THE BEST OF 2006

1. Andre Agassi gives the Open crowd one more thrill ride, August 31st, 2006, National Tennis Center

For the second straight year, Roger Federer dominated the U.S. Open but for the second straight year it was Andre Agassi who captured all the headlines. The shaggy-haired stylist turned bald elder statesman announced his retirement before the tournament but worse he seemed utterly spent—after his rousing 2005 jaunt to the finals, he’d been so hampered by painful back injuries throughout 2006 that many doubted he’d even survive the first round.

But after a tough four-set victory over Andre Pavel, Agassi endured another round of cortisone injections just to be able to take the court against the eighth seed, unheralded Marcos Baghdatis. The shots worked and Agassi looked like the great shot-maker of old in grinding out a 6-4, 6-4 lead over the first two sets. But Baghadatis pulled out a 6-3 third set and never stopped playing boldly even after he fell behind 4-0 in the fourth; with the crowd urging Agassi to victory, Baghdatis used dropshots and lobs and every other shot in his arsenal to pound his way back to a 7-5 fourth set win.

Entering the fifth set, it seemed impossible that Agassi could recover, but he did more than that—he outlasted his younger foe in this 3 hour, 40 minute marathon as Baghdatis hobbled through much of the ending with excruciating leg cramps. Still, he held twice served needing just one point to force a fifth set tiebreaker before finally falling 7-5.

The match did take its toll on Agassi and he was unable to rebound in time for his next match, falling to 112th-ranked Benjamin Becker in four sets. But as the eight-minute long standing ovation that the fans showered on Agassi made abundantly clear, he went out a winner.

2. The Mets win in their first post-season game in six years, October 4, Shea Stadium

            Yes, of course, it’s heartbreaking that Game 7 of the NLCS heads the “Worst of 2006” list instead of this one but in time the pain of that loss will (hopefully) ease and Met fans will be able to look back at this year as a glorious one: despite failing to reach the World Series, this was probably the strongest team the Mets fielded since 1988 (another season that ended in disappointment).

Game 1 of the NLDS against Los Angeles captured almost everything that was wonderful about this season: Carlos Delgado made his long-awaited playoff debut with four hits, including a massive homer, David Wright added three RBIs and Jose Reyes walked and stole second in the seventh, getting in position to score the go-ahead run. Carlos Beltran drew three walks, Paul Lo Duca had two hits and Cliff Floyd added a homer as the Mets showed off their extraordinarily balanced attack.

And with the last-minute injury to Orlando Hernandez following the one to Pedro Martinez, the team showed its resilience and depth, getting just enough starting pitching out of John Maine. And although Guillermo Mota was torched for three runs, the bullpen by and large got the Mets through—with Chad Bradford, Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman all contributing and Billy Wagner holding on in the ninth.

            But what elevated the game from an impressive win to an instant classic was a play in the second inning that featured some vintage Mets miracle magic: When Dodger Russell Martin doubled off the wall with two on and none out in the second, Maine and the Mets suddenly seemed in big trouble. But the lead baserunner, Jeff Kent, misjudged the play and hesitated while the second runner, J.D. Drew, took off on contact and ran hard with his head down the whole way home; Shawn Green threw the ball in quickly to Jose Valentin who fired to Lo Duca, nailing Kent at the plate, then after the Met catcher showed the umpire the ball, he whirled around to find Drew right behind Kent. Drew slid headfirst but Lo Duca slapped the tag on him too giving New York one of the most memorable double plays in post-season history, helping propel the Mets to a sweep of the Dodgers.

3. The Rangers return to the postseason, April 4, Madison Square Garden

The New York Rangers hadn’t given fans much to cheer about of late before the 2005-06 season. They hadn’t had a 100-point regular season since 1994 and, more importantly, they hadn’t reached the playoffs since 1997.

But this year would be different—the team would accomplish both of those goals and the day they clinched their playoff berth, they did so with style: On April 4th, they beat the Philadelphia Flyers at home 3-2 in an overtime shootout win, thanks to Michael Nylander, who scored the team’s first goal and came through again in the shootout and goalie Kevin Weekes, who made several crucial saves down the stretch and again in the shootout. The Rangers got blown out in the playoffs, but at least the future finally seemed to have arrived.

4. Martina wins another crown in final match, September 9, National Tennis Center

            Andre Agassi may have been the grand old man of tennis but he was more than a decade younger than the oldest player in the U.S. Open this year. Just five weeks shy of her fiftieth birthday Martina Navratilova teamed with doubles great Bob Bryan to capture the mixed doubles finals, easily wiping out the Czech team of Kveta Peschke and Martin Damm, 6-2, 6-3.

This match finished off Navratilova’s remarkable career with one final Grand Slam crown—it was her first since 2003 and her first at the Open since 1990 but it was her tenth mixed doubles title and her 59th overall Grand Slam championship.

BEST ON THE ROAD

1. The Yankees win their fifth straight at Fenway, August 21, Boston

For any other team, capturing a divisional crown would be cause for celebration. But in Yankeedom, of course, only World Series titles matter—anything less is failure. Still, early in 2006 it seemed the Yankees might not even reach the post-season, which made their triumphant terrorizing of Boston in a five-game series at Fenway Park in August all the more memorable.

The Bombers entered the set with just a 1½-game edge but then pounded the Red Sox 47-25 over the first four games. The coup de grace was the finale, when Boston’s pitching finally stifled New York’s Murderers Row (in part because Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada were all rested), holding them to two runs, only to be sunk by Corey Lidle’s six shutout innings in a 2-1 Yankee win that gave New York a 6½ -game lead and essentially clinched the division.

WORST OF THE YEAR OFF THE FIELD

1. Corey Lidle crashes his plane, October 11

In that first instant, when all they knew was that a plane had crashed into a Manhattan building, most New Yorkers probably felt panic rising in their throat. Please, not again. It was quickly reported that this was a small plane accident, not a terrorist attack but the news took another twist when it was revealed that the pilot was Yankee pitcher Corey Lidle.

Although this was very different from the accident that took Thurman Munson’s life in 1979—Munson was a longtime Yankee and the team captain while Lidle was with the team just half a summer, the fact that it literally hit so close to home for New Yorkers left the city shaken. Suddenly the loss to the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS seemed utterly beside the point.

2. The Knicks fire Larry Brown, June 22

Keeping up their remarkable pace, the Knicks actually provided enough lowlights in the first half of 2006 to fill a book:

The team was in constant disarray, fielding more than 40 different lineups while coach Larry Brown—hailed as a savior upon his hiring just months earlier—fought constantly with his players, in the clubhouse and in the media. Meanwhile, general manager Isaiah Thomas was sued for sexual harassment while James Dolan played the role of Nero, fiddling as this once glamorous franchise stumbled to an embarrassing 23-win season, one marked by apathy as much as incompetence.

It’s impossible to pick the worst day of the bunch but the symbolic choice is the day they fired Brown, deciding to pay him a reported $40 million not to coach—even this the Knicks couldn’t get right, dragging it out for weeks while the media had a field day doing roadside interviews with the man awaiting execution. Maybe someday this will turn out to be the first day of a new era, when Thomas took over as coach and turned the team around. Or, maybe not.

WORST OF THE YEAR ON THE FIELD

1. The Mets fall just short in Game 7, October 19th, Shea Stadium

When John Maine rose to the occasion in Game 6 and then Oliver Perez topped him with a spectacular outing in Game 7, it seemed the Mets, not the St. Louis Cardinals, were destined for the World Series. When David Wright broke out of his slump long enough to bloop a single for the game’s first run, it seemed the fates were smiling on the Mets.

But really, it was Endy Chavez’s sixth inning catch with the score tied at 1-1 that made victory seem inevitable—a win would elevate it to Chavez’s Catch—the way he went back to the wall gave Met fans hope but when he leaped the ball was over the fence… to see him come down with the ball and turn a home run into a double play. Well, those of us at Shea went from speechless to screaming in an instant (except the guy behind me who celebrated by throwing his beer in the air… and even that didn’t dampen my excitement).

When the Mets loaded the bases on Scott Rolen’s horrific throwing error in the bottom of the inning, well, that was all they needed—with only one out, even a sac fly would provide enough run support and momentum to finish off the Cardinals. A big hit here and this game was headed for the Top 50 days in New York sports. Jose Valentin struck out, a grim moment, but maybe that was just to give Chavez a chance to add another layer of astonishing drama to his story… except he popped out.

      Then after Willie Randolph left Aaron Heilman in despite giving up a hit to Scott Rolen on Heilman’s 30th pitch of the night (with plenty of live arms in the bullpen) and after Yadier Molina’s stunner of a homer in the top of the ninth with the game still tied at 1-1, and after Valentin and Chavez came through with singles to start the home ninth and after Randolph failed to have a pinch-hitter like Chris Woodward bunt them over (instead, Cliff Floyd whiffed on a curve), and after Jose Reyes lined out but Paul Lo Duca walked, then, then, then, Carlos Beltran, the Mets best hitter came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

This was the ultimate fairytale ending. This game was heading for the Top 25 in the next edition of my book…except Beltran struck out… looking… on a curve, the same pitch that Cardinal closer Adam Wainwright had thrown with two strikes to Floyd. And then it was over. It wasn’t Beltran’s fault, or Heilman’s it wasn’t Randolph’s fault or Wright’s or Valentin’s—each had made so many contributions all year long and the team had been so good all year long. But they had come up short when it mattered most. This great season for this thrilling team would end shy, just barely shy, of the World Series.

WORST ON THE ROAD

1. The Yankees are shut down by Kenny Rogers!?!?!?, October 6, Detroit

Losing Game 2 of the ALDS had been frustrating—the Yankees had blown a lead and watched young stud Joel Zumaya blow away their best hitters. But still, the series was even… until Kenny Rogers took the hill for Game 3. Rogers had been chased out of New York twice—by Yankee fans and later by Met fans—for crumbling under pressure, for pitching tentatively when it mattered most. He came into the game with a post-season mark of 0-3, with an 8.85 ERA.

This was a different Kenny Rogers.

While Randy Johnson suddenly looked very, very old against the constantly clawing Tigers, Rogers shut down the vaunted Yankee lineup, giving Detroit a 6-0 win, a 2-1 edge in games and a huge psychological advantage. One game later, the ALDS was all over, leaving Yankee fans to try to run a different player out of town, one with much better credentials overall than Rogers but one, who like Rogers, has seemed unable to cope with the pressure of playing in New York. It’s entirely possible that the Rogers’ game was the second to last one in pinstripes for Alex Rodriguez, and the fact that he went 0-3 and left three men on base is noteworthy mostly because he didn’t compound that poor showing by striking out or making any errors at third.