Chris McMonigle, even with putting recency bias aside, believes that Pete Alonso’s go-ahead home run in the ninth inning of Thursday night’s game is likely the biggest home run in Mets history, and one of the biggest baseball has ever seen.
“What an incredible moment,” C-Mac said. “Forget all the others. Forget Lindor on Monday. Forget any other comeback as part of this miracle run the Mets are on. Forget 1962!
“That is the biggest moment, certainly of my life of watching baseball for the Mets. That home run, in that game, in that set of circumstances, is one of the most unbelievable, hard-to-fathom, incredible home runs and turn of events that I have ever seen.”
The Mets were down 2-0 against one of the best closers in baseball over the last two-plus years, and the slumping Alonso at the plate. A better story couldn’t have been scripted, and yet Alonso came through, sending New York to its first NLDS in nine years.
“Everyone gave up, and why shouldn’t you?” C-Mac said. “Going up against arguably the second-best reliever in baseball with a two-run lead and your offense doing absolutely nothing…I asked if any of you believed that there was any magic left, and all of you said no.
“Something magical happened. That moment is as significant in met history as any. You cannot hit a bigger home run. In fact, no one ever has. He is the first player in baseball history to hit a lead-changing home run in the ninth inning or later in a winner-take-all game in the history of the sport. That is a moment that no other fanbase has.”