Enjoy that one. The nightcap saw the Mets do absolutely nothing against entitled annoyance Gio Gonzalez, a little Daniel Murphy parachute aside.
Enjoy that one. They finished the season 4-15 against the Nationals. Go a mediocre 9-10 and they would have been over .500.
Enjoy that one. Zack Wheeler‘s final start was a letdown — he was throwing 98, but melted down (with some help from bad defense and bad luck) in the fourth.
Enjoy that one. Matt Harvey ensured a new cycle of sports-talk annoyance by attending Jeterfest. Worse, he tweeted about #RE2PECT like a hyperventilating Belieber.
Enjoy that one. Oh’naud, the concern about Travis d’Arnaud is related to his el’baud.
Enjoy that one. Did you see what happened in the Bronx? It was simultaneously epic and annoying. No I’m not fucking linking to it. Go check any other site.
Enjoy that one. The dream of a .500 season went down the toilet tonight, leaving nothing left except the pursuit of a meaningless second place.
Enjoy that one. Second place would be neat, but fourth place is still very possible.
Enjoy that one. We’re down to three with the Astros, a concert by someone I’ve never heard of who looks 12 and a bobblehead that looks nothing like Casey Stengel.
Enjoy that one. Soon David I. Pankin, the paving-stones guy with his Armortec secret weapon, Cindy from Lee’s Toyota and Roscoe the bedbug-sniffing dog will be gone.
Enjoy that one. Kevin Burkhardt’s already gone. I already miss him.
Enjoy that one. On the plus side, Alexa can soon stop blinking SAVE ME FROM THIS HELL in Morse code on those painful Mets QVC ads.
Enjoy that one. Football will soon rule the land, offering nonstop concussions, abused children and unconscious fiancees, appalling coverups and lying commissioners.
Enjoy that one. We’re down to unexpected plans, previous engagements and the like wiping out not a tiny part of the season, but a third of it.
Enjoy as many of these as you can, as best you can. Because there aren’t enough of them left.
On the bright side, with RE2PECT retiring and taking his magic bag with him, perhaps the needle starts moving ever so slightly toward the Mets in this town. He wants to own a team someday…you know what I’m thinking don’t you?
Steve, be very careful what you wish for. SOMEONE other than the Wilpons doesn’t mean ANYONE other than the Wilpons. Otherwise we could see the name of the team and stadium be changed to Trump. We already have a pitcher who’d rather be in the Bronx and an owner who’d rather own the Brooklyn Dodgers. We don’t need an owner who would have to buy the Mets because the Steinbrenners aren’t selling.
I would take my chances with one of the great winners in baseball history vs. a group of the biggest losers.
I dunno. As far as bobbleheads go, aside from the fact that he looks like he’s wearing lipstick, the Casey is pretty decent.
Maybe I’m old school, or grouchy, or maybe those are the same thing, but I am fuming at Harvey. We all know who he grew up rooting for, and I bet his private reaction to being drafted by the Mets was “well, at least I make it to the show faster this way.” Whatever year he can walk, he isn’t walking far. With the exception of overpaying for players whose skills are diminishing, there’s nothing the team in the Bronx loves more than embarrassing the Mets.
Fans from different parts of the area should get together and swap between innings commercials. While those of us watching on Comcast in Central Jersey are also very familiar with how lives can be saved and made whole by Armortec paving stones that always look like new, we would gladly trade you a Dr. Eric Carp, Board Certified some sort of oncologist, even up for Roscoe the bedbug-sniffing dog, who sounds somewhat intriguing.
With Jeter retiring, the last of the Yankees’ homegrown core is gone and the team has been reduced to a team of overpaid mercenaries. The two NY teams are passing each other in opposite directions. Fans love winning teams but they love winning teams with talent they watch come to the majors and prosper even more. The success of the Yankees was always centered on the core of homegrown talent that came their way in the late 80s and early 90s. Bernie, Jeter, Mariano, Pettite and Posada.
Even when the Yankees aren’t going to the playoffs they remind us Mets fans why they are who they are and we are who we are. Bobby O during last night’s post loss said it all too well. Six seasons in a row of losing, only the Astros are in the same company. The Mets have a losing mentality, plain and simple. There is just too much of “what great guys in the clubhouse” and not enough wins. I’m sick of it and proud of the fact I have not (nor will not) stepped into Citi Field once this year. And don’t accuse me of not being a diehard because I’m not sucker enough to schlep over there from Jersey with my hard earned cash. I have been a fan of this team since the mid-sixties, way before Cleon kneeled on the grass in left field. Great for Alderson and his fine farm system, he’s done a nice job there. But something has to give to get the major league team back to contention. An attitude adjustment is a good start and in my opinion Sandy (and I’m sure Jeffy) blew it when they could have let Collins go and hired Backman to take over. All Backman has done in his career as manger is win and his players love him. He was manager of the year in the PCL and won his division still when many of his players were called up to the Mets. A move like that would have created some excitement and more importantly would have sent a message to all that care that things will change. But here we are going into a winter with nothing more than question marks. Will Wright be okay, will the burgeoning d’Arnaud be okay now (elbow), will Harvey be what he was in his rookie season, can Wheeler figure out how to win without throwing 150 pitches by the fourth inning, on and on it goes. It goes without saying the Mets need to do something dramatic over the off season. Do they notice that I’m not the only diehard fan not going to games? The place is the anti Yankee Stadium. Last night in New York over 50k watched baseball history. Tonight, they will be lucky to have 15k at Citi as the Mets play the Astros, their expansion sibling for absolutely nothing.
With all due respect, Bob Ojeda is wrong. It’s not fair to compare a team that had five hall-of-famers as a core (and spent hundreds of millions on top of that) for most of 20 years to a team that was a complete teardown five years ago. And that’s exactly what the Mets were….they couldn’t even start from scratch like an expansion team. It took three years to clear the debris!
If you want to call the Mets a losing franchise over the course of their history, fine. History has certainly borne that out. But in 2014, are you telling me Harvey, Wheeler, deGrom, d’Arnaud, Duda, Flores, Lagares, Black, Familia, and Mejia have a losing mentality?!?!?! A minor league system LOADED with playoff teams has a losing mentality?!?!? That is complete and utter bullshit. This is the core moving forward and they have a COMBINED dozen years of ML experience. That losing mentality is based on what exactly? Being young and inexperienced and getting owned by the best team in the league (and still playing .500-ish) makes for a losing mentality?!?!? Where did you SEE a losing mentality this year?!?!? Because I sure didn’t. The Wilpons haven’t done anything to garner good will here. But the problem with the 2014 Mets isn’t the players or the GM, the problem is the MET FANS and the MEDIA. I understand the impatience, but this is a TEXTBOOK organizational rebuild.
It’s time to leave the past behind. THIS train started rolling after the 2010 season. The history of THIS team goes back four years. THIS team deserves better than to be saddled with the 48 years that came before it.
Rob – Nothing is a textbook rebuild until something is rebuilt. If the Mets are competitive in 2015 and contenders in 2016, then we know it worked. But the lowest, short-lived rungs of major league talent have long been filled with guys who looked great in double and triple A. So until then, be realistic, we’re still looking at a sub-.500 team and I think we can be excused for being cynical, as we are very accustomed to very little going as planned/hoped.
And fans and media have lots of impact on Twitter and blogs, none on the team.
A rebuild isn’t COMPLETE until something is rebuilt…I’ll grant you that, but there are milemarkers along the way, and this team has pretty much hit all of them. And that IS textbook. The overall health of this organization has improved every year since Alderson has been here, and there’s no reason to think it has peaked.
It’s true that not all talent develops, but what have you seen this year to dim your hopes? Who regressed? Again, no one let me down in a developmental sense this year…virtually all these players exhibited visible growth even if they aren’t Mike Trout or Clayton Kershaw.
Believe me, I understand the cynicism…I have been a fan for more than 40 years. “We will screw it up because we ALWAYS screw it up” means nothing….and as you said, that is just cynicism (justifiable). But the numbers related to player development do not support that cynicism in any way. I know a lot of people don’t subscribe to the analysis of today, but I’m going to put my money on science over cynicism.
Great post Rob!!!
Rob – You make a very good point about young players not regressing this year. With a few minor exceptions, the youth did not disappoint, and the Mets do not need to go into the winter looking for the Jose Valverdes and Kyle Farnsworths of the world. But even with this movement in the right direction, the results haven’t changed. Will these young players continue to develop enough so as to make a 90-win goal something other than a punchline? Believe me, I hope a year or two from now you can say “I told you so.”
Dave – You can’t judge the “results” because the path we took this year is different from past paths. Not all 79-83 seasons are the same. An old expensive broken-down patchwork team going 79-83 (look at the Phillies or Yankees) isn’t the same as a bunch of young players going 79-83 (look at the Marlins and Mets). Young players offer hope for improvement; broken-down mid-30s players not so much. It’s not where you’ve been, or where you are, it’s where you are GOING.
The Mets still have a question mark in LF (and you can make a fair argument for SS), but the rest of the team is in place with a reasonable hope of improving based on their age and 2014 performance (and enough talent to trade now). I’ll leave Wright & Granderson out of this as that is a different discussion. But the Mets filled a lot of holes this year and answered a lot of questions (and mostly positively). They didn’t fill EVERY hole or answer EVERY question, but a LOT of good things happened this year. It didn’t come out in their record, but you don’t have to squint too hard to see the progress here. They could have easily been a .500 team based on their run differential, and they should somewhat be forgiven for having their doors blown off by the Nationals and Dodgers.
Rob – You are correct, there’s 79 wins and then there’s 79 wins. Better young question marks than old broken former stars. Question that now has to be answered is where are these young guys ceilings? Is Flores an everyday player and productive bat, or does he prove the old adage about not getting too excited about what you see in September? Do Wheeler and Mejia and Familia continue to progress from throwers to pitchers? Can Duda sustain HR’s and RBI’s over the course of the season, or did he just have the best month or two he’ll ever have? Will d’Arnaud stay healthy and continue to develop both offensively and defensively? We’ve seen progress from all of these players, but we still need to see more, otherwise we could be stuck at 79 wins.
You’ll have to excuse my pessimism…between another losing Mets season and the advent of what could be a really painful Jets season (that’s funny, 45 years ago these teams were both really good), just tired of losing.
Best thing that ever happen to the Yankee organization was George Steinbrenner being banned from the game for 2 years in the early 90s. The Yanks of the early 90s, Stump Merrill as Manager, were in much worse shape than the Mets were a few years ago. Gene Michael was allowed to rebuild the Yanks without George’s meddling. Because, George would’ve probably contine to make the Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps type moves he was known for.
Rob, As I said in my post “Great for Alderson and his fine farm system”. Perhaps I understated that because I do agree with you, they needed to build from the ground up. All I am saying is the next step is to provide a boost at the major league level. For example, a similar rebuild happened in the early 80’s when the Mets were sold to Doubleday. GM Frank Cashen did the same thing Sandy has done. He drafted and traded for good young arms. But he also pulled off the Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter trade. He brought in Davey Johnson who he did not see eye to eye with but recognized the team needed that kind of leader because he knew his players from managing them in the system. Backman could have done for the Met what Johnson did a long time ago. And yes the team is inexperienced and does not know how to win. All the more reason to make some deals to bring the kind of players in that can succeed here. Also I agree about the pitching, it’s going to be great but they will not succeed without some bats providing the leads necessary to succeed. In games the Mets scored first this year- they are 55-30. That says a lot about the pitching. But in games they did not score first or were shutout, they were 22-52. That speaks to not having the bats to score runs late in games. The Nimmos and Comfortos are coming but probably will not be ready for next season.
“Enjoy that one. Football will soon rule the land, offering nonstop concussions, abused children and unconscious fiancees, appalling coverups and lying commissioners.” – Substitute sexual harassment for abused children and unconscious fiancees and you have Allan Huber (Bud/Hyman Roth) Selig’s MLB and Jeff Fredo Wilpon’s New York Mets.
Let’s accept the fact that Matt Harvey is a dick. He better be a great pitcher.
Exactly. Friend of mine who roots for the other team made an astute, scary observation…that Harvey’s appetite for attention is reminiscent to that of A-Rod.
The irrational criticism of Matt Harvey is really weird. I really don’t care what he does if he pitches next year like he did in 2013. MLB players today have love fests with each other all the time, so attending Jeter’s last game in NY is not surprising. Oh yeah…… enough fans calling him a dick will really want him to stick around in Flushing.
I don’t get it either. He’s been watching Jeter since he was, like, seven years old. They won the world series four times in five years when he was just starting to watch baseball. I’m as annoyed as any Mets fan by the 162 game farewell tour, those stupid #2 patches, including the one that Jeter has to wear on his own freaking hat, and the constant stream of hagiographies in the press (two years in a row now, if you count Mariano. It really, really does get tiresome). But I could care less whether Harvey grew up with Jeter as one of his sports idols and attended this game for nostalgia’s sake.
With all due respect, if you don’t care that Matt Harvey needed to SHOW UP AT A YANKEE GAME to bask in the #no2talgia, then you are a different type of Met fan than me.
Is it really irrational and weird to be thoroughly annoyed that he showed up at the Yankee game WHEN THE METS ARE PLAYING.
I realize that many things are a lot less “sacred” than they were in 2006 or 1986 or heaven forbid, 1969.
But if what Matt Harvey did last night is “ok” then Messrs. Prince and Fry might as well shut this down – the Bad Guys will have TRULY won…
You use the word “sacred.” In quotes no less. Sacred is a Yankee word.
See the Jeter. He is pale and old, he wears a thin and ragged pinstriped shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a last few wolves.
Give me a break. The Yankees had a great dynasty these past 20 years. It’s annoying that the New York media has fellated the team for 20 years, but how do people get worked up over the fact that Harvey, as a 25 year old human being who happens to have been an awesome MLB pitcher in 2013, grew up loving the Yankees and Jeter? This kind of thing tends to happen when there’s a team that goes to the postseason every year beginning when you’re six years old through the time that you get drafted.
He now plays for the Mets, and he absolutely seems to hate that the Mets aren’t taken seriously. This is also a thing.
I’m a fan of the Mets. A member of your tribe. First rule of fandom is to not be a dick to other members of your tribe for no reason. We make smalltalk. We rib. We don’t call into question other people’s fandom because they don’t hate the Yankees sufficiently.
Ok, can we agree to STOP TALKING ABOUT DEREK F*CKING JETER NOW??? PLEASE???? He played, he’s retiring, it’s over. The endless swooning over the Long Goodbye was nauseating months ago, now it’s downright revolting. Please stop. I am a Mets loyalist, thus “jeets” means less than nothing to me. And “jeets” is possibly the worst sports nickname ever.
I still haven’t gotten over 2000, in case you may have been wondering.
Count me among those who see both Lou and Rob’s points on this team, though I lean more towards Lou.
Duda blossomed as a home run hitter, Murph had a good offensive year (though so-so on defense and terrible on the bases), DeGrom was very good on the mound this year and I think Jeurys Familia was great. Mejia and Familia should swap roles and Parnell (and Niese) should be traded for a bat. Barring a sweep by the Astros the Mets will have the most wins of the Alderson era this year, and if we do the sweeping, the most since the last year of Shea. Believing the above scenarios continue and Wright and Granderson bounce back, and TdA is not slowed by this elbow issue, there is optimism for next year and beyond.
On the other hand, the Wilpons still own the team, which worries me about the ability to make a trade for a high-priced bat, not to mention the potential for embarrassing PR. Terry is still the in-game manager, which worries me about lineup construction, strategy, and bullpen handling. Plus we don’t know what we’re getting from Harvey when he comes back, Wheeler is still a work in progress, and Syndergaard isn’t here yet. Oh and for the love of God, this team has to be better against teams they should beat. Forget the Nats and Dodgers for a sec; how did this team go 2-5 against the fucking Cubs, who were garbage when the Mets played them? They also got swept by the Marlins in a series and lost series to the likes of Colorado, Arizona, and San Diego. If the Mets want my money, they need to win. Bottom f’n line.
Oh and if Harvey does return to form but keeps getting raked over the coals for petty shit, he WILL go to the Yankees in three years. Cashman will sell him on the chance to be another Jeter, as in a winner for the team he grew up near and dear to. Keep driving away talent Jeffy; that’s another way to keep me away from your precious little nightclub, I mean ballpark.
“Wilpon ownership” is a fair point, and the financial concerns are legitimate. They are not above screwing this up, and they still have a lot of trust to earn back. I think that the Wilpon angle has colored the way fans are looking at the 2014 TEAM in a negative way…their dislike of the Wilpons is translating into disappointment in and pessimism for what has actually been an encouraging growth season. If we had ownership that the fans had confidence in, everyone would be a lot more enthusiastic about THIS team and the prospects moving forward.
In fairness to the organization, as it relates to player development, they’ve done the right thing these last four years, and it was long overdue. It sucks that we still get charged superpremium prices for what certainly hasn’t been a premium product, Alderson’s communication leaves something to be desired, and the PR missteps are infuriating, but they have put this team in a position where taking the next step up is reasonably attainable, even without spending a lot of money. I understand the pessimism, but don’t hang them for the mistake they haven’t made yet (and hopefully won’t).
Look Harvey went from greatest prospect in baseball to just another arm case. Cut him some slack. The problem is like AROD New York can get to you.Always best seat in restaurants, always models throwing themselves at you and of course the club scene with the private room. He had the sense to leave immediately when he almost got trapped in what could have been a New York Post type club altercation. What I dread is that first game back when we find out it was all a mirage and he is another dead arm pitcher.
As for Jeter worship I leave that to Yankee fans who frankly have not much to look forward to. I thought this ceremonial farewell tour was frankly
disgraceful. Can you imagine Stan Musial or Ted Williams orchestrating such an ego driven farewell.They had real class. In fact it made me remember that far from being one of the greatest ballplayers in Yankee history he is a rather needy guy who has never uttered an interesting thought which is taken as how clever he is but could also mean he has very little to stay because he may be a great player but also not that smart to begin with. However as a baseball fan I have to appreciate the way he went out which was pretty spectacular.
Oldbat…you had me until “pretty spectacular”. I’m not saying it was orchestrated and yes, he still had to make contact. But have you seen a replay of the pitch? Balls on tees aren’t as hittable. What he did was achieve a single in a made-to-order situation off an anonymous pitcher who likely won’t be on his team’s post-season roster. And as for Jeter’s team, there will be no post-season roster and for a host of reasons, some of which can be traced to this extended Passion Play.
Mixed feelings on Harvey. Bad optics, certainly. But players—especially young players who’ve spent a little too much time off the field and in the media glare—don’t have any sense of the zeitgeist between Met and Yankee fans. Will be forgotten come March.
Matt- It was just an observation- if you’re not bothered by Harvey at that game then we ARE different types of Met fans (but Met fans just the same).
Perhaps my take on this episode is wrong/deluded/petty/whatever. but I’m not happy that a member of the Mets roster sat in the stands at a Yankee game while the Mets were playing elsewhere.