NEW YORK -- Live from Citi Field for Game 3 of the World Series! And, as you typically see in these situations, the next day’s starter is brought out for a press conference. For the Mets, that’s Steven Matz.
Matz, as you probably know, is from Long Island so there’s understandably a lot of local interest in him. To that end, most of the questions asked of him were about growing up as a Mets fan.
The first question was who his favorite Mets players were as a kid. He said Mike Piazza and Johan Santana then gave a shoutout to Endy Chavez’s catch from the 2006 NLCS as a particularly memorable moment from his youth. Then he was asked what it was like to be a Mets fan when “the Yankees seemed to win it all every year.”
I am fully aware of how old I am and how young Matz is. And I am further aware that Matz, at 24, is older than Noah Syndergaard and lots of other players around Major League Baseball. But it sure is jarring to me to hear the Johan Santana-era and the Yankees dynasty referred to as stuff that happened when a World Series starter “was growing up” or “was a kid.” That stuff happened about 15 minutes ago, didn’t it?
Here’s hoping Bartolo Colon, who is about two months older than me, is asked similar questions at a presser before this thing is over. I don’t know who he rooted for or if he even cared about U.S. baseball then, but I’d love to hear him talk about Andy Hawkins Yankees or something.