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ABOUT US

Greg Prince and Jason Fry
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans.

Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here.

Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here.

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No Complaints (Or Fewer, At Any Rate)

“But I don’t believe it, because come this Sunday you’re going to be doing what you always do. You’re going to be sitting right in this chair drinking beer, watching TV and swearing at Joe Namath.”
—Mike Stivic, to Archie Bunker, after Archie suddenly gets religion

FACT: Mike Pelfrey sucks, especially on the road.
UPDATED FACT: Mike Pelfrey managed to not suck to any deleterious effect Tuesday night. He shut out the Dodgers — at Dodger Stadium — for six innings. He teetered a bit here and there but left very much in command.

FACT: Jason Bay sucks.
UPDATED FACT: Jason Bay has just about stopped sucking at all facets of his game. Jason Bay might finally be getting good.

FACT: The Mets suck at hitting home runs.
UPDATED FACT: Perhaps as a long-term trend this remains true, but Tuesday night the Mets scored six runs and all of them were on home runs —two by Bay and one by National League All-Star Carlos Beltran.

FACT: The Mets will suck if Jose Reyes misses any substantial amount of time.
UPDATED FACT: This is not a theory anybody wishes to test, but the Mets are 3-0 without the National League’s starting All-Star shortstop. And based on his presence on this trip, one continues to hope he’s back in the Met lineup soon and that we get to applaud him through the television screen as he trots out to take his position in Phoenix next week.

FACT: The Mets bullpen sucks.
UPDATED FACT: The Mets bullpen will always suck in spirit, but in actuality, they’ve been pretty splendid these past three games. Call it a small sample size if you like, but in relief pitching all it takes is one calamitous pitch, and the Mets ’pen has avoided throwing it lately.

FACT: The Mets suck.
UPDATED FACT: The Mets are two games above .500, which in and of itself isn’t rock-solid evidence they don’t suck or they won’t suck or they won’t morph into frustrating, injury-riddled ineptitude at any given moment…but no, the Mets don’t suck. It’s kind of fun that they don’t.

FACT: Late-night West Coast games suck.
UPDATED FACT: On principle, absolutely. In terms of results, they’re proving to be quite lovely thus far.

FACT: Mets fans need something or someone to tangibly suck lest they have nothing about which to complain.
UPDATED FACT: Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find something.

12 comments to No Complaints (Or Fewer, At Any Rate)

  • dmg

    i’m not going to say anything more than this, but i’m thinking: this might be a useful trip at a propitious moment in the schedule.

  • kd bart

    “Mets fans need something or someone to tangibly suck lest they have nothing about which to complain.”

    All it takes is one bad at bat or inning on the mound. Hell, just the posting of the batting order brings out the complaints.

  • This column sucks.

    Just so I’ll have something to complain about.

  • Ken K. from NJ

    What sucks is having to face 7 current or former All Star pitchers starting the 7 games beginning tomorrow. Or course, it seems whenever I really, really, expect something about the Mets to suck, it usually turns out not to.

  • What sucks is the fact that the Braves NEVER lose! EVER! While the Mets’ play and results have improved, the Braves are “running away” with the Wild Card. They have the second best record in the National League.

    Anyone foresee them slowing down?

    • kd bart

      Yes. They’ve had a favorable schedule over the 4-6 weeks. Lots of series versus the likes of the Blue Jays, Orioles, Padres, Astros, etc. Below .500 teams. The few series they’ve had versus teams with winning records, Mets and Rangers,they’ve loss.

  • tim

    Mary Hart will henceforth be assigned to sit behind home plate for all Mets games. Three homers and a shutout! Thanks, Mary!

    I think she was at the game with her husband, “Midnight Special” producer Burt Sugarman, and Joe Esterhazs, the guy who wrote “Showgirls”. How did that unholy alliance come to be?

    • Tom in Sunnyside

      Funny you mention that, I remember watching a Mets-Dodgers game last year when Jane Seymour sat in those same seats. Despite her being a generation older than me I could not keep my eyes off of her. Maybe the Dodgers should change their name to the California Cougars?

  • 9th string catcher

    We’re not complaining….just trying to help. Like when we suggested last week that Pelfrey should be pitching to Ronny Paulino and Ronny Paulino ONLY! Too bad that was disproved last night…what’s that? 6 shutout innings? Who was behind the plate? Oh, right, Paulino.

    • dmg

      from the nyt:
      “Ronny Paulino was catching starter Mike Pelfrey on Tuesday night, but not just because the Mets were facing the Dodgers left-hander Ted Lilly. Terry Collins said that Paulino, who has developed a rapport with Pelfrey, would continue to catch him, regardless of the opposing pitcher.”