wear a Yankees uniform, anyone can feel the rejuvenating power of pinstripes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg can become Babe Ruth by the simple touch of an interlocking “NY.”
You can be 12 games under .500, every day a struggle, every game a slog, every inning a torturous “Groundhog Day” gauntlet, you can start to believe the season is already gone before we even see the first day of summer, every moment at the ballpark a tangle.
Top of the world, bottom of the sewer.
And five days later …
OK. Look. The Mets didn’t exactly slingshot themselves into contention with the past five days, starting with a comeback win over the Braves Sunday night, continuing through four remarkable nights against the Yankees, capped by last night, three pitchers retiring the last 20 Yankee. If they believe differently, all it will take is a gander at the 5,000 or so people who’ll watch them tumble back to the grind tonight, in Miami, against the last-place Marlins.
The Yankees? They didn’t exactly throw their season away these past five days, starting with a blowout loss to close out a series in Tampa against the Rays Sunday, continuing through four astonishing nights against the Mets, capped by last night, when you started to wonder if they’d be able to make solid contact off a tee. If they believe differently, all it’ll take will be a gander at the 49,000 or so who’ll watch them kick it old school tonight, against their ancient rivals from Boston, the Sox and the Yankees tussling for first place, like it ought to be.
We can all agree on that much, right? This 3-1 victory for the Mets, this four-game sweep, it is a respite, not an elixir. This 3-1 loss for the Yankees, this four-game stumble, it is a pot hole, not a ditch.
“You just got to put this behind you,” Girardi said.
“Sometimes, the hardest thing,” Collins said, “is to stay positive.”
We know all the charming baseball laws, all the standard stand-bys, all the that’s-baseball-Suzyn improbabilities of the game, the unpredictability of it, and we didn’t need these last five days to happen to remind us.
But they happened anyway.
And you know what? It’s good that they happened. It’s good for the Mets — who’d been scuffling so badly that the mood in the clubhouse had become poisonous, that Collins had to remind them all at some point they were only a single away from a win, only a win away from starting a streak, the manager hoping the message was getting through — as well as Mets fans, who’d started to wonder how much more they could take, or watch, with more than 110 games still to play.
And it may not have been awful for the Yankees — who’d been overachieving masterfully, who’d replaced injured players every day with a next-man-up resilience, who’d waited 161 games last year before making a ninth-inning comeback then had two, on the road, in a five-game span, who were daily redefining the term “winning culture” — as well as Yankees fans, who may have grown so attached to The Replacements they’d forgotten there’s a reason they were supposed to be substitutes and fill-ins.
The Yankees start getting the varsity back this weekend, start with Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira, and while nobody likes a five-game losing streak, and as Girardi said “nobody likes getting swept by your crosstown rival,” the sun will rise today and then set, the Sox will be awaiting them, and you can already hear the buzz beginning.
The Mets? They get something else back, their confidence, their self-esteem, the knowledge, Collins’ words, “that we’re not that bad.” If that sounds a modest goal, think back five games ago. They have their season back, too. The Mets may have won all of the games, but both teams will benefit from these last five days. Call it a win-win for the city.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com