THE KILLER INSTINCT ... or not?

For many years I have come to believe that The New York Mets have lacked The Killer Instinct. They just never seemed to put the nail in the coffin, the stake in the heart, or come up with the knock out punch. Oh, they would have had their opponents against the ropes at times, but more often than not they would allow the other team to stay in the game, and have a chance to come back and win, and most of the time, the opponent would. How many times have The Mets scored, and scored big, just to let the opponent right back into the game the very next inning? How many times have they had bases loaded with less than two outs and had been unable to score even one run, let alone hit into a double play? How many times did they need to win the rubber match to sweep a series, yet lose, and lose badly, many times getting hammered?

The evening he was to pitch in the series against the Braves, Johan Santana was 4-1, when I heard a stat that floored me. For the prior twelve games Santana had not allowed more than 2 runs per game. Again, that is 2 runs per game, and yet he was only 4-1 at the time. What does that say about the team in which he is pitching for? It says a lot. It tells me that there is something missing from his teammates. That which I believe missing, The Killer Instinct.

When The Mets went out to face the San Francisco Giants and won the first three games convincingly they had me believing that they just might do it this time. Not so. Then they headed off to Los Angeles and got hammered by Joe Torre's Dodgers. Then off to Boston to play the Red Sox. This time they win the first two games, the second which was a nail biter, then in the final game they get hammered. Boston refused to let a team come into their home ballpark and sweep them. By the final games end, The Red Sox had the heart, the motivation to battle, The Mets on the other hand seemed to be happy with two-out-of-three. Which supported my thought ... does this team have the killer instinct?

Killer Instinct. Santana (7-2) has it. You can see it every time he is on the mound. Every time he throws a pitch. K-Rod (13-13) has it. Just watch him every time he takes the relief. Sheffield (see below for more on Sheff) seems to be showing it, but who else is willing to step up?

After last nights game against The Washington Nationals one might think that I would have to rethink that maybe this team does have The Killer Instinct, not so fast, the sweep was still against the 'Nats, but it is a start.

The Florida Marlins are coming into town this week. I am hopeful that it, "The Killer Instinct", will rear it's head again.

*****

Although brief, I must give my apologies to Gary Sheffield. When I first heard that the Mets were attempting to sign him, I was with those fans that were not happy. It was one of those moments again. Think about it, how many gone, over the hill, pass their prime players was Omar Minaya going to sign for more money than they were worth? Yet, here is Sheffield blasting them out of the ballpark, any ballpark, and making a difference. My only hope is that it lasts for the rest of the season. Gary, you have made a believer out of me.