http://www.authenticmetsshop.com/authentic-45-zack-wheeler-jersey.html Javy Lopez set up on the outside corner of the plate, the first-base side, and Steve Karsay fired the 0-1 fastball that drifted a few fateful inches to the right. Mike Piazza had taken the first pitch he saw from Karsay in the bottom of the eighth inning. He had no intention of taking the second. It was late Friday night, Sept. 21, 2001, and Shea Stadium had already established itself as the scene of a community revival. People say that sports cannot heal or unite in a time of tragedy, that they can only serve as a temporary sanctuary from the grief and pain. But if you were among the 41,235 fans in the building for the first major sporting event played in New York after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, you understood this was not just a baseball game providing a distraction for a heartbroken city. This was a symbol of strength and resilience for thousands of New Yorkers in dire need of one. Matt Garza Womens Jersey Long before Piazza sized up that second pitch from Karsay in the eighth, Shea had delivered one gripping drama after another. Diana Ross sang a version of "God Bless America" that was in the same emotional ballpark as Whitney Houston's national anthem at the Gulf War Super Bowl, and a Marine guard fired a 21-gun salute, bagpipers played and fans chanted "USA ... USA." American flags were everywhere in Shea Stadium, and inside the lighted replica of the Manhattan skyline above the scoreboard, the darkened Twin Towers were graced by a red, white and blue ribbon. The Mets and Atlanta Braves, bitter rivals, hugged each other in the pregame, and the crowd would chant for a Yankees fan, Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Later on, during the seventh-inning stretch, Liza Minnelli blew the lid off the place with a rendition of "New York, New York" that included a kick line of cops and firefighters, and a punctuating hug and a kiss for Jay Payton, the Mets batter waiting on deck. Kent Hrbek Kids Jersey Bobby Valentine, the Mets manager, was having a hard time focusing on the base-to-base particulars of the game, and for good reason. He had lost a close friend in the attacks, and Valentine had led a procession of his players to the smoldering Ground Zero site, where they visited devastated ladder companies and comforted rescue workers and relatives of the victims. When Shea became a staging area for the recovery effort, the manager was seen loading supplies in the parking lot deep into the night. Nearly everyone the Mets came across at Ground Zero told them to keep wearing those caps honoring the cops, firefighters, Port Authority police and emergency services personnel. When some tone-deaf suits in the MLB properties division pressed for the Mets to go back to wearing their official team caps, Todd Zeile said, "As far as we're concerned, they're going to have to tear the hats off of us." The Mets donated their game checks -- some $450,000 in all -- to Rusty Staub's fund for the widows and children of fallen heroes, and did the city proud with their commitment to the cause. But something else was needed on the night of Sept. 21, 2001 -- a victory. This was a baseball game, after all, and the Mets had won 20 of 25 to finally get over .500 and stood 5 1/2 back of the first-place Braves, who had seized a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth on Brian Jordan's double. http://www.officialathleticsshop.com/authentic-36-terry-steinbach-jersey.html Karsay was an appropriate man to take the ball in the bottom of the inning; he grew up 10 minutes from Shea. He got Matt Lawton on a groundout before walking Edgardo Alfonzo, who was replaced by a pinch runner, Desi Relaford. Despite the fact he was working on his third consecutive season of at least 35 home runs, and that he'd led the Mets to the World Series the previous fall (a five-game loss to the dynastic Yankees), Piazza stepped to the plate as a most improbable representative of his adopted town.