September 30, 2007: The Mets' Greatest Choke

His name was Seth Fleischauer. "Sad Mets Fan" was then 28 years old.

He now lives in Los Angeles, runs an education company,

and attended the Mets' 2015 Pennant clincher against the Dodgers.

September 30, 2007: One of the darkest days in Mets history. This is the game that got Tom Glavine branded "The Manchurian Brave" by Met fans.

Having led the NL East by 7 games with 17 to go, the Mets have collapsed, but they go into the regular-season finale, against the Florida Marlins at Shea Stadium, needing a win or a Philadelphia Phillies loss to clinch their 2nd straight National League Eastern Division title, and a win or a Colorado Rockies loss to at least win the 1 Wild Card available at the time.

Glavine starts. He walks Hanley Ramirez. He gets Dan Uggla to ground into a force play at 2nd base. So far, not terrible. But then, the roof caves in. He gives up a single to Jeremy Hermida. He gives up a single to Miguel Cabrera, scoring Ramirez. He gives up a double to Cody Ross, and when the ball comes back to him in the infield, he tries to throw Ross out at 3rd, and makes a bad throw, and Ross becomes the 3rd run of the at-bat.

He allows a single to Mike Jacobs. He walks Matt Treanor. He gives up a single to future Met Alejandro de Aza, loading the bases. He faces the opposing starting pitcher, Dontrelle Willis, and hits him, forcing Jacobs in. Manager Willie Randolph has seen enough, and removes him with the score 5-0. He'd faced all 9 batters in the Marlin starting lineup, and had gotten exactly 1 of them out.

Jorge Sosa is the new pitcher, and he strikes Ramirez out. But he allows a double to Uggla, who drives in Treanor and de Aza, both of whose runs are charged to Glavine. When he finally gets Hermida to ground to 1st, it is Marlins 7, Mets 0.

By the time the game mercifully ends, the Mets have used 8 pitchers, and lost 8-1. The Phillies beat the Nationals, 6-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and win a Playoff berth and the Division for the 1st time in 14 years. And the Rockies complete their own amazing surge, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver. It's not enough to win them the NL Western Division, but it's enough to get them a tie with the San Diego Padres for the Wild Card berth, instead of it going to the Mets.

"I'm not devastated," Glavine says after the game. "I'm disappointed, but devastation is for much greater things in life." Feeling pretty devastated themselves, Met fans never forgive him for this, and he never pitches for them again. He is released, and returns to Atlanta for a final season.

One of the pitchers the Mets used was former Yankee star Orlando Hernández, who pitches the 3rd inning, allowing 2 long fly outs, a triple to Willis, and then a foul pop to end the threat. It turns out to be the last MLB appearance of El Duque's career.

The Mets had blown a 3-games-to-2 lead over the Oakland Athletics in the 1973 World Series, a 2-games-to-1 lead and a 9th-inning lead in Game 4 over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 NL Championship Series, needed to win 1 of their last 5 to clinch the Wild Card berth but lost them all and missed the Playoffs in 1998, blew a lead and a Pennant in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS, lost the 2000 World Series to the New York Yankees at Shea, and took a 1-1 tie into the 9th inning before losing Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2008, history would repeat itself: They only led the NL East by half as much, 3 1/2 games, going into September, but, again, had to beat the Marlins at home on the last day of the regular season to make the Playoffs, and lost. They would win their next Pennant in 2015, but set a new record by blowing leads in 5 games in a single World Series, including the 1 game they ended up winning anyway. In 2016, they took a 0-0 tie at home into the 9th inning of the NL Wild Card Game, and lost to the San Francisco Giants.

But the September 2007 collapse remains the greatest choke in the history of New York baseball. And Met fans can't even blame the other teams cheating, the way the Yankees can for 2004.

*

September 30, 2007 was a Sunday. These other games were played on the last day of the Major League Baseball regular season:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Derek Jeter goes 1-for-2 with a walk. Alex Rodriguez goes 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. Jose Molina goes 3-for-5. However, the Yankees only get the American League's Wild Card berth, ending a streak of 9 straight AL Eastern Division titles.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-5 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-4 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 13-3 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Guaranteed Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Diego Padres, 11-6 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-0 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston. It is the last game for future Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio, who goes 1-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. It is the last game for former Met star Mike Piazza. He leads off the bottom of the 9th for the A's, singles, and is replaced by pinch-runner Shannon Stewart. Marco Scutaro bunts Stewart over to 2nd. Jack Hannahan singles to load the bases with nobody out. Kurt Suzuki singles to give the A's a 3-2 win. So Piazza is far luckier on this day than his old team is.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Barry Bonds, unpopular everywhere but San Francisco, but especially so in Los Angeles, does not play. He had played his last game 4 days earlier, in the Giants' home finale. His contract had run out, and not even the Giants were willing to sign him anymore. They had gotten what they needed out of him, and were not letting him go. He is forced to retire with 762 home runs, more than any player in history, but a tainted record.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

These NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, 16-3 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 17-14 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (now Highmark Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Carolina Panthers, 20-7 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Houston Texans, 26-16 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Miami Dolphins, 35-17 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the former Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, 27-13 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field).

* The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears 37-27 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Denver Broncos, 38-20 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 23-16 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the St. Louis Rams, 35-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-14 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers, 30-16 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars, the New Orleans Saints, the Tennessee Titans and the Washington Redskins had a bye week.

* The next night, on Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 34-13 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.