The very proud Daley family - Andrew, Lynn, John and Matt. On Monday night you may have felt, or even heard, a gust of wind blow East from CitiField. And it wasn't from the torrential summer storm. Rather it was from the combined sigh of relief from his more than 170 family and friends that were in attendance at the Met-Rockies game, but mostly it was from Matt Daley himself as he exhaled more than 20 years of pent up excitement of being a Met fan. It wasn't just from being at the game, it was the fact that the 27 year old righty was coming out of the opposing teams bullpen to pitch against the team he rooted for since he can remember picking up a baseball. In Matt's own words, 'those first steps out of the bullpen, boy, I'm going to have to take a really deep breath and exhale because it's going to be amazing.'

Whether it was his early days of playing St. Kevin's Little League with friends from Bagley Avenue, GCAA travel baseball on the pool fields, GC High School during his State Championship year or even when he helped Bucknell University get to the College World Series, Matt always dreamed of stepping onto the field at Shea Stadium (preferably as a Met) and pitching from the same mound as childhood favorites Al Leiter and John Franco.

Matt comes through the bullpen door for the first time to face the Mets. Well kids, dreams do come true! Daley came up on April 22nd and has consistently pitched well for the contending Rockies. As a matter of fact, the Rockies record during Matt's tenure is a terrific 49-36 putting them in the lead for the Wild Card. The only missing ingredient from Matt's dream night was the fact that the Met's now play in a beautiful new stadium, CitiField, and Shea Stadium is a parking lot; leaving behind only good memories for Matt and the rest of us kids (aren't all baseball fans still kids at heart). The memories of Shea for Matt go back to the days that he would visit the stadium with friends or family about 5-10 times a season and rooting for the home team through some tough seasons, but also some really good ones. I can remember one of those times, in 1994 against these same Colorado Rockies, when I walked into the stadium with a wide eyed, skinny 11 year old from Queens who loved the game of baseball. With his brother Andrew and his friend Bobby, Matt couldn't stop talking about getting to sit in box seats and hoping to get one of his favorite players autograph or maybe even a foul ball. On Monday night I saw that same wide eyed kid staring out at the field from the dugout, with the same love of the game, but with some major differences - he now stands 6'2" and is a major league pitcher. He no longer looks for autographs, but is one of the players that kids huddle around to get one of his autographs. He no longer hopes to get a foul ball but rather a quick out. And he doesn't sit in those box seats any more because he has his own seat in the bullpen - not a great view of the game, but for him, the best seat in the house!

Daley looks for the sign for his first pitch to Santos. I had the chance to spend some time before the game with Rockies pitching coach Bob Apodaca, yes, the same Apodaca that pitched for the Met's. Bob started the talk with a big smile - 'What a feel good story!' He went on to say 'This kid comes out of college, goes undrafted, no signing bonus and starts to work his way through the system. In the beginning, the only person that knew he was good enough was Matt himself. And he proved each step that given the opportunity he could do it.' When I asked about Matt's strengths he said 'he has a very deceptive motion and does one thing really well - he throws strikes and gets outs. And isn't that what it's all about? We enjoy working with him because he's such a student of the game - always trying to learn. He's been such a positive for us and we just keep making sure he's in a position to continue to be successful.'

Daley rears back and fires a strike Apodaca's comments have been echoed by many in the Colorado organization, especially current manager Jim Tracy. He often has spoken how Matt's determination and confidence in himself have helped pave the way for his success. He recalled having "goosebumps" after hearing Daley tell then-manager Clint Hurdle and other staff members the he (Daley) knew he had "what it takes to get hitters out at this level." This was when the Rockies sent him to Triple-A Colorado Springs to start the year. Daley has proven himself right.

Back to Monday's game, as mom Lynn said, it couldn't have worked out any better for the majority of the 170 Daley fans in the stands. Most are Met fans, but all wanted to see Matt do well. Matt got up three times as the Rockies were on the ropes a few times but they got through seven innings with the score tied at 3. In the eight, with Matt ready, his followers held their breath as manager Jim Tracy strolled to the mound to take out Juan Rincon with the bases loaded and only one out. He instead went to lefty Franklin Morales, who left a changeup out over the plate that Fernando Tatis crushed for a grand slam and a 4 run lead. As Rockies bloggers have repeated, Tracy went to Daley one batter too late. The rookie right-hander replaced Morales and induced a fly ball from Omir Santos and a lineout from Alex Cora on five pitches. As he jumped over the third base line and came back to the dugout, Matt had a very relieved but confident look. He sat in the dugout hoping his team could come back but assured that he once again came in and did his job. A job that he has done 8 times in a row without giving up a run. As of Wednesday, Matt has appeared in 27 games, covering 27.2 innings and has held opposing hitters to a .192 batting average and a 3.58 ERA, while playing in one of the best hitting ballparks in the NL.

Matt has put in a tremendous effort to get to this point, but there is no doubt that his family values and determination, as well as the unwavering support he's received from his family and friends, have helped him along the way. As mom Lynn said to me - it does take a village!

Congratulations to Matt on his continued success, and to the Daley family - Lynn, John and Andrew. We can't see him in the World Series against the Met's, but maybe we can root for him to show up in the Bronx in October and walk away with a ring (sorry Yankee fans).