Rays/MLB

From anxiety to anguish

The specter of Sept. 11 haunts the Mets when news breaks of the plane crash. The truth is hardly more comforting.

By EDUARDO A. ENCINA
Published October 12, 2006

NEW YORK - In the hours before the NL Championship Series opener, one would expect the televisions in the Mets clubhouse to be tuned to ESPN, as they usually are on game day.

Instead, eyes were glued to the news, watching the video footage of flames and smoke billowing out of the 40th floor of an upper Manhattan high rise. Initial reports said a small plane crashed into the building, which in New York City conjures up one unforgettable memory: Sept. 11, 2001.

It felt too close to home. It would soon feel closer to home.

When word spread that Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was one of two aboard the four-seat Cirrus SR20 fixed-wing, single-engine plane who had been killed, the clubhouse grew silent.

"Your heart just kind of sinks," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "Everyone was kind of stunned. Everyone just kind of stopped doing what they were doing."

Lidle, 34, pitched for seven teams in a nine-year major-league career that started with the Mets. Some knew Lidle better than others, but regardless, he was a part of the unofficial players' fraternity.

"Life is life," Mets pitcher Tom Glavine said. "When that kind of stuff happens and you hear it's a player, it's kind of a slap in your face because a lot of times we think we're invincible because of what we do."

Mets third-base coach Manny Acta lives just a few blocks away from the incident on Manhattan's upper east side and was jarred by learning of the crash, fearing it was close to his home. The Cardinals' bus ride from their team hotel in Manhattan to Shea Stadium took an hour and a half, undoubtedly delayed by the rush-hour street closures that affected the entire island.

Local radio programs spread the rumor that Game 1 might be canceled because of Lidle's death less than 12 miles from Shea Stadium. Instead, it was the drenching rain that postponed the series opener. Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, said there was no talk of Lidle's death when deciding to postpone the game.

"That's the big question," said Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado, a former teammate of Lidle's in Toronto. "The personal side says yes, but the personal side of a baseball player says once the game starts you concentrate on other things and it goes away. But this is a big thing. It happens in New York. It happens to a baseball player. It is tough."

For some, eight wins away from the biggest team accomplishment in the sport, their minds weren't on baseball.

"It just makes baseball seem unimportant," said Wright, who said he wasn't a close friend of Lidle's but called him a friend under the fraternity of players. "I'm glad we're not playing today. Four teams are still trying to win the World Series, no matter how unimportant that might seem right now. Tonight we can focus our thoughts and concentrate and pray that Cory's family is okay."

In New York, the crash also evoked memories of former Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, who died in a small-plane crash in 1979.

"With these type of situations you never know," Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd said. "You come into the ballpark and you feel bad health-wise and you turn on your TV and see this type of tragic accident, it's mind-boggling some of the things that happen. Regardless of who you are, anything can happen on any given day."

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 01:44:34]