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As hope for October baseball is becoming no louder than a whisper, the only thing i could think of is if this crisis that has befallen the Mets is good for us? I know is hard to realize with all the distractions this season but we are still  in the inaugural season of Citi Field and while I believe it is safe to say that this season is unlike any season in Mets history, we could be in the midst of the renaissance that we all believed would happen in this new era. Ever since 2006 when we won the NL east but failed to make it to the World Series, I have noticed a sort of “front runner” mentality develop within the fan base. It seems that the little hint of success has somewhat spoiled us into forgetting about our past. As this game is fond of doing to even the best of them, it brings people back to earth. We were known for much of our history as the “underdog”. Mostly because while we ended up losing year after year and kept getting out shined by the Yankees and Braves, we felt that every year would be the year we would give those guys a run for their money.
Im sure there are more seasoned fans out there that are sick of where this team is right now and the two seasons that have passed but i wonder where have their memory gone when we use to lose 100 games and finish dead last? Where have their memory gone when we had that amazing run in the 90′s and missed the playoffs by one game? While Omar Minaya gets criticised by many fans for his decisions, there is no denying that he has given us a chance to compete every year and that is something that we were not used to for the better part of the 90′s. I believe that because of Omars insisting of putting a better product on the field, the “underdog” mentality phased away and we were “expected” to succeed.
The reality however is that baseball doesn’t work that way. Omar have built a team that has failed to get the job done in all 4 years of his tenure and this team looks even less than capable to accomplish the goal of bringing a ring to Queens. I wonder however, if the team we have now is the team that we deserve. Maybe we needed to be humbled to this point. Maybe this is the games way of giving a history lesson. I still believe we can get the job done but i also believe this team needs to get back to the basics. What better way to do that than to play with less than half of your resources and still put up a fight? What better way to do this than to take away the argument that the Mets are a big money team when as of right now we have an active team payroll that is comparable to that of  the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles? What better way to erase the stigma and stereotype that surrounds this team that somehow they lack passion and grit by showing the nation that even though we may not have our superstars, the guys that are still here will put on a show and never give up?
I think we are in the middle of one of the most memorable seasons in Met history and an inaugural year that hopefully will be talked about for years. The season where we all witnessed David Wright become the leader. The season where we witnessed heroism from the most unlikely of sources in Omir Santos and Fernando Nieve. One thing that Ive enjoyed about being a baseball fan is the emotional roller coaster that each season gives me for 7 months. I believe we are strapped in for one helluva ride that we all cant wait to get to the end as our knuckles turn white. Lets go Mets.
26 comments
QnsNative718
6/23/2009-4:33pm at 4:33 pm (UTC -4)
Yea! Great post, Dirty! The Mets should get one of those life-sized posters like they had in “Major League”. With every victory, the Mets take off one piece of cloting from… Kim Kardashian. Whoo hoo!
dirtysanchez
6/23/2009-4:38pm at 4:38 pm (UTC -4)
hahahah good pick!
vida guerra for me
QnsNative718
6/23/2009-4:41pm at 4:41 pm (UTC -4)
My laptop wallpaper is of Vida Guerra. Angels molded her body…
dirtysanchez
6/23/2009-4:43pm at 4:43 pm (UTC -4)
lol that would be a good piece when we get on a roll…good poll question but i dont want to alienate our female following lol
QnsNative718
6/23/2009-4:39pm at 4:39 pm (UTC -4)
“I wonder however, if the team we have now is the team that we deserve. Maybe we needed to be humbled to this point. Maybe this is the games way of giving a history lesson.”
Very good point, Dirty. Before 2006 we were always the underdog, even when we made those runs in the late 90s. But 2007 came around and alot of us thought like Yankee fans, myself included.
With all thats happened, I do think this will be a reason to remember and not for all the wrong reasons…
dirtysanchez
6/23/2009-4:42pm at 4:42 pm (UTC -4)
agreed…a win like last night really opened my eyes to that. A collective team effort and the team looked like a unit and not a bunch of parts.
billydeewilliams
6/23/2009-4:52pm at 4:52 pm (UTC -4)
of course, we could also be witnessing mediocrity at its finest, and a season of utter disaster.
sorry for being a negative nancy.
CaseStreet
6/23/2009-5:06pm at 5:06 pm (UTC -4)
This post made me think of early this year when the team’s stars went to play the WBC and Jerry was left with a makeshift team that despite lacking their star players, played great team baseball.
It’s Back to Spring Training for the Mets!
mrose
6/23/2009-5:21pm at 5:21 pm (UTC -4)
anyone else heading to tongiht’s game?
CaseStreet
6/23/2009-5:23pm at 5:23 pm (UTC -4)
you know if we lose, everyone’s gonna blame you
GravediggerHebner
6/23/2009-5:33pm at 5:33 pm (UTC -4)
Who is Tongiht and what is his game? Texas Hold ‘em? Rummy? Pinochle? Ah, it doesn’t matter, I’ve got no money to gamble anyway. I hope you win!
GravediggerHebner
6/23/2009-5:35pm at 5:35 pm (UTC -4)
So does this piece suggest that the Wilpons are deliberately trying to lose so they can move the team to Miami?
dirtysanchez
6/23/2009-6:06pm at 6:06 pm (UTC -4)
loll
rustyjr
6/23/2009-6:28pm at 6:28 pm (UTC -4)
lol no to california – census records indicate that many old brooklyn dodger fans of the jewish persuasion are burried there lol
gipperpdx
6/23/2009-6:07pm at 6:07 pm (UTC -4)
I dunno…I never liked the argument of, “well, at least we’re better than our sorry history, so we should be happy.” Always struck me as a loser attitude.
Some of us who have been around since the 70s (or before) are bitter with this bunch BECAUSE we know the windows to win it all don’t stay open long. The 68-73 era got us to the WS twice, with only one win. The 85-89 bunch got us to the WS once, with a win. Most fans who lived through that era and the players themselves feel that team could have /should have won 3 titles…they were that good. Other than that, we’ve never really had the horses to win it all (I look at 2000 as a huge over-achievement). That’s two windows in a early 50 year history. Now, we see this supremely talented 05-current team, and worry that the window for this bunch is closing.
GravediggerHebner
6/23/2009-6:24pm at 6:24 pm (UTC -4)
I find valid and support everything you said except “the window for this bunch is closing.” I don’t see how the window can be closing on David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey and Francisco Rodriguez. For Beltran and Santana I see 3 more years of window, and the other guys are younger and have a much wider window, and are still on the ascent in their overall ML careers. I think if this group hasn’t won it all by the end of 2011, then I will join you in the “window for this bunch is closing” thought process, but not yet.
rustyjr
6/23/2009-6:27pm at 6:27 pm (UTC -4)
As i keep saying my friends – the Mets fans mantra – “HOPE FOR THE BEST !!! …. expect the worse”
gipperpdx
6/23/2009-7:23pm at 7:23 pm (UTC -4)
I know what you are saying Grave, but these “windows” don’t always match the ages of your best players….it can be far more intangible. That said, there is reason for hope (assuming the right pieces are found around them, and assuming Beltran and Reyes will be healthy again) for the next couple of years. However, I would have liked to have seen at least a WS appearance or two by now from this group / in this window.
GravediggerHebner
6/23/2009-8:27pm at 8:27 pm (UTC -4)
That’s fair. I think the 2006 team should have made it to the Series, and that they didn’t now makes the angst that much greater. After the overall disappointment of the mid-80′s group only making it to one, I haven’t viewed any particular era of Met team as needing to make more than one appearance in the WS to validate itself in my eyes. So perhaps even a more pessimistic view is correct: this team should’ve made it in 2006, it didn’t and now we have to retool and try all over again. But before I allow myself to truly believe that, either this group is going to have to stay together and continue to fail to make it to the Series through 2011, or this group is going to have to be broken up before that. Only in either of those situations will I consider the window closed.
dirtysanchez
6/23/2009-6:55pm at 6:55 pm (UTC -4)
you feel that way but at least you have seen the mets win a world series and remember it. I have yet to see the mets win a ws. Im not saying that arguement. What im saying is that “underdog” mentality i think has been missing the last few years. Maybe we need to take a step back to take two foward.
gipperpdx
6/23/2009-6:08pm at 6:08 pm (UTC -4)
Man, Omar didn’t sound too optimistic on WFAN.
rustyjr
6/23/2009-6:26pm at 6:26 pm (UTC -4)
I’m just surprised nobody asked him again why he didn’t go after a power bat during the off season especially since abreu ibanez and dunn went relatively cheap
oleosmirf
6/23/2009-6:39pm at 6:39 pm (UTC -4)
cause he got Putz and K-Rod and resigned Ollie. Why do anything else??
rustyjr
6/23/2009-6:45pm at 6:45 pm (UTC -4)
damn – love yer sarcasm lol
rustyjr
6/23/2009-6:25pm at 6:25 pm (UTC -4)
Luis Castillio : “fruk jobu i do it myself”
metsfan4decades
6/23/2009-6:57pm at 6:57 pm (UTC -4)
Great post! As a long time Met fan, I can’t say I ever had the same mindset about the team – even from year to year – except ‘underdogs’. The only season I EVER thought we’d go all the way right up front was in 1987…..and look how that turned out.
Even in 2006, I held my breath for the first half waiting for the other show to drop and them to come back down to earth. By Aug. I was giddy. Of course game 7 took all the wind out of my sails.
This year? I started out the season thinking we should win the devision but several weeks ago went right back to the ‘underdogs’. It’s easier and allows me to enjoy the games more. LOL.