At the moment Endy Chavez jogged toward the infield and calmly hit the cutoff man to complete a most unexpected double play, everything in the Mets world seemed perfect.

Chavez had made perhaps the greatest catch in Major League Baseball postseason history. He leapt high above the left field wall, stretching his glove over and beyond the bright blue padding, before landing back on Shea Stadium's warning track dirt. The top half of a seamed white baseball peeked out the top of Chavez's glove like a scoop of ice cream. The dark leather glove stayed attached to Chavez's hand by the tips of his fingernails.