Too Much, Too Little, Too Late

Yes, it's over....
Call it a day....
Sorry that it had to end this way...
No reason to pretend...
We knew it had to end someday... this way....

AND THANK GOODNESS IT WAS TODAY! Who would have thought that Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams would be singing about the Mets 2009 season at Citi Field when they released the classic Too Much Too Little Too Late way back in 1978?

Thankfully, the Mets celebrated Fan Depreciation Weekend by sweeping the Houston Astros in their final home series of this miserable season - perhaps the worst in the history of the team. After all, when they were losing all those games in the early years, the Mets were supposed to be bad. This year held many great expectations of another meaningful choke in September.

And please don't tell me the last three games (where the Mets pitching staff allowed 2 runs TOTAL in beating the Astros 7-1, 5-1, and 4-0 respectively) hold promise going into next year. Remember this is the same team that got swept by the lowly Nationals (who call the Mets the lowly Mets) right before the Houston series. This team is a train wreck, and Mets fans will need to see SIGNIFICANT changes before we can develop any confidence going into 2010 thinking next year will be anything different. C'mon - sing it!:

Yes it's over...
The chips are down...
What's the use of trying to hang on...
Somewhere we lost the key...
So little left for you and me... and it's clear to see...

I mean really... are those classic lyrics to describe the Mets or what? The 2009 season at Citi Field and away showed way too much baserunning blunders, managerial mishaps, fundamental flaws, fielding follies, management meltdowns, and minor-league mindsets. TOO MUCH!!

This season also saw way too little power from the lineup, too little gutsy pitching performances from the starters and bullpen alike, too little heart, desire, and overall willingness to go that extra mile to do what it takes to win. TOO LITTLE!!

And as a result, we keep hearing things like Jerry Manual and Omar Minaya will be back for next season... and when everyone comes back healthy, this team will be competitive again... and despite being totally cleaned out by the likes of Bernie Madoff, that situation will have no effect on how the team approaches the off-season. Well, it's way too late for platitudes. Fans want to see results. Cut the price of tickets? Be more fan-friendly? Play solid, fundamental baseball? Sweep the Astros in the last series of the season? TOO LATE!!

I know a lot of lifelong Mets fans who tell me they'll have nothing to do with this team right now. And can you blame them? When Met fans are actually rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series to hammer down the most embarrassment possible on the franchise, things are bad. Even David Wright called the season "A failed opportunity". But here's the key question: Does Mets ownership know that? If so, what will they do in the postseason to give the fans ANY REASON to look forward to next year?

Remember: if you keep doing the things you're doing without changing, why would you think your results would be any different? Too much? - we've never seen a season like this before... wait till next year? Too little? - Can Omar convince rival general managers that he's not playing checkers in their chess game during the off-season? Too late? Will Met fans ever be the same knowing the incompetence this organization rewards?

Sing it like Deniece: Yes, it's over... IT'S OVER!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah...