Osama Overshadows Mets-Phillies Thriller

PHILADELPHIA—On most any other night, the game itself would have been memorable. The Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies played for four hours, 44 minutes, into the wee hours of Monday morning, until the Mets finally won, 2-1, in 14 innings.

Associated Press

Fans check their cell phones during a baseball game between the Phillies and Mets Sunday in Philadelphia. News broke during the game that Osama bin Laden had been killed.

But the events that transpired on the field at Citizens Bank Park were merely a backdrop to the outpouring of patriotism that made Sunday a night no one here would soon forget.

As news of Osama bin Laden's death spread throughout the ballpark, fans of both teams began chanting "USA! USA!" during the ninth inning. There was no formal announcement during the game, which went on as if nothing had happened. But as fans read the news on their cell phones, the chants grew in volume and intensity.

"I don't like to give Philadelphia fans too much credit," Mets third baseman David Wright said, "but they got this one right."

The game, which was televised nationally by ESPN, was the only major professional sporting event in America going on as the news broke. That it went on uninterrupted—and on, and on, and on—only made it more surreal.

Players and coaches were among the last to find out. Wright was standing on second base in the ninth inning when the chants broke out, clueless as to what had happened. In the dugout, Mets manager Terry Collins wasn't sure, either. But slowly, word trickled out from the clubhouse, where televisions were turned to President Obama's address.

R.A. Dickey found out from assistant trainer Mike Herbst, who whispered the news in his ear in the dugout. In the bullpen, beyond the center-field wall, bullpen coach Jon Debus spread the news to relievers.

Collins found out from bench coach Ken Oberkfell as the chants grew during the ninth inning from what was left of the announced crowd of 45,713.

"You almost want to stop the game and have that girl come and sing another beautiful rendition of 'God Bless America,'" Collins said. "The first thing I thought was, 'Well, it's about time.'"

Chris Young, who tossed seven scoreless innings, was getting treatment in the trainer's room. As he watched Obama's address, he could hear the chants from outside. "I got chills hearing that," Young said. "It's a night I'll never forget."

News of bin Laden's death resonated in particular with the Mets, who played a visible role during the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. They helped store food, supplies and makeshift lodging for rescue workers in the Shea Stadium parking lot. And they hosted the first baseball game in New York following the attacks, a game that remains one of the most memorable in franchise history.

Beato was a freshman at Brooklyn's Xaverian High School at the time. "I couldn't see the building but I saw the smoke," he said.

Young was a senior at Princeton and visited Ground Zero the week after the attacks. Today, when he leaves his Upper East Side apartment, he walks by a firehouse with a plaque out front honoring nine firefighters killed in the attacks.

This is what Young and his teammates were thinking about after the game, which they won on Ronny Paulino's RBI double in the top of the 14th inning.

As he prepared to board the team bus back to New York, Collins thought of what third-base coach Chip Hale said to him after the game.

"It's as big of a night as we'll have in a long time," he said. "We got bin Laden and we won."

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