Rotten to the Core

More later but for any regular readers, I'd just like to outline the crux of my last Mets story of the year:

1. Core - as constructed by Omar Minaya, the "core" of the team was poorly conceived as evidenced by Moises Alou, Luis Castillo, Marlon Anderson, etc. Even better contributors such as Ryan Church and Brian Schneider were flawed for one reason or another. I love Pedro but he really wasn't that hot. The irregulars were much better than the core. Murphy, Evans, Argenis Reyes, Easley, Tatis etc. outshone the regulars.

2. Cubs game - symbolic of everything wrrong with the Mets - Lou Piniella pitched to Wright, walked Beltran and Delgado and then got thru the rest of the lineup

3. Pitching - Relief REAL BAD, I mean what can you say...REAL BAD, did I say REAL BAD??

4. Amazing They Went As Far As They Did - Credit Jerry Manuel

5. Bad Luck - Losing Tatis and Church's concussion really screwed up the works. Castillo's return from the DL was awful as he was awful, the good chemistry of Argenis Reyes, the Reyes to Reyes doubleplay combo, was ruined. Wagner's injury may have been the nail in the coffin (except Ayala wasn't really that bad).

6. Next Year's Team Should Be:
catcher- delete Schneider - he has trade value but just doesn't get it done - what's wrong with Cancel and Castro?
1B - Keep Delgado - but not if he demands a long-term contract
2B - Give Argenis Reyes a chance, for pete's sake
3b - Wright - but he really needs to calm down in pressure situations - a shrink would be good
ss - Jose Reyes - what a player ! He'll improve with age
lf - platoon Murphy and Evans - why the heck not?
cf - Beltran - to me, he's the co-MVP with Delgado but less replaceable than Delgado
rf - Church and Tatis - platoon, Church just isn't good enough vs lefties, if he can be traded for some relief pitching, I wouldn't be disappointed. He was terrific before his injury though.

Bench - Endy Chavez, Damien Easley, delete Anderson, Alou, Castillo, get another first baseman to relieve Delgado if necessary.

Miscellaneous - get rid of the electronic garbage at the stadium - "Everybody Clap Your Hands" and all the other crap. Get rid of the organist too. To hear all that garbage when the Mets were losing the final game of the year was disgusting and offensive.

Thanks No Matter What

It's the bottom of the 6th at Shea, and the Mets are still down 3-1 to the Marlins and who knows how this thing will turn out. But as I've watched, I realize I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to watch certain players all season long. Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado....they've really given us their all, at the plate and in the field. This occurred to me as I watched Beltran run hard to catch up to one of those Texas Leaguers and make the sliding underhanded grass-skimming catch, the kind of play that can spark a team. That catch brought to mind other Beltran highlight-reel catches, his run into the wall the other day, pictured above, his over the shoulder hill-climbing grab in deepest centerrfield last year in Houston, and his face-smashing run into Mike Cameron. Jose, what can you say about Jose? Night in and night out, he does it all, at the plate, in the field, even in the dugout, and certainly on the basepaths. Tonight, I watched him charge to his left to snag a softly-hit ground ball, then fire to Delgado, who made a beautiful scoop of Jose's hurried throw to nail another Marlins baserunner. And that play brought to mind other plays only Jose could make, all those triples, Jose charging with that high-kicking gallop of his around second and on his way to third. Yeah, and Jose and his high-jumping pirouette to celebrate, well, just about everything. Delgado too, he's been the big guy at the plate, all those timely homers and doubles, sure, but pretty nifty around the bag too this year, at least in the second half. Where would this team be without Delgado? But, alas, there aren't really enough of these guys on this Mets team. You could argue that Wright belongs in this upper- echelon too, I guess, and it's true that he's been pretty steady all year. And he has a knack for making the spectacular play at third, but too often he misses the easy ones. And too often he doesn't hit when you need him the most. My point is .... this team's been a lot of fun to watch, whether or not it makes the playoffs. But there just isn't enough balance. There are the superstars I've mentioned and then a bunch of guys who try hard; sometimes they'll come through but more often they won't. I cringe when I see some of them. I won't name names, we know who they are. Yeah, it's 4-1 now and Feliciano has failed again, and Heilman is on his way to ruining any chance the Mets will have to come back in this thing. How often have we seen that? A lot. Wright just made a great stop of a hard line drive to keep the Mets in it but here's Willingham to face Heilman with the bases loaded. Advantage Willingham, at least in this situation. It's hard to think of a batter who wouldn't have the advantage against Heilman. Heilman steps off the bag, he's afraid to let it go. I don't blame him. He misses outside, it's 3 and 2 now in another excruciating Mets moment. Now he forces in the 5th run with a ball thrown not only into the dirt but into the dirt about four feet in front of the plate. And here comes Manuel. Again. So...does this team deserve to make the playoffs? Not really. There just aren't enough good players. I won't harp on the relief staff again, but really.....and what could this team accomplish in the playoffs anyway? But they're fun to watch. There can be no doubt about that. Thanks, Carlos and Carlos and Jose. Oh, and Johan too. Too bad there aren't more like you.

A Time For Heroes

It's that time of the year when a team needs its heroes to take it over the top. The Mets have two or three right now, Johan Santana, Carlos Delgado and Daniel Murphy. I would say not for David Wright. Swinging at a pitch a foot out of the strike zone with the winning run on third base automatically disqualified him. I guess he was going for the RBI record. Well, that's cool, David, but there was a ball game to be won.

The Mets lost again tonight and I'm sick about it. I've stood by this team through all the thick and thin of this season, the drought under Willie Randolph, the totally foreseeable injuries to ancient Latinos, and the horrible relief pitching. But tonight's loss was so excruciating that I think I'm done. I can't root for a team that plays the game the way the Mets played it tonight.

The Mets needed a hero tonight. Carlos Delgado tried to be the man again by smacking a grand slam. Daniel Murphy certainly tried his best to win with his triple to lead off the bottom of the ninth. The score was tied. They just needed one run, 90 feet. But Wright was either going for the Mets RBI record or was just plain over-anxious. He foolishly struck out. On a pitch about as close to the strike zone as the dugout.

I mean....things aren't bad enough. The ridiculous President wants to spend 700 billion dollars we don't have to bail out the financial industry. The economy's in danger. Well, HELLO, the economy's been in danger ever since you took the reins. The Governor wants to double the tolls on our Parkway and Turnpike to help the construction industry. Well, guys, what about us? What about the poor saps who've been working all their lives to try to make ends meet?

And now this. My principal diversion in life, the Mets, can't make a fire with a box of matches and a can of gasoline. A squeeze would have brought the runner home. You've got about 20 speedsters on the roster. All they had to do was pinch-run for Murphy and lay one down. Pinch-hit for Wright if he's not able. (But not Castillo, that would be asking too much).

So it wasn't the relief pitching tonight. It was just bad baseball. Stupid baseball, the kind they played for three months under Willie. I'm tired of it. This team doesn't deserve to win, plain and simple. They just don't get it. They just don't get it done. They don't deserve to win anything, not the World Series, not the NL East and not a wildcard. They just deserve whatever record they wind up with, and second place is even more than they deserve.

Look around at the other teams in the various races around the league. Look at the Brewers. They had C.C. Sabathia pitching on three days rest tonight and he was great. Prince Fielder has been playing his heart out in these money games, reminding me of his Dad in his glory days.

Look at the Red Sox. Big Papi played half the season with a wrist that wasn't working right. A little fella named Dustin Pedroia was batting cleanup and doing a bang-up job of it. They lost Manny and didn't miss a beat. Players stepped up (oh no, did I really say that)?

The Dodgers won something like nine in a row once they replaced Jeff Kent as second base. Joe Torre just keeps on rolling. The White Sox, the Twins, they have guys who come to play. They try hard every day and look pretty consistent every day. Not like these Mets.

If only the Phillies hadn't lost again and revived my hopes. If only they hadn't had so many chances that they may as well have thrown away. If only I hadn't been looking for a hero who never materialized. After all, the Mets just have early-inning heroes.

Yes, the Mets are still in the race, I realize that. But, after last night,I think it's just a mathematical anomaly. The heroes are all in Milwaukee.