MLB

Like Mets in ‘86, Darling thinks Yankees capable of rallying

Ron Darling remembers being on the Mets plane on Oct. 20, 1986, remembers being exhausted, remembers the feeling of being down 0-2 in the World Series, on the way to Fenway Park for what seemed destined to be a grim end to the season.

About a half-hour into the flight, Mets manager Davey Johnson had the team’s traveling secretary stand up and tell the players their workout at Fenway when they landed was cancelled. It was suggested that all the players should go to the hotel, go to sleep, and “we’ll get ’em tomorrow.”

“That day of resting was the most important thing that team did,” Darling told The Post Monday. “It got away from answering the questions that [the media] had to ask and we had to answer. Instead, we could sit in the hotel and put on soap operas or whatever, sleep and catch up and rest.”

Of course, Darling and the Mets came back to win that epic series, taking two-of-three in Boston and coming home to Shea Stadium to wrap it up in seven.

And Monday, Darling was getting into Detroit to call Tuesday’s Game 3 of the Yankees-Tigers ALCS for TBS, with the Yankees down 2-0 just like his Mets were. And Monday, just as it was 26 years ago, was a day of rest for the team traveling both with a two-game deficit and the weight of the season upon them.

Darling said the situation “sounds eerily similar to my group in ’86,” and he had a sentiment that could buoy the hopes of Yankee fans.

“I think they’ll have a similar response,” Darling said. “I think they’ll come out recharged and ready to go.

“When you have the day off to reflect and think about it, you can put it in proper perspective,” Darling continued. “You think, ‘We’re down 0-2, we should be down 0-2, but there are few very days we’ve lost there in a row, very few days we’ve lost 4-of-7. That’s what you have to think about as a ball player.”

Darling also remembered a time with the Mets in 1985, near the end of the season, when the Mets were three games behind the Cardinals. They went into St. Louis for a three-game set, and Johnson was getting killed in the media for deciding to pitch Darling in front of ace Doc Gooden.

It is a lot like Tuesday when – although involuntarily – Phil Hughes is pitching against the Tigers’ superlative right-hander Justin Verlander, while Yankees ace CC Sabathia waits for Wednesday’s Game 4.

“He said, ‘If Darling wins, we’re in the driver’s seat,’ ” the SNY analyst said of his manager’s strategy. “If I was a Yankee player, some way you have to win [tonight], outlast Verlander, and then you got your horse working the next day and it’s a complete reversal.”

And although the Yankees have at times looked hapless at the plate, Darling does not question their resolve.

“With a day’s rest, they’ll have a more acute way of looking at their at-bats,” Darling said. “Elite teams that win 95 games or more are teams that have played through challenges. Now it’s just can they get out of it quick enough.”