For this diehard Mets fan, it's win, lose and especially draw.
Artist Joe Petruccio sketches a cartoon after every Amazins' game, whether it's a walk-off home run by Ike Davis Tuesday night against the Padres or a depiction of Jerry Manuel driving the team bus off the road following last week's 18-6 loss to the same team.
"The Mets are just so compelling, with so many ups and downs," said Petruccio, who is also the official artist for Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley estates.
"There is just so much material there," he said.
For nearly a decade, Petruccio, 51, has vowed to draw a cartoon for all 162 of the Mets games each season.
But every year, the disappointing Mets broke his heart and he failed to finish his quest, never previously making it past July, he said.
"I'd start but the year would turn sour and I'd get frustrated and quit," said Petruccio, who lives in Manalapan, NJ, works at a Manhattan advertising agency and cites the News' Bill Gallo as his biggest influence.
This season's squad, after recent series wins over the Yankees and Phillies, has him convinced that the journal will make it to October.
"These Mets have a special something about them," said Petruccio, who includes a caricature of the Mets skipper in every cartoon.
"We went from 'Fire Jerry' to 'Jerry is a genius' in a week," the artist laughed. "Who knows? But I just have a good feeling about them."
Petruccio's optimism is seemingly shared by other Mets fans, who have flocked to ticket websites like Stubhub.com during their team's recent stretch of improved play. The Mets have won nine games in a row at Citi Field.
Though attendance at the stadium remains below where it was during the park's debut season a year ago, sales on Stubhub in the last month have shot up 24% over the same time a year ago - with most of the transactions coming in the last couple of weeks, according to a website spokesman.
Full article published in the Daily News by staff writer Jonathan Lemire and my be read in full at the NYDailyNews