I want you to do me a favor, I want you to go to your nearest dictionary and look up the word Mets. Do you know what your going to find? Yesterday’s loss-right down to the Boyer being designated for assignment.
You know the routine right, the Mets are cruising on a Sunday afternoon in front of about 40,000 faithful fans. The starter goes a good seven innings giving up one run and suddenly, the wheels come off and you’ve come to the conclusion that you have invested 2 hours of your time into a loss that it reminiscent of so many others.
Here’s the funny thing about yesterday, I knew it. It was like watching an accident you knew it was going to happen-like a two year old running around your living room, it’s only a matter of time before he hits the corner of an end table.
I was waiting for the eighth inning rally by the Nats to tie the game. And I wasn’t surprised when Reyes gets on base with no out and is left staring at the visitors dugout after the ninth.
This is not about Terry Collins and any moves that he made yesterday for I believe there was nothing he could have done to prevent what happened in front of him. This game was “in the books” from the first pitch. I kinda felt bad for him in the press conference when he was left trying to explain why he didn’t use Parnell. Poor Collins, he has to now realize that logic and the baseball Gods have passed over Citi Field and left it in the dust years ago. If he were to just make a phone call to Jerry Manuel he might find out exactly what he’s in for.
Sounds kind of bleak right?
No, it shouldn’t be because the Mets are a .500 team. They are going to lose games like this to teams that don’t resemble the Nationals but that ARE the Nationals.
The Met bullpen will make guys like I-Rod believe that their career still has some life in it. They will make a team that hasn’t won 1 in a row win suddenly 3.
The scary part of all of this is that I’m not even upset. I’m not even ranting about how the Mets should have won yesterday if Reyes stole second or Hairston can’t bunt him over. There is nothing to say about the Met loss yesterday except the fact that I have seen it time and time again.
And it’s totally expected.
Two years ago I would have thrown my beer across my yard or called up my friend and ranted about who should be fired or sent down.
I’m done with all that. Every time a Met game begins, I’m just going to sit down a watch with a total open mind-and ZERO expectations. That’s the kind of fan I’ve become. I’ll take the little things from the game like Capuano’s performance and file it but besides that, I’ll not let it trouble me. And for the record, I’ll watch and pull for the Mets to win every game this year.
This is not me being a Pessimistic or a downer, it’s just me not being shocked about what occurred yesterday in Flushing.
5 comments
njstuckintx
4/11/2011-9:48am at 9:48 am (UTC -4)
I think about 2 weeks time is enough to begin to worry about the year, no? Well, maybe not worry, but a strong sense of concern is creeping in.
TRS86
4/11/2011-9:52am at 9:52 am (UTC -4)
I have been saying that expecting anything out of a .500 team is going to get you frustrated and perhaps make take away your ability to enjoy a team that overall is very likable.
metsfan4decades
4/11/2011-9:54am at 9:54 am (UTC -4)
I hear you, Gonzo.
Every game my Dad calls me up somewhere in the middle/late innings. If they’re winning the question is always ‘so what do you think? think they’ll win this’?
If they’re losing it’s ‘think they’ll pull this out’?
Yesterday was no exception. He called me up in the bottom of the 7th and my response was: ‘Dad, it’s the Mets. I’m not counting anything in the bag until the last pitch.’
I disagree this loss was in the books from the first pitch. Simply because as a .500 team I expect them to win half. This is one they should have won. We can discuss Duda out there in the late innings or Reyes not running but this is all on the BP, period. You can’t have a 1 hit/1 run 7 inning performance from your starter and have the BP come in and give up 6 runs.
I wouldn’t have expected Parnell to be in there as he pitched the two days previously. And let’s face it, he didn’t look any better on Sat then any of them did yesterday. He just got lucky that he managed to get out of it on Sat before he did any damage. In fact, Frankie wasn’t much better.
As a .500 team you expect to get beat by stellar pitching and a good offense. You don’t expect your BP to hand the opposition the game. Then again, haven’t we been looking at this same script since 2007?
Sigh….
Dirtysanchez
4/11/2011-10:12am at 10:12 am (UTC -4)
I still think this team is better than .500. This just highlighted a problem that alot of people were concerned about. The mets are not the first nor the last team to have the bullpen turn a win into a loss. Im sure even the mighty lords of baseball…of course the phillies….have had this situation happen to them. Ask roy halladay how many games the pen blew for him and why he didnt go 31-0
Dirtysanchez
4/11/2011-10:14am at 10:14 am (UTC -4)
And while sunday may have gone in “textbook” fashion, the reaction from the FO was no where near “textbook” and I think deserves a bit of cred for that. They saw a problem and fixed it immediately without deliberating for months meanwhile the team continues to suffer.