We Thought It Couldn't Get Worse - We Were Wrong

Should we even talk about the Mets getting swept today by the Washington Nationals after K-Rude gave up a pinch-hit grand slam homerun in the ninth, sending the Mets to a 7-4 defeat other than to say my contacts in Anaheim were right when they said Rodriguez didn't have enough stamina to make it through the season?

Good thing for KRod the Mets are so far out of it and fan interest is the lowest it's ever been, or we'd be talking about this guy like we talked about Armando Benitez. But enough of the games, the season, the sweeps to last place teams, the strikeouts in key situations, the horrible starting pitching, the bad managing - enough of it all!

Let's talk about some other interesting developments sure to embarrass the team in the very near future:

1. It's not the Mets fault they've had a bad season... it's the uniform's fault! The Mets are contemplating uniform changes for next season, where they'll drop their traditional pinstrips to more of a cream color. Great!... next year we'll be watching the San Francisco Giants play home games at Dodger Stadium East. Who's making the decisions in this organization!?!?!


2. Bobby Valentine is returning to ESPN as a baseball analyst. But wouldn't he look so much better in a Mets uniform? And regardless of what you think of him, don't the Mets REALLY need this guy as their manager right now? Believe it or not, most Met fans I know are actually rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series to put more pressure on the Mets to do something right for their fanbase. Like hiring this guy back! Don't let him go to the Nationals (or worse yet - the Braves after Bobby Cox retires). But it's the Mets... they'll embarrass themselves I'm sure.
   
3. Surprise, surprise: Jose Reyes needs surgery. It just took the team until 3 games were left in the season to figure it out. Now I'm no doctor, but didn't just about everyone see this coming as far back as July? Everyone, that is - except the Mets medical staff. I wouldn't trust them to treat my common cold, yet they continue to be paid, employed, and probably the key personnel in Obama's universal health care plan.

That's it. There are tons of other embarrassing situations the Mets are working on, but I'm tired of it all and really need to get some sleep. With "Hey Jude", the Beatles once sang: "Take a sad song... and make it better... "

But with the Mets, it's more like: "Take a bad team... and make it sadder..."

Mets Are Embarrassing, but Not THIS Embarrassing

When you lose to the likes of the 100-plus-losses Washington Nationals as the Mets did last night, you know you've got to be embarrassed. The Mets have been an embarrassment, a train wreck, a complete mess, a dysfunctional organization, a leadership devoid and fundamentally flawed team all season.

But when you talk about total embarrassment, you have to hand it to some of the best teams in the league with their pathetic "celebrations" after clinching their respective post-season berths. If you watched the Yankees, Dodgers, Angels, and Cardinals "clinch", you'd have thought they all won the World Series with their on-field celebrations. Guys, you had your divisions locked up since July!!! It was just a matter of time. Jumping around, mauling players, the ridiculous "we're number one finger pointed in the air", the on field hugging - it's all embarrassing when winning isn't spontaneous or unlikely. Good thing we Met fans don't have to worry about that!

Now if the Twins beat the Tigers, or the Braves somehow overtake the Rockies, then I'm all for the celebrations, mainly because the result is truly an accomplishment. When you lead your division by 10 games, you don't need to celebrate a mere playoff appearance.

What really gets me is the lip service you get from some of these teams. The Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Cardinals, Phillies, and Dodgers are all on record saying that anything but a World Series victory is a failure. Well if that's the case, why are you all jumping up and down after beating the Royals to reach the postseason in a meaningless game? How embarrassing!

When the 1986 Mets had a 21 game lead and "clinched" the postseason, before their "clinching game", Davey Johnson instructed his players to celebrate, shake hands, have fun, but remember that was only the first step and they had a lot more work ahead of them before the "actual" celebration. That created the mindset of the team advancing towards their goal.

Besides being totally embarrassing (like the ridiculous jumping up and down in unison at home plate after a walk-off win), excessive on-field celebrations for expected outcomes sends a very bad psychological message to the players, as if to say they've already reached their goal. In fact, you can look it up: the greater the meaningless on-field celebration, the less likely a team will go further in the post-season.

And if you haven't had your fill of embarrassments, remember the Mets still play 2 more against Washington before finishing out the season at home against Houston. There will be no celebrations.

Mets Swept by Braves... (Yawn!)

Like we all didn't know this was going to happen. So who at the game WASN'T yawning? As predicted, the Braves beat up on the Mets again last night, sweeping the series at Citi Field and making Mets fans envious of a manager about to call it quits. Yes, Braves manager Bobby Cox indicated before the game that the 2010 season will be his last - that news was met with great disappointment to the fans down in Atlanta.

Could you imagine what the reaction would be if Mets fans were told 2009 would be Manuel's last? A ticker-tape parade perhaps? Partying in the streets of Queens? It would certainly go a long way in instilling some fan confidence for next year at the least, right? Anyway, we can dream can't we?

Did anyone not know the Mets were going to be swept in this series? In fact, to the Mets credit, I'm surprised they kept it as close as they did during Tuesday night's 3-1 loss and yesterday's 5-2 loss.

And if you attended any of the three games, you got exactly what you deserved - other than "My boss couldn't go to the game so he gave me his ticket" or "I called a radio station and won free tickets to tonight's game", you really have to be a sadist to actually make a conscious effort and say, you know, I'm going to the Met game tonight and I'm going to have a great time watching my hometown team play their hearts out and spoil the hated Braves chances of making the postseason.

I'm reminded of Aerosmith: Dream on... dream on... dream on... dream until your dreams come true!

Mets Manhandle Powerhouse Nats

Over the weekend, the Mets won 2 out of 3 games against arguably the worst team in baseball. That's good - they did what they were supposed to do. But that's the extent of it. They were playing the Nationals. To read some of the posts and recaps I've seen in the newspapers and online, you'd think they pulled an amazing upset of the Yankees or something.

1. "Redding Pitches a Gem"
2. "Maine Back To Domination After Strong Outing"
3. "Mets Show Why Citi Field is Home With Big Series Win"
4. "Francoeur Making Case For Contract Extension With Heavy Hitting"

Folks, lets tone it down a bit. Again, not that wins are bad, but here's the real headlines you should be reading:

1. "Tim Redding Shuts Down Bad Team as Mets Edge Out 3-2 Victory"
2. "John Maine Pitches 5 Solid Innings To Move Nats Closer to 100 Season Losses"
3. "Mets Finally Win a Home Series in September Using Last Place Team as Patsy"
4. "Francoeur Goes 5 for 12 with ONE rbi During Weekend Series - Makes Final Out in Only Met Loss"

The Mets have avoided 100 losses for their inaugural Citi Field season. That's what we have to hang on hats on. Let's just tell it like it is however. My fingers are crossed, but I wonder how the likes of John Maine, Tim Redding, and the rest of the Mets pitching staff will fare against the wild-card chasing Braves during the next three games at Citi. My guess is the headlines won't sound as rosy.

Can Your Dog Do This?

Play dead!

The Mets sure can. They continued a miserable season Tuesday night falling to the Braves 6-0 in a game where they got only 4 measly hits against Braves rookie Tommy Hanson, a sure bet for the National League Rookie of the Year Award. While the Braves continue to breed young talent year after year, the Mets farm system is dead as evidenced by the string of pitchers they put on display during this game.

Pat Misch starting, followed by Elmer Dessens, Ken Takahashi, and Brian Stokes... Don't the Mets play in New York? Don't they have resources other teams can only dream of? We all know about the injuries that have plagued this team this year due to the Curse of Shea Stadium (stadiums don't like it when they're torn down and rebuilt as a memento to another ballpark), but seriously, this is the best this team can do?!?!

Where's our Tommy Hanson? Where's our Joba Chamberlain? Where's our Tim Lincecum? Once again, we have to bring up a sore point - the Mets scouting staff needs a serious and complete overhaul. It's going to take years to overcome the damage Tony Bastardard did to this organization as director of player development. And remember, it was Omar's "judgement" that hired this guy in the first place.

Roll Over!

The Mets sure can. In yesterday's game, the Mets took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, then rolled over and died as Frankie Rod blew another save due to bad pitching, bad defense, and overall lifeless play. Anytime you start Bobby Parnell (who's no Tommy Hanson, that's for sure) and can actually take a lead in that game, you have to win it. But finger crossing, horseshoe hanging, and four-leaf clover clutching all did nothing to entice this team to show any kind of heart. Didn't Bobby Valentine get fired for not motivating players?

Beg

That's something we Met fans are getting used to as well. Please, please, please... fire Minaya. Please, I beg of you please... enough of Jerry Manuel. Please, I implore you, please... sell the team. We've heard that a lot over the past few months, right?

Why is it when the Braves are bad, they still come into New York and put a beating on the Mets - But when the Mets are bad, they visit the Ted in Atlanta and play dead and roll over for their opponents? Even your dog deserves better entertainment than this.

I shudder to think what's in store for this team in tonight's finale. And when the Washington Nationals start saying things like "Well, we have the Mets this weekend" as a comeback to the question "Will this team lose 100 games this year?", you know you're in trouble.

What a Difference One Small Letter Makes

New York fans were electrified yesterday watching perhaps the best debut of an NFL quarterback in years. That's right, Mark Sanchez was almost Brady-esque in leading the Jets to an improbable victory shown to a nationwide audience.

Oh wait... this is METSfanclub.com! - In that case, John Maine returned, pitched 3 innings and took a hard-luck loss after Tobi Stoner blew it for him.

But the real story this weekend was defense. In fact, New York's opponent didn't even score until well over 75% of the game was complete when Dominique Barber scored on a 48-yard fumble recovery for the Texan's only score of the game.

Oh wait... this is METSfanclub.com! - In that case, Philadelphia scored in the first inning of both games, sweeping the Mets in a day-night doubleheader 5-4, and 1-0 respectively.

And talk about a crowd! Despite playing on the road, many in attendance were routing feverishly for their New York squad, with their brand new coach and new-look team playing with the heart of a champion!

Oh wait.. this is METSfanclub.com - In that case, the Mets-Phillies game on ESPN drew the lowest ratings in the history of Sunday night MLB telecasts in a game that not a soul cared about, except maybe to watch the 5-0 Pedro Martinez throw 130 pitches in defeating his ex-team once again. Nah, I much rather have Tim Redding than Pedro, right Omar? Pedro's finished, right?

And talk about huge plays being made by franchise players, both on offense, defense, and special teams!

Oh wait.. this is METSfanclub.com - In that case, David Wright went 1 for 8 in the doubleheader, including 4 strikeouts.

After witnessing only what can be described as an unexpected, electrifying performance by an up-and-coming and likeable team, New York fans have the entire season to remain optimistic of postseason play, perhaps even a Superbowl appearance in the near future.

Oh wait... this is METSfanclub.com - In that case, with yesterday's second loss of the day, the Mets were officially eliminated from the playoffs.

What a difference one small letter makes. If only we could replace the "M" in Mets with the "J" in Jets, maybe Met fans would have something to look forward to.

On The Field at Citi-Field

These days, the Mets are playing so poorly, it's almost like you really have to get paid to visit Citi Field, much less buy a ticket yourself.

And so it goes for big-time Mets fan Tara, from TaraMetBlog.com who recently had the opportunity to be on the field (literally) at Citi Field for a Verizon FIOS demo. We thought we'd post her video here for all to enjoy (since you obviously can't enjoy Citi Field when the Mets are on the field):

Mets Play Rotten Spoilers

Remember the last few years when the Florida Marlins would play the Mets in September and - despite being totally out of postseason contention - play spoilers to the Mets chances of reaching the playoffs? Back then we would listen to the TV commentators and read articles in the newspaper and magazines about how even though teams were out of it, professional ballplayers still play for pride and some even relish in their spoiler role.

Well things have gone so wrong for the Mets, they can't even play the role of a spoiler right! They're even bad at that! In yesterday's 13-4 loss to the Marlins, they:

1. Got swept for the first time at CitiField by a National League team
2. Saw starter Bobby Parnell walk consecutive batters with the bases loaded. (the Mets now lead the major leagues with 19 bases-loaded walks)
3. Watched centerfielder Angel Pagan forget how many outs there were.
4. Had Luis Castillo show off another head-scratching disaster at 2nd base.
5. Struck out 10 times or more once again.
6. Never had a 1-2-3 inning until the ninth.

Where are the fundamentals? Where is the focus? I guess closed door meetings don't work, as that's the way the Mets began the day. And here's an actual quote by manager Jerry Manuel:

"Every time I have a meeting we seem to play bad, so I guess we won't have anymore meetings"

I hope he was kidding, but doesn't the lackluster play, the brain-farts, the total lack of urgency this team exhibits, all fall under this guy's watch? What kind of message does the Mets organization send when they tell us despite the fact this team can't even play a spoiler role, Manuel (and Minaya for that matter) are definitely coming back next year!?!

What do they say the definition of insanity is? Doing things the same way over and over again and expecting different results...

Met Fans Heads Spinning as to Rooting Interest

Fans of the New York Mets are being faced right now with a very interesting dilemma: who to root for during the remaining games of the schedule. I must admit, during the past couple of games against the Marlins (both Met losses by the way), I found myself rooting for Florida to beat the Mets for some strange reason.

Actually, it's not that strange. The Mets have become a complete trainwreck - and like traffic accidents, something's so amazingly gruesome that you just have to watch it. And many Met fans are at the point right now where you kind of hope the Mets lose just to continue the tragedy.

But then again, I started to remember the last 2 Septembers and how the Marlins not only beat the Mets down the stretch in meaningless games (for them), but rubbed their noses in it as well. Laughing... excess celebrations... having no mercy on that useless Tom Glavine... so you can't root for the Marlins, right?

But you can't root for the Phillies either. Jimmy Rollins comments... Cole Hamels calling the Mets choke artists... Chase Utley being Chase Utley... If you're a real Met fan, ya gotta hope for a Philly meltdown, right?

So you can't root for the Marlins. You can't root for the Phillies. How about the Braves? Are you kidding me, you might be thinking? And you'd be right. Atlanta, also known as the HATED Braves for the way they man-handled the Mets all those years, is certainly a team you most definitely can not root for.

Then you have the Cardinals. You older Met fans know where I'm coming from when I say I probably hate the Cardinals more than I do the Braves. Whitey Hedgehog... Tommy Herr... John Tudor... remember how those guys won division title after division title over the Mets (when the Mets were thought to be a great team). Amazed the Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez teams never one more than one World Series? The Cardinals are the reason why. You just can't root for that team at all!

Perhaps the Dodgers are a team Met fans can root for now. Think again. Despite the fact the Mets basically play their home games at Dodger Stadium East, many oldtimers will never forgive them for leaving New York in the first place. That's the same reason you can't root for the Giants either.

That leaves the Colorado Rockies as the only team in the National League with a realistic shot at the postseason for us Met fans to possibly root for. Can I name one player on the Rockies? No.. and that's reason enough not to have any interest in them at all in the postseason.

Go Yankees? Never! Go Red Sox? I'm sick of them too. Go Tigers? Even people in Detroit know better than to root for the Tigers. Go Rangers? Weren't they the team that signed ARod to that ridiculous contract in the first place? We can never forgive them for that. Go Twins? Perhaps, but they're a tremendous longshot for the postseason. Go Angels? Now that's a possibility... but they're still American League and any self-respecting Met fan has to root for a National League team to win.

Tonight the Mets try to avoid getting swept at home by the Marlins followed by 3 games against the Phillies in Philly and 3 more games at Atlanta. Maybe we can root for a firing. Or two...

Murphy Leads Mets to Series Win Over Cubs

Daniel Murphy drove in all four Met runs in today's 4-2 Met victory over the Chicago Cubs, enabling the team to finally win a series from an opponent since late July. Considering the strength of the schedule, it's pretty hard to believe the Mets didn't win ONE series during the entire month of August. Then again, they also hit into an unassisted triple play, which is pretty unbelievable in its own right.

Beside's Murhpy's 3-hit explosion, it was also a big day for Mike Pelfrey, who finally won a game after a series of disturbing outings. Forced with the option of either pitching well today or having to endure a day-long Lindsay Lohan movie marathon, Pelf chose the stellar start and went 8 strong innings to reach double-digit wins for the season. His record stands at 10-10 and will now be considered the Mets ace for the rest of the season.

How does that sound? Well, much better I'm sure than watching the Mets first 3 hitters on Saturday's 5-3 loss each strikeout 3 times in the game. It was the first time EVER that's happened with the Mets. (another negative "first" for this team - we'd list them all for you here, but we don't have time). Nelson Figueroa wasn't horrible in that game, although he did give up 4 runs in 6 innings. (some would consider that a quality start!). Figueroa will now be considered the Mets number 2 guy for the rest of the season.

And what can the team possibly make of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, also known as Bobby Parnell? It's either a gem or a total disaster with this guy starting, as evidenced by his outstanding performance on Friday night's 6-2 win preceded by outings of 8, 5, and 9 runs respectively. (what a coincidence - that's also his August ERA!). I guess we have to consider Parnell the team's number 3 starter for the rest of the season.

Add Tim Redding (who's pitched well lately) and Pat Misch (who pitches well against the Cubs at least), and the Mets have a 5-man rotation that'll scare.... well... no one. But they always have the bullpen to rely on right? Like Stokes vulturing Friday night's game with an undeserved win and Frankie Rod putting baserunners on the paths in just about every appearance.

But there is good news. Carlos Beltran will be back soon as will John Maine. And since the team is completely out of contention for anything at 13 games under .500, maybe the team will have a good September for a change, since there's no more pressure from here on end.

Everything evens out eventually, right? So with all the improbable negative events this team has faced this year, can a Mets no-hitter be far away?

Successful Surgery? Reeeeaaaally!!!

The big story yesterday was not the Mets 8-3 loss to the Rockies in Colorado where Mike Pelfrey continued his mastery of the inadequate. And it wasn't the return of David Wright from his head concussion, who singled sharply in his first at-bat back with specially fit headgear that made him look like Dark Helmet from Spaceballs.

No, actually the big news came from the Mets medical department who CLAIMED to have performed successful surgery on both Johan Santana and Oliver Perez, which brings me to one of my pet peeves about announcements such as these - I love it when marketing departments add meaningless words to their statements as if to convince us they know what they're doing.

I've never liked the word "successful" with "surgery" as in "successful surgery" in press releases. You hear it all the time though. "He underwent successful surgery"... "Yesterday, Dr. David Altchek, the Mets' medical director, performed successful surgeries..."

First of all, what's the definition of "successful"? - What, the patient didn't die?!?! How do we know it's successful? Won't it take months of rehab and healing before we know if the surgery was successful? If Johan comes back at half the pitcher he was, was the surgery successful? Whether or not the surgery was successful or not can only be determined in the future!!! You can't claim a successful surgery at the time of surgery, can you? Yet find me a statement from any ballclub that doesn't use the word "successful" when surgery is performed on one of their players.

"Successful" is totally unnecessary in the context of the sentence. What are they going to say?: "you know, we performed surgery on the guy yesterday and boy did we really screw it up!" Of course not. (well, maybe the Mets organization can) The correct sentence should read:

"Dr. David Altchek, the Mets' medical director, performed surgeries Tuesday morning on left-handers Johan Santana and Oliver Perez."

Not "successful"... just "surgeries" thank you. What about all these players all over baseball who have "successful surgery", then have to have surgery again... and again... and again... all on the same problem - where each surgery is a "success". Please, let's stop with this.

Then again, we're talking about the Mets crack medical staff here. So I guess it is successful surgery if the doctor even performs the correct procedure on the patient.