I’m pretty sure I’ve written this story before - not sure if I’ve done it during the 2024 season:

I was 7 years old the first time I played little league baseball and I was put in the gear and told to be the catcher.

In between innings I think I asked a coach if I was supposed to take off the gear if I wasn’t going to hit and he showed me how to flip down the chest protector and he said, “There! You look like Gary Carter!”

And from that day forward I was a Gary Carter fan.

I don’t remember if that’s why I rooted for the Mets but I don’t think those two facts were disconnected.

1985 was a really exciting time to root for the Mets - that season came down to the wire, and then 1986 obviously was the best.

And I keep thinking about the kids who are the age now that I was then, and how they could be falling in love with this Mets team and how exciting that is and how they might forever remember a guy like Luis Torrens the way I remember Barry Lyons or Danny Heep.

Some of them were either too young to remember or not even born in 2015.

I hope they’re enjoying this run as much as I am.

Let’s Live Blog.

I obviously haven’t written about the NLCS yet - I took a kind of last-minute trip to Chicago to root on my friend in the Chicago Marathon. He did great, thanks for asking. And Chicago. Man. Love that city. And I love being around a marathon crowd. So generous of spirit, really makes you feel good.

(And it helped that I didn’t get jealous of the runners because I have my own to run in just two and a half weeks.) (Speaking of which, I’m running to raise money for the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation - you can help me reach my fundraising goal by donating at this link. Thank you!)

But the other nice benefit of the trip was I got to watch Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS with a baseball-loving friend who, while not exactly a Mets fan, roots for the Mets to make me happy, which is good enough for me. It was just like the old days watching games together…but with far less beer.

Game 1 we were both exhausted - him from running a marathon, me from traversing the city to watch a marathon - so it was kind of a laid-back watching and I think I might have fallen asleep before the end of the 9th inning. I don’t really even remember.

Game 2 was much more fun. We brought a deep dish pizza back to the room to watch the game and, well, it takes a long time for them to make the deep dish pizzas. So we were waiting for the elevator when Francisco Lindor hit his leadoff homer…but were back in the room and two slices each in when Mark Vientos hit his grand slam.

Which brings us to tonight. Game 3, series tied at 1, home field advantage for the Mets. Let’s see how things go.

7:42pm: One thing I would have said if I live-blogged Game 2 - I was so tired of hearing about the Dodgers pitchers’ scoreless innings streak. I mean, good for them, but that was a Padres stat, mostly, not a Mets storyline. I’m glad Lindor put an end to it immediately.

7:52pm: I’m still wearing the lucky orange Mets shirt and the black City Connect hat - it works when I wear a sweatshirt over it too, which I’ll be doing when I go to Game 4. But I haven’t tried it at home…so I can’t take the risk. Because here’s an issue - it got cold here when I was in Chicago. So it’s a little cold down here in the TV room in just a t-shirt. But, you know, we all make sacrifices come playoff time.

8:08pm: I didn’t like hearing Derek Jeter talking about the Dodgers lineup against the right-handed Luis Severino…I was worried about that all day. But let’s hope the extra rest helps him continue throwing well tonight. Here we go!

8:10pm: I don’t understand how it didn’t start right at 8:08. Why give that specific time if you’re not going to hit it? Just say 8:10pm first pitch. Anyway, groundout to first for Ohtani…good start. Even if it was two minutes late.

8:13pm: It’s funny one of those pre-game highlights showed the Buckner play - I saw somebody make a comparison earlier this week between Freddie Freeman and Bill Buckner the way Freeman is hurting right now. I though that was pretty spot-on.

Great first inning from Severino.

Sometimes home field in baseball is weird. If you pounce right away as the visiting team you can really quiet the crowd immediately. But if you can’t…watch out. Let’s see what the Mets can do against Walker Buehler.

8:21pm: You know what else I would have written about in Game 2 - Pete Alonso stealing second base in the 9th inning setting up the insurance run. Pete’s playing his best ball of the year right now. I love how badly he wants this.

8:23pm: All told not a bad first inning - pushed Buehler to 20 pitches…I feel like Vientos and Alonso sized him up pretty good and I was surprised how far Lindor’s fly ball went.

8:30pm: I see what Francisco Alvarez saw going to second base there, but I wish he would have played it less aggressively and gone to first base. It turned into a sloppy play and the Mets have been at their best when they play crisp and clean and smart. (That could have been a force at second if Severino fielded it cleanly. Second and third now with one out. Big at-bats coming here.)

8:33pm: This is some of the best pitch movement I’ve seen out of Severino’s hand all season.

8:36pm: Dodgers are getting some breaks this inning. Not exactly lucky…but good breaks. I don’t like it. The good thing, I think, is that early in the season we’d see Severino kind of fall apart after that…same with Manaea and Peterson when they ran into trouble. Those days seem to be long gone. Let’s see if he can limit the damage now.

8:37pm: Wow. Great play Tyrone Taylor. And great job getting out of the way Starling Marte. All things considered that is 100% a win, trading the run for the out. Striking out Hernandez keeps it at 2-0 Dodgers in the middle of the second.

8:47pm: OK, a walk and a hot-shot to short with one out. Now we’re cooking.

8:48pm: And a Tyrone Taylor walk! Huge spot for Francisco Alvarez…especially after the mis-play in the top half. I hope he doesn't try to Vientos a grand slam. Just a hit is enough.

8:50pm: Another 20-pitch inning for Buehler too…and this inning is not over yet. That could be big.

8:52pm: Rough at-bat for Alvarez. Now another huge spot for Lindor. And they have nowhere to put him here.

8:54pm: Well, on the one hand it never feels great to leave the bases loaded. On the other…Buehler is at 50 pitches in two innings and who was he yelling at there? Big inning for Severino to hold them to a zero here and get the Mets’ bats another chance. It feels like they’re close to some runs.

9:07pm: Now the Dodgers leave the bases loaded…and Severino has his pitch count up to 65. Neither starter will be long for this game.

9:12pm: That first angle looked like Mookie Betts caught that. I was so mad for a second until that ball popped out. Big inning here?

9:14pm: Man, I love that Nimmo shot that the other way. Bummer it was right where Muncy was standing.

9:15pm: And now Pete just misses it. A lot of close breaks falling the Dodgers way right now.

9:17pm: I thought that got Marte on the forearm again. Relieved to see it was more fleshy on the shoulder…some guys take it more on the body, someone like Mark Canha…I feel like Marte always has it hit his fingers or forearm or somewhere more fragile. Glad he’s OK.

9:19pm: It doesn’t even matter anymore that they’re driving up Buehler’s pitch count. It’s getting to the point where they’re going to have to face the ‘A’ bullpen arms.that they haven’t seen yet. It’s going to get pretty tough pretty quick if they don’t score soon.

9:39pm: Francisco Lindor with an outstanding defensive play. Amazing.

9:44pm: Did not think the way things were shaking out tonight the Mets bullpen would make an appearance before the Dodgers…but it feels like the right move by Carlos Mendoza. Big batter here for Reed Garrett. Keep it 2-0 and anything can happen still.

9:47pm: I like that reaction there from Severino to the Garrett strikeout. He looked angry to be taken out. What a good teammate.

I have a theory that I’d like to share. This commercial break seems like a good time to share it because they just showed that crowd shot. (Also, playoffs observation: there are a lot fewer in-between-innings entertainment things happening in the playoffs, and the breaks are longer, so you really feel the longer breaks when you’re at the game.)

I was thinking about how in my post last week about the NLCS you could see the bunting hanging at Shea Stadium for the 2000 NLCS. There is no bunting hanging at Citi Field. I think they have it for Opening Day…but is it exclusively for the World Series now? Is it not hanging because they have so many ads along the boards now? That’s my theory. Anyway, I’m going to see if I can find more info about that. Back to the game.

9:54pm: Not great to see Nimmo’s reaction to that swing. Almost looked like he was favoring his back at one point there - can plantar fasciitis creep up from the foot and affect other parts of the body? Or in an effort to not put weight on his foot can he have tweaked his back? I don’t know how that works. But I do know that wasn’t a competitive third strike - he might have to take himself out of the game. (Mendoza seemed to trust that Nimmo would tell him if he couldn’t play.)

10:04pm: It’s starting to feel like a difficult hill to climb here. Kiké Hernandez with a 2-run homer. 4-0 Dodgers. And Shohei Ohtani faking a foul ball off his foot…maybe karma got him on the next foul ball.

10:06pm: It’s rally time. Gotta get something going.

10:15pm: A Marte single and a J.D. Martinez walk with one out. This is the time to get a rally going…let’s go Jose!

10:17pm: Ugh. Had Brasier on the ropes there. 5-4-3 double play. Bad at-bat by Alonso to start the inning too. Another opportunity by the wayside.

10:36pm: I got so excited about writing during the game and catching up on Games 1 and 2 that I forgot live blogs are rarely lucky. I think I’m going to put the computer away and focus on an 8th and 9th inning rally here.

I’ll come back after they win and recap it.

If not, though, well, we’ll get them in Game 4. One more reminder you can help me reach my New York City Marathon fundraising goal and donate to Safe At Home here. Thank you.

Let’s Go Mets!