Keeping Score: Mets Live Down a Tortured September History

Photo Lucas Duda (21) after he hit a grand slam against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning of Saturday's game. Credit David Kohl/USA Today Sports, via Reuters On the afternoon of Sept. 23, 1998, with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, a Chicago Cubs outfielder named Brant Brown settled under a lazy fly ball hit by Geoff Jenkins of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Cubs were leading, 7-5, and all Brown had to do was make the catch and the game would be over.

Somehow, Brown dropped it — “I don’t know how to explain it,” he said — and all three Brewers runners came around to score. Instead of winning a crucial game in their wild-card battle with the Mets, the Cubs, in…