The Mets are so far out of first place in the National League East that I woke up Sunday realizing I never bothered to check how Atlanta did on Saturday (they won, natch). They’re behind everybody you don’t want to be behind for the Wild Card, and have a few teams closing in on them that nobody would mistake for late-charging contenders. They’ve been outscored Something-Nothing more often than I care to count and have suffered through a West Coast swing pungently reminiscent of July 1991, when they went to California 15 games over .500 and came home in throes of what turned out to be a six-year slump. Worst of all from my “It’s So Much Better This Year Than Last Year” perspective, their record at this juncture of 2010 is exactly two games better than their record at this juncture of 2009.
I’m still not mad at them, but I’m becoming resigned to the likelihood that “The Best is Yet to Come” will not be this September’s version of “L.A. Woman”. We had enough problems with L.A. Dodgers these last four games. We had problems aplenty with Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants, too, and we haven’t beaten anybody a series since we were matched up with the Minnesota Twins. Good golly, we haven’t taken a set from a single National League club since the San Diego Padres visited Citi Field the second week of June.
Nevertheless, not mad. Just resigned until I have a reason to jump on board again. If only the Mets still had all those players who were doing so well a month or so ago. You remember: Wright, Reyes, Pagan, Dickey, Santana, Davis, Niese, Feliciano, Parnell, some other dudes…why did we get rid of that bunch and bring in these clowns?
That’s not a sideswipe at Carlos Beltran, by the way. Carlos Beltran’s major drawback is his possession of a human body, one that didn’t heal quickly and one that hasn’t rounded into 100% playing shape. Give Carlos Beltran two weeks — there are ten left on the schedule — and he could very well remind us of the Carlos Beltran we know and love. Right now he reminds me of the Carlos Baerga we knew and wondered, “What the hell?” But I take Beltranism in its present state as a temporary condition.
I take the 7-17 dregs that have washed ashore since that ill-fated trip to Thunder Island commenced as impermanent, too. Not every game is destined to be like Sunday’s…even if Sunday was the perfect apotheosis of what every game of late has been like. At any rate, not every inning will necessarily be Sunday’s sixth, the frame in which Reyes singles; is caught stealing 1-3-6 ahead of a Castillo double; Wright fouls out; Beltran hits a shot that is clearly headed to left until it’s intercepted by Casey Bleeping Blake; and Dickey’s left hip — if not his fighting spirit — has to be dragged kicking, screaming and tweaked from the mound while he’s pitching an unsupported gem.
You can give yourself whiplash looking for reasons this team has crumbled like a Drake’s Cake just as you can get a lethal sunburn waiting to meet a Met as he crosses home plate at Dodger Stadium. You can do anything you like, but there’s nothing you can do.
It’s just one of those weeks that effectively ends your season until further notice.
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I’m hoping for a Monday Afternoon Massacre at Citi Field, with the traded in one pile and the fired in another.
Screw it! I’m going to try something new for a change (I believe Yankee, Boston, Philly fans call it “optimism”) and say this: “Who’s to say we don’t pull a REVERSE of 2007 and 2008 and make the playoffs? If anyone has a history of “Amazin-ness” its the Metropolitans of New York! YA GOTTA BELIEVE!!! (plus I just can’t get into football season this early, no matter HOW well the Jets are projected).
As Don and Phil once sang…
Dream, Dream, Dream, Dream. All I have to do, is dream”.
Yeah, at least this disaster of a road trip didn’t happen in September.
I was going to try and say something optimistic, but I think that’s the best I can do right now. It’s just unbelievable how bad everyone is slumping. They’ve still got plenty of time to turn it around, though.
The division does look pretty dire…but maybe the Wild Card isn’t an impossibility. This is assuming, of course, that at some point again, the Mets score a run or two. That in itself looks unlikely at this point.
We’re 7.5 games down with 2 months to play… remember when some team a few years ago blew that lead with only 17 games to play? IT CAN HAPPEN!!! IT’S DUE TIME THE BRAVES AND PHILLIES REPAY US FOR OUR COURTESY THE PAST 3 SEASONS!!!
I won’t quote a number because that never, ever works, but we need to see a return to form IMMEDIATELY, meaning the next 12 games — nine against very good teams, six of them on the road (plus three at home against a team that took advantage of us while we sucked).
Our season begins — again — now.
I keep remembering that the 2007 Colorado Rockies had the same record after 99 games and won 90 and made it to the World Series. Also, the 2006 Dodgers loss 13 of 14 and then turned around and won 17 of the next 18. Things like that happen. It was a real bad, the team hit .196, road trip but things can turn around just like that.
THAT’S THE SPIRIT!!! BASEBALL IS ALMOST 150 YEARS OLD!!! THERE’S A TON OF TEAMS OUT THERE THAT HAVE OVERCOME FAR GREATER ODDS, EVEN IN THE LAST 10 YEARS!!! New Manager, shake things ups, get rid of the old entitled “salts”, bring in some HOME GROWN you blood (I can’t help but have faith in this Carter kid if he starts getting some consistent at bats, and Thole has made me smile as well) and see what happens? David Wright is going back to his old 2009 ways of “welp, no one’s gonna knock me in so I’d better swing for the fences” which explains his high tendency to strike out.
Honestly though, someone needs to remind Jose Reyes that he is no longer a rookie, NOR is he even the face of the Mets… I cant TELL you how many times I’ve seen him NOT dive for a ball, get picked off, swing at a first pitch AS A LEAD OFF BATTER!!! I’ve NEVER seen someone swing for the fences on the first pitch in my LIFE as Jose… he’s SELFISH! And I’m tired of ill-informed fans thinking his high energy is “contagious”… it’s EASY to be excited when you’re in a hot streak. Where is he when the team is down? Stealing bases, playing AGGRESSIVE baseball, getting dirty. It pains me to say this but he could learn a LOT from his cross-town brother Derek Jeter. You think Yankee fans would get on his ass if he took a few plays off? HELL no… but does he? HELL NO!!!
Sure, David Wright isn’t very vocal, but you can’t deny his work ethic, and how critical he is of himself when he makes an error, strikes out etc. I remember July 3rd against the Nats, he booted a ball, it floated behind him, and rather than pout and lazily stroll for the ball realizing the runner would inevitably take 2nd base, he sprinted and made a GREAT throw to 2nd and got the guy out… the 10+ Met fans around me all were initially critical of my assessment that “I don’t think Jose wouldve made that effort” but upon thinking about it, they all agreed with me.
In all honesty, the WORST thing that couldve happened to Jose this year was him making the All-Star Game. Sure he had a hot streak in the late 1st half (conveniently) but a little humble-pie would do him FAR better than being told “WE LOVE YOU JOSE!” He is NOT the player we expected him to be at this point in his career.
In conclusion, GO METS!!! US FANS WON’T QUIT ON YOU EVEN WHEN YOU SEEMINGLY QUIT ON YOURSELVES!!!
Seriously though, Mr. Wilpon, if you want a World Series in Flushing, a) please fire Jerry b) Please fire Manaya, and c) Please sell the team to a person who wants to win.