Lousy team rebuilds, is mostly lousy while rebuilding.
Organization has few resources available, all of which have been preserved for theoretical future allocation.
Ownership group — never considered a franchise strong suit — remains somewhere between inept and abominable.
Unproven players prove mostly inadequate.
Manager and coaches haven’t made any of it materially better, yet can’t quite be held accountable for how much worse it’s gotten given the plethora of inadequacies surrounding them.
Front office demonstrates no knack for short-term improvement, but perhaps will live up to its advance notices in the long term.
Robust crowds don’t materialize to take it all in.
Yet we continue to love and identify with the concept of this thing if not exactly this thing as presently constituted/unraveled.
First pitch, 7:10 PM. But you already knew that.
Better Mets times, even in technically lesser Mets seasons, really did happen. You can read about them here. Makes a great gift for the enablee in your life.
We have become the Pittsburgh Pirates, folks. Right down to the shiny new ballpark.
Except that Little Jeffy even managed to ruin the the construction of the shiny new stadium by taking the template of PNC Park, which is beautiful for its simplicity, and ruining it by adding all the nooks and crannies.
But we’re not paying Pittsburgh prices for the tickets.
If only. Pirates are 11 games over .500. When do you suppose Mets will reach that level next?
I will be tuned in
I had to check the dateline on this post. Was expecting 6/11/79. Bring on Mettle!!!
If that were the case, we’d be in luck. On 6/12/1979, the Mets mounted their first 10-run inning. (And won.)
Identify yes. Not so strong on the love right now.
If someone comes along wearing a bowtie to save us, this time we need Doctor Who and not Frank Cashen.
And where’s the love for Terry Collins? He sniffles and wipes his nose with his fingers at every press conference and NOBODY offers him a tissue?
Back to the Future: Ladies and Gentlemen, meet your 1979 NY Mets (those guys were 25-33 after 58 games)
Just looking at our beloved 1979 Mets…listen to these pitchers on that team…if you had them all in their best season, you’d have the best staff in baseball:
Starters:
Craig Swan
Mike Scott
Dock Ellis
Pat Zachry
Wayne Twitchell
Bullpen:
Jesse Orosco
Jeff Reardon
Neil Allen
Skip Lockwood
Juan Berenguer
I would take Stearns over Buck, Kranepool over any 1B we have, Maz, Youngblood and Hendu destroy this outfield we have now…Taveras stole 42 bases, Flynn had a great glove…that team hit .250 to this team’s .225. They had no power at all, but they might sweep this bunch…the Marlins did.
Wright over Hebner. On that I’m adamant, despite Hebner’s 50 RBI at the halfway point.
I’ll give you that one. To make this season interesting, I’m going to track the 2013 Mets vs. the 1979 Mets and also the 2013 Mets vs. Jason Bay in batting average.
I think in 1980 the daily news did something similar- tracking Met HR’s vs. 61 in 61 Maris.
Bay .226
NY Mets .226
Fasten your seatbelts
I have to admit that, at least on paper, that 1979 roster appears to be more impressive than the current one. Wright over Hebner, Harvey, Neise and “good” Gee could crack that staff and Parnell would be an upgrade in the bullpen. Other than that, though, I’d probably take the ’79ers. Any way anyone could run a computer simulated series between the two teams?
I’d take Skip Lockwood and his 1.49 ERA over Parnell.