As a Met fan, I feel as if someone threw scalding hot coffee on my face, before kicking me in the knee and pushing me down a flight of stairs, into a pile of mouse traps.
Last week, I believe I said something along the lines of…
…I started to think “why just tread water?” All we’ve been hearing from the media was how the Mets had to survive and keep above water until some of the missing key players came back, but that’s not how I feel. This is a golden opportunity for guys like Daniel Murphy, Fernando Martinez, and Nick Evans to show us what they’re made of, while David Wright has a chance to establish himself as the true leader of this team.
So naturally, the Mets decided not to show up to the three games following this post.
If I could, I’d invent a time machine, go back to the day I wrote that, and throw my computer out the window before I got a chance to put that thought out there.
What was I thinking?
As soon as I’m done with this post, I’m going to crawl into the Dog House. The Phillies have been playing like garbage for awhile now, and all the Mets have to show for it is a 2.5 game deficit in the division. Why? Because of a lack of consistent offense, and because of a lack of fundamental fielding and baserunning.
Oh, and Francisco Rodriguez walked Mariano Rivera last night. No, you’re not on acid, readers. That really happened. “Mo,” as I understand he’s called, got as many RBI in that one at-bat as any one Met over the entire weekend series. That is not a joke, even if it feels like one.
In the post I wrote last week, I said that a bumpy next couple of weeks might actually be a little fun because of grit, or something. I’ve tried to repress memories of those thoughts. Well, all “grit” brought the team over the weekend was 9 hits and 3 runs, and a bunch of mental and physical errors. Daniel Murphy, Argenis Reyes (someone teach him to bunt towards 1st base), and even Alex Cora were part of the festivities last night, and the former’s mistakes contributed to be the difference in the game. The only thing that came close to being worse than watching this junk was hearing Steve Phillips say that Livan Hernandez was a baseball player on ESPN. Thanks for the insight, Steve.
The Mets were exposed by the Yankees as a minor league team who cannot, as constituted, compete with the Phillies if they even comes close to getting it together. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado are not close to coming back, and I don’t know how much longer I can possibly take watching Fernando Tatis. And here I was thinking that this was somehow going to be fun.
I was wrong.
So what do the Mets do now? Do they fire Jerry Manuel? Would that all of a sudden make everybody stop committing errors on the field? Do they make a trade for Adam Dunn? Does he turn around a completely depleted offense with a home run every couple of games while playing poor defense himself? Does Omar Minaya make a splash and kill whatever’s left of the farm system? That’s assuming they have the valuable chips to even do so. The Mets are more than a bat away from being a good team, and for once, I’m at a loss. I can only hope that the only reason I’m at a loss is because this is an extended overreaction to losing to the crosstown rivals and having to hear the smug tone of Yankee fans.
A bumpy ride? Right now, I’d pray for a bumpy ride. It’s starting to look more like the Mets might end up in a free fall pretty soon.
I, for going out on a limb and saying that a hungry team might show some grit and stay competitive instead of bring their pillows out there over the weekend and go to sleep, am the Dog House Dweller of the Week.
Ugh.
Pete Lappin (3)
