The oft-scapegoated World Baseball Classic has a slaughter rule that would have been valuable to invoke last night, as first Pat Misch and then Lance Broadway proved they have excellent career prospects should teams need someone to throw BP. But alas, this wasn't a WBC game (there's something I never thought I'd type) and so on and on we went, while Gary, Keith and Ron grew increasingly strange (in an entertaining way) and I succumbed to early-evening weariness. “Did they lose?” I managed to ask Emily when the TV going dark briefly awakened me. Her amusement was evident. (Other potential indicators a slaughter rule should be invoked: Keith is talking about the proper role of government; Wilson Valdez is visible; it's 2009 and you're a Mets fan.)
If you want to grasp at straws, the Mets no-hit the Braves for the final six innings as home-plate ump Brian Knight's strike zone expanded until it kissed La Guardia and the Unisphere. Daniel Murphy, looking downright confident at bat even as his fielding ability seems to erode, has more extra-base hits in September than Albert Pujols. Nick Evans got to play for a moment. (What did he do to you, Jerry?) Granted, continuing to watch a game like last night's beyond 8 p.m. counts as administering a death grip to whatever unfortunate straws are at hand.
Yet you know what? As this awful season dwindles to under a dozen games, I find myself sad. And not ironically sad, either — little-kid sad. The most amazingly horrible thing about the 2009 Mets? It's that in defiance of all logic and mental health, I'll miss them when they're gone.
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You're going to miss these Mets when the season ends! Why? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Same guy again commenting…
Dear People Still Attending Mets Games at Citi Field,
I’m not sure how to say this without sounding like an assh*le. What is wrong with you?
I can’t understand why anyone would ever attend a meaningless baseball game. It’s anathema to me.
By coming out to these games you are supporting a truth-averse, incompetent organization that bears little resemblance to everything good and wonderful the New York Mets represent in your hearts and minds. Garbage shouldn’t be supported. Please, unless you have a very good reason, stay home.
So you're pretty much telling us that everyone who's not a front runner is stupid, so we should all be front runners. Way to go, douche.
I still go to games at Citi because I enjoy baseball. It's a welcome distraction, even if the Mets play is terrible. If meaningless baseball warrants empty stands, as you'd have it, Major League Baseball would cease to exist.
And for the record, the Braves still have an outside chance of winning the Wild Card, so this current series is far from meaningless.
How about this: don't tell us how to live our lives and have our fun. Just mind your fuckin business.
Kevin,
I'm sorry. Perhaps you are right. Perhaps I am revealing something horrible about myself by admitting that I don't understand why someone would want to spend any time seeing the Mets play at Citi Field the rest of the season.
Maybe it is cliché to suggest that the only way we can show the Wilpons how disappointed we are is to stay home.
I knew what I wrote would be considered controversial. But that's how I feel. I can't help but feel completely turned off by this organization.
I am by no means a front runner, and never will be. I’ve spilled too many tears, endured too many sleepless nights agonizing over the Mets to let you accuse me of that. I’ll be back next season, supporting the team more than you’ll ever know, wearing the colors, being overcharged to park, believing — because that’s what Mets fans do: we believe. But there’s nothing left to believe in. There hasn't been anything left to believe in since I forget already.
For me, it's not the performance of those on the field that is of issue for they are mostly a group of replacement players who deserve our support and not our scorn.
What has kept us from taking in a Met game this year other than just the outrageous ticket prices? It's the Wilpons who insulted our intelligence.
No matter how pleasantly aesthic and closer to the action one might be, their concern was not so much to create the best fan experience possible as it was to entice fans to spend money with the game being secondary. It shows with Citifield promoted more like a shopping mall/convention center and fans encouraged to leave their seats and walk around. Emphasis was placed more on stores and restaurants being easily accessible than insuring there be no limited sight from the outfield prominade (how often did Greg say he had no idea what happened until he heard the crowd reaction?), upper level front rows not partially being blocked by advertising signs, fans able to see great catches in more than just one outfield corner (broadcasters and fans sitting directly behind home plate are not able to see the action in both).
They also took us as being gullable with fences of various heights, slopes and placements, angles to cause trick bounces, stands that overhang and seats that jud out to stop hits over the bag from going down the line. These are fabricated gimmicks to create false excitement and have no place in baseball.
This is how Citifield was designed and planned . The Wilpons are more businessmen than baseball-businessmen (fortunately, not to the extreme of the Grant era – thank God for little favors). If they were a combination of both, then I would have no issue with inticing us with stores and restaurants (and even tolerate some of those field gimmicks) since it would have been balanced with insuring all but a few rows of seats afforded a complete view of the playing field instead of requiring the aid of a high definition television monitor. I just hope they have the good sense to recognize and alleviatie these obstacles since doing so would show some sense of concern for what the fan experience should really be.