What really grinds my gears is why people are even still questioning the edge/heart/grit/fire/emotions/edge of this team. In my opinion, right now they are showing more of these attributes than they ever had in their past. They have 40% of their opening day roster on the DL and are only 4 games behind the division leading Phillies. Now im sure we can debate how much influence the Phillies have on that fact but i dont think there is any denying that what the Mets are doing right now is extraordinary.
The Mets are getting the job done with bench players such as Tatis and Cora, with rookies like Daniel Murphy(i know he “technically” doesnt count as a rookie but imo he is still a rookie) and Fernando Martinez, with better than advertised outings by Livan Hernandez and Pedro Feliciano. Several people have stepped up in this troubled time that have given us hope to fight another day in Bobby Parnell and Omir Santos. I mean the Mets went through a similar problem back in 2008 but it was never as bad as this and by this time last year, we were worse off! My problem with terms like grit/clutch/heart/fire/emotions/edge is they are all subjective and everyone has a different definition for these terms. Was David Wright clutch when he got that hit off Mariano Rivera to drive in the go ahead run? Did Omir Santos show grit by hitting a game winning 2 run shot off Jonathan Papelbon? Did Carlos Beltran show heart/fire/emotions when he told the media he was “embarrassed” and “we are a better team than that”? Did Gary Sheffield show edge when he stole second and caused the error that allowed him to go to third, which he eventually scored the game winning run? Funny that all the examples outside of Beltran have to do with them winning…hmmm?
I believe with the way the Mets have been valiantly fighting this year to stay in the race even with all the injuries and obstacles has to be commended and noticed. The Phills have earned the nick name “fighting Phills” for their ability to come back late in games. How is it that the Mets have more injuries than any team in the MLB and they have managed to stay 4 games back so far this year out of first, yet their heart/grit/edge/emotions are still being questioned?
10 comments
DNDJohan aka kistics
6/16/2009-5:34pm at 5:34 pm (UTC -4)
YES! COMPLETELY AGREED!
We just need to get more talent.
DNDJohan aka kistics
6/16/2009-5:37pm at 5:37 pm (UTC -4)
To add to your post dirty, Mets have continuously came back and won games after some brutal losses like against the Phils in April, or Against the Yanks last weekend.
In these games, Mets are viewed as the underdogs and I think it gives more fire to them.
We just need to get more talent..
stickguy
6/16/2009-5:41pm at 5:41 pm (UTC -4)
that, and the fans have longer memories than the players.
stickguy
6/16/2009-5:40pm at 5:40 pm (UTC -4)
Or more cowbell…
Agree with your points (and I have always believed tht chemisty follows winning too). But still, with all the “grit”, etc. they have shown, it would be nice to not throw away games on LL errors and bone head plays.
If they were getting smoked 15-0 on a regular basis, I would give up hope. But, losing games they should have won, against top teams? That means they are competitive, and should win from here on out.
I don’t expect them to lose 3-4 games a week on dropped pop ups for the rest of the season.
darknova306
6/16/2009-6:01pm at 6:01 pm (UTC -4)
It’s not just dropped pop-ups, there’s plenty of other boneheaded plays they make. Not to mention the frequently comical baserunning. Yeah, they’re staying competitive in games, but they’re also playing some pretty consistently lousy defense. I think we should expect more of what we’ve seen over the first 60-ish games.
GravediggerHebner
6/16/2009-6:06pm at 6:06 pm (UTC -4)
If we get exactly the same as we’ve got over these first 60-ish games then the Mets will go 85-77. I’m going to operate on the belief that through some combination of injured players returning and/or newly acquired players and/or the improvement of the majority of the players currently here (which at least for the hitters, based on things like BABIP and LD% is to be expected) that the team will finish a little better than that.
darknova306
6/16/2009-6:37pm at 6:37 pm (UTC -4)
Well, I didn’t mean we’d keep the same winning percentage, just that we’ll keep playing shoddy ball and losing games we should have won. We’ll be back far enough by the ASB where we’d have to go on an unrealisticly dominant run to finish the season in the WC slot. I’d say 81-83 wins at best, right now.
If Johan can prove that he’s healthy and can get things together again, I’ll have a bit more confidence. Great pitchers don’t become batting practice overnight…
GravediggerHebner
6/16/2009-6:09pm at 6:09 pm (UTC -4)
I think 3rd base showed a lot of grit in getting Ryan Church to miss it, and home plate showed a ton of heart causing Carlos Beltran not to slide into it. I also think that Alex Rodriguez’s pop up displayed an infinite amount of edge when it refused to be caught by Luis Castillo. In fact, over the entire history of the Mets the scoreboard hit column has shown incredible emotion by refusing to allow a game to be finished with a zero in it.
metsfan4decades
6/16/2009-7:36pm at 7:36 pm (UTC -4)
Ouch – lol.
I think it does say alot that we’re only 4 out with all the injuries however….off the top of my head I can think of at least 4 games we should have won if not for errors or shoddy base running blunders.
Kingman 26
6/16/2009-9:04pm at 9:04 pm (UTC -4)
Dirty, let the record show that in all of my posts and comments lately which have been somewhat critical of/disappointed in the team, and all of the comments about the basrunning and sloppy fielding, and criticism of Jerry and the medical staff, I have never ONCE questioned the team’s heart/grit/edge/fire/nads/balls/nuts/etc.
We need more talent and a manager who stresses fundamentals more.
I have ALWAYS thought Wright was going to be a great leader, and the way he just nearly attacked Big Pelf in the dugout, and the way he has played this year, only shows that I may be wright about that.