Deep Breath
I suppose it would be possible to say that the San Diego series was as disheartening as a series can possibly be. I think it would be more accurate to say that it was as disappointing as a series could be. But it wasn’t disheartening.
Look at it this way. If someone were to tell you two weeks ago that on the West Coast road trip, Maine, Martinez, Pelfrey, Santana, and Perez would give the team 5 excellent starts in a row, and that Carlos Delgado’s batting average would be up to .245, you’d have been very happy, right? So be happy.
Look, I know, I know. I know all the counterarguments. Our team this year can’t seem to do anything consistently. It is still locked in the peculiar pattern it has been in since last June, in which everything that advances immediately retreats, everything that fires up suddenly calms down, everything that settles into a groove is soon enough on its back in a ditch.
But listen. As in the 2000 World Series, every game in San Diego could easily have gone in another direction. Doesn’t that mean something, at least if there are a hundred games to go? It’s hard to evaluate a team that loses games like the ones in San Diego. What can you conclude? That Wagner, Schoeneweis, and Feliciano aren’t any good? That is not a legitimate conclusion. What would a legitimate conclusion look like at this point?
Look, the plain blunt fact of the matter is this, and yes this can be said after 62 games, yes I will finally say it and you can tell everyone you first heard it here. Are you sitting down? This is not a great team.
But it is not a bad team either. And if something were to click, something extraordinary could happen. And I’m increasingly of the belief that clicking is just something that happens or doesn’t happen. It is a metaphysical accident that happens when there is a break. I think this team could have a good enough chemistry if a few things broke right. There are no deep divisions or total assholes. And I am suspicious of the theory that pre-existing chemistry or big intense meetings or bench-clearing brawls are what pull a team out of a rut.
What I think is this. The Mets pitching staff is actually quite good. Philadelphia is hitting like something I don’t want to go near, but their pitching is still not good and I doubt that their hitting can stay at anything quite like this level. Florida and Atlanta have, like the Mets and the Phillies, a lot of virtues and a lot of vices.
No one is running away with this. It will be close, it could be exciting, and I would be completely shocked if it is not decided on the last day or two of the season.
My money, soul money, is on the Mets because I do think, seriously, that their pitching is good enough to allow them to emerge from this sorry little pack of the barely above average. Some may tell you that when two or more teams are competing for something, the one that wants it more will win. I don’t believe that for a minute.
I think it comes down to the pitching. And as I take a very big breath and look at the last week, this is what I choose to see. I see five good to very plausible starters and a bunch of relievers who’ve been having excellent seasons. I also see a lineup that for all the injuries, puzzles, and inconsistencies should, under normal circumstances, provide enough runs. I see the kind of material that could cohere with the right kinds of accidents. There are a hundred games left. Could this team win the sixty that will get them to the ninety they will probably need? Maybe.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:33 am
As usual Dana, you hit the nail on the head. You always manage to make me feel hopeful. I agree that the three 2-1 games could have gone the other way just as easily. BTW, has there ever been a team that lost 3 games in a row by the identical score of 2-1? I was heartened that the pitching was really good for the most part. The biggest problem is consistency, and I hope we can get it going at Shea.
I will be hoping that everything you said goes from your mouth to God’s ears. LOL!
June 10th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Dana, you are the Eternal Mets Optimist, bar none. My hats are off to you. I just don’t think this team is better than the .500 team they’ve shown themselves to be over the last year, but you know what? I’ve decided I’m no longer going to let that bother me, now that it’s finally sunk in. Am I disappointed? Sure I am. I’m sure we all are, but as you said, there is much more baseball to be played and enjoyed, and I’m just going to try to take it one step at a time.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I am, by nature, an optimist. But I can tell a hawk from a handsaw. The 2008 Mets certainly show every sign of being just a .500 team, but like most .500 teams after 62 games, they could plausibly win anywhere from 70 to 90 games. There is, as yet, no really compelling reason to believe that it is impossible for this team to win 90 games and win its division and go on to win the World Series. It is early June. The Phillies are about 7 games ahead. Teams have been known to make up a 7 game deficit in the second half of September. And I don’t want to hear anything about how this team doesn’t have the heart or the spunk to do that. No one knows if that is true. No one knows what will happen if Ollie and Pedro settle into a fabulous groove. If I can’t be hopeful, I don’t see any point in caring about the Mets. I’ve got a lot of other things I could do with my time. As I say at many points in my book, hoping is the whole point of baseball fandom. If winning were the whole point, we have just wasted a massive number of collective years.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
“But I can tell a hawk from a handsaw.”
Spoken like an English professor. The sweep by the Braves had me thinking Milton. Now you’ve got me thinking what other insights the Bard had about baseball.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
“I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.” –Hamlet, Act II, scene ii (Hamlet, the original Mets fan, explaining that, despite all appearances, he’s not really crazy.)
Hamlet is definitely relevant to the “fire Willy or don’t fire Willy” aspect of this season. But I think we’ve mainly got a King Lear season on our hands here so far.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I hate to go negative because I have been trying really hard to keep in a positive frame of mind. But, the pitching was good against a team that is last in runs scored. They should be good. In addition, I am concerned that this team is just plain old mediocre. It feels like 2005 without the hope. The team can not consistently hit with RISP, the bench is dead last in the league in offensive production, we are saddled with aging relics that can’t seem to stay healthy for more than two weeks(start giving them the steroids already) and we insist on bringing up MLB has-beens from the minors rather than guys that are actually producing. Can someone explain to me why Casanova and Abraham Nunez are on the roster and not Pascucci and Aguila(it seems to me that we need outfielders not a third catcher and a retread that was not hitting in the minors)…ughhh. I am just so frustrated by this team. I don’t know the answer, nor will I pretend. But I am very uncomfortable adjusting to the new reality that I am back where we started with Willie, fighting to be a .500 ballclub. We had the WS in 2006 in our sights. We had a great start to 2007 and now look at what has happened to our beloved Metsies. Forgive me for the rant, but this is sad and I needed to vent. Thanks Mets Fans.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Well said, Pete.
It’s not just the wins and losses with this team. It’s the way they win and lose, and particularly the way they lose. They have followed a consistent recipe since mid-June of 2007. Score a lot early, never score again and have the bullpen cough up the lead. Leave lots of men on base. Get shut down by obscure pitchers.
My mind is numb with this season already. I want to be hopeful, but it’s hard for me to have blind faith - especially in a team that has the highest payroll in the NL.
And Pete - you make a great point about who the front office has chosen to bring up from the minors. I mean what the hell is going on with that???
Bizzare. Everything is just bizzare, sad, and infuriating this season, so far.
Stranger things have happened, for sure. Hell, in 2005 the Astros were dead in the water in mid-June, something like 19-32 and 10-14 games back. They won the pennant.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Dana…..I hope all is well. The 2008 Mets are fatiguing and unglorious. They are the least likable Mets team in a very long time. I don’t mind losing teams. What I do mind is teams without spirit. The tragedy of this team is that they never learned how to win. The fact is despite all of their heroics in 2006 they still couldn’t beat the Cardinals. And then last year the team aged prematurely and they just weren’t good enough to recover. They had their window and now it’s gone. When you watch teams like the Cubs, Phillies, Braves, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and others, you see exciting teams with great young players. The Mets have only two exciting young players (Reyes and Wright) who are starting to look like the old players surrounding them. Their starting pitching is overrated and their bullpen is totally unreliable.
I think the unfortunate truth is that this team is going nowhere. The Mets Fan who is foolishly fixated on trying to figure out who to blame ought to understand that blame is irrelevant. The issue now (regardless of who is in charge) is how to move forward. My recommendation is to back up the truck. Dump any salary you can. Stockpile draft picks. Grow, trade, and acquire young talent.
The true Met fan would rather route for a young team with spirit (regardless of their won and lost record) than an old team that looks tired and confused.
Having said all of this, as Met fans we are obligated to stick with our team, recognize that they are struggling, support them the best we can, and hope for the best. But this team is not deserving of the time that it has appropriated from me this season. Life is too short and there are too many other great things to do!
I’ll continue to hope for the best but only because I’ve been a Mets fan since 1962.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Mitch, Pete, Dana, Anthony — listen to how we sound. We’re all Mets Fans. Of course we are. We do not have the chemical composition to root for another baseball team. That said, I’m tired. I’m tired of wasting my evenings watching games that they lose after I go to bed. I’m tired of talking about what’s wrong with this team and how to fix it. I’ve decided to let go and just see where the world takes us. I don’t know if there’s a higher power of some sort directing things (especially baseball). But I do think that sometimes when you struggle so hard against the tide, you just make it worse. They are what they are. Maybe it’s mediocre, maybe its underperforming. Maybe it’s Willie, maybe its Omar, maybe its the Carloses. I don’t know. I’m just going to watch the games when I feel like it and not worry when I go to bed. My new slogan - LET GO METS!
Hmm… maybe they need to try this.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
You know, if the sports pages had writing and analysis as good as the commenters on my blog, I’d actually take the trouble to read them.
June 11th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Subie/Met Fans,
I completely agree. I am very tired, in fact I have grown weary. Furthermore, I have developed an attitude of indifference toward this team. For my sanity, emotional well being, and the well-being of my family I must develop a level of apathy or my life will completely crumble. My wife has begun to know whether the Mets won or lost based on my mood over coffee in the morning. She deserves much better. Why does this team do this to me. Its a f-ing game for chrissake. Yet, it follows me and I can’t shake it. Therefore, indifference is the only option.
I feel that we are experiencing the depths of fandom. I have always felt that being a baseball fan was great because you always had another game the next day to get over what ailed you the night before(not like in football where you have to wait a week). There was always hope of a better tomorrow. However, it can work in the opposite fashion. In that, our frustrations can compound with each loss…five in a row(taking the same beating night after night). This team has tormented my soul for the past year(remember last June..uggh) and I just can’t do it any more. I will still watch each game, but, thankfully I watch most games on DVR. I envision a lot more fast-forwarding when the team is losing. I just can’t bear it any longer. It really is time to move on or learn to feel good when they peak their heads above .500. If they were young and dumb as in 2004, I watched practically drooling at the talents of Reyes and Wright. Now, I find myself yelling at Jose or David. Something must change soon, where did this all go so wrong?
Fortunately, this blog seems to be filled with real fans. Not booers, not talk show parrots that simply mimic the latest irrational Beningo rant, or reiterate the latest smear delivered by yankee fan Francessa and idiot Mad-Dog. This is where real fans live and die each day with this damn team. For that I am grateful to Dana for maintaining the site that allows Met fans to vent their most irrational thoughts. Thanks!
June 11th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Thank you, Pete, for this heartfelt expression of the bottomless rage and angst of this moment in Mets history. This is definitely a no-fun zone. Being 30-33 is only fun when you are watching the development of unknown talent, when you’re watching a young team trying to find its way. I agree that this team is no fun. But I am dogged in my hope that it can become fun. If this keeps up much longer, I think I am going to come around to Mitch T’s yard sale approach.
And how would you like to be trying to sell a book about why you’re a Mets fan at this moment? The book is actually selling pretty well, but I can’t help but feel that the Mets are not exactly helping my sales during this Father’s Day season.