Capture the moment. The opportunity won’t last.
That, in essence, was the message from the 1986 Mets to the current ones on their 30-year anniversary celebration Saturday night at Citi Field.
Three decades after winning it all, those Mets of Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry still are hailed as heroes for their memorable championship, their 108 regular-season victories and the dramatic postseason series wins over the Astros in the NLCS and Red Sox in the World Series.
“It’s been like this forever,” closer Jesse Orosco said during a press conference before the Mets lost to the Dodgers, 9-1, Saturday night. “I come here four or five times a year, the fans still come up to me and see me, and yell, ‘ ’86, Jesse.’ ”
But they would like another group to have the same experience, and they think manager Terry Collins’ crew has that ability. In fact, Gooden and Ron Darling said they believe the Mets’ starting rotation is better, possessing more power and youth. The 1986 quintet was more varied — Darling and Bobby Ojeda relied more on location and changing speeds — while the present rotation has flamethrowers like Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Steven Matz, all capable of 20-win seasons down the road, if not this year.
“I know the guys on the ’86 team don’t want to hear it, but I give the edge to these guys,” Gooden said.
Darling said, “This is the greatest grouping of young pitchers I have ever seen. I look at it this way: Maybe Dwight and Sid [Fernandez] were the only guys who could break the rotation, they’re so talented.”
The ’86ers have one edge: They were able to win it all. These Mets already have accomplished what just four other teams in franchise history have — they reached a World Series.
Unlike the 1986 team, however, they fell short, losing to the Royals in five games. Despite slow starts from deGrom and Harvey, injuries to Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud and Captain David Wright’s continued health issues that now include a stiff neck, the Mets are tied atop the NL East with the Nationals, a game up in the loss column. But Darryl Strawberry would like to see them play with more of an edge, kind of like Saturday night when Syndergaard was ejected after throwing behind Chase Utley.
“I don’t know, maybe they need to get into a couple of fights. You find out then who’s tough and who’s not,” Strawberry said. “Maybe they need to go to the bar and drink and get into a couple of fights like we did. Then you realize what you really have.
“You realize it’s a short window, and this will pass you by. Before you know it, it’s gone and you’ll wish you put it all together as a team.”