Moment Number One: Endy's Catch Endures Him to Fans Forever

Allow me to set the stage. Game seven of the NLCS, Shea Stadium, 1-1 game in the sixth inning. The Mets sent out inconsistent 24 year old Oliver Perez to start the game, and it's remarkable that he has held the Cardinals to only one run over the first 5.1 innings of the most important game of his life.

Willie Randolph just visited the mound to talk to the young, firey right-hander. With Jim Edmonds on first base and one out Willie wanted to make sure that Perez could get out of the inning, and keep the Mets' hopes for a World Series alive. After Perez resoundingly said that he still has something left in the tank Willie walked back to the dugout, and Scott Rolen walked to the plate. Rolen, a perennial all-star every season, had hit .222 in the NLCS and had been struggling from a few lingering injuries. One pitch later my head was in my lap, as Scott Rolen ripped an inside fastball to deep left-field. I could tell it was a home run as soon as it left the bat. Or was it?

Endy Chavez, a Mets hero off the bench all season, leaped with all his might over the left field fence and remarkably made the catch. As soon as he caught the ball and preceded to double up a shocked Jim Edmonds Shea Stadium was as loud as it will ever be. In what was one of the most important catches in the history of baseball (had the Mets won it would have been more important) Endy Chavez cemented himself in nearly every playoff highlight film for the next 20 years. Unfortunately the Mets lost on a Yadier Molina home run to left field where he hit over Chavez's head as if to say "catch this".