YA GOTTA BELIEVE ... Part One

... or maybe not.

This has been an excruciating year for any New York Mets fan. This season, the third consecutive one of failure, is even more difficult to accept than the prior two. Granted, the past two seasons our Mets seemed to crumble under the weight of a potential playoff birth, and just so soon after being one win away from making it to the 2006 World Series. This season however, it seemed that they just decided to implode before they ever got off the ground.

Yes, there were injuries, but that was something that this organization's crack medical staff should have been able to handle - or was that medical staff on crack?... I forget. As the season progressed, this new Citifield seemed to become the setting for a remake of "The Gunfight at the OK Corral". Week after week players seemed to drop like flies.

The worst of it was that nobody seemed to know what the injuries were. Not the organization, the GM, the manager, the trainers, and most of all the players themselves. One day it was this, then next it was that. Oh, this player will be back in a week, then a month, then out for the season (can anyone say Jose Reyes?), and June was only looming around the corner. It even gets to be telling when one of your top players, if not franchise player, seeks an outside opinion from his own doctor. Very telling indeed. Who is on their medical staff anyway? One can only guess ...

How much more does this organization think we can take as fans? They could not erase the memory of Shea Stadium fast enough and begin anew by spending billions of dollars on a new ballpark for The Mets. Yet when you are in Citifield, you would never know what team played there. (DISCLAIMER: I have not been to the new ballpark. I just could not bring myself to do so, but I have it on good authority, (no... make that on MANY a good authority), that if you were blindfolded, taken into the ballpark then unmasked, you would not be able to tell where you were just by looking around.)

Here is my problem with Citifield: After looking at photos and video it is clear. Nothing personal against Jackie Robinson (and I hate having to qualify myself on this one), but in his entire career he had nothing to do with The New York Mets. If you are going to name a rotunda where The New York Mets play, why not make it a Memorial Rotunda and name it after the only true voice of the New York Mets Bob Murphy, or Gil Hodges, or Casey Stengel, or even Tug McGraw. How can you put BILLIONS into a ballpark and not have the history of the team, the World Series', the great players of the past and present? Again, this organization could not seem to part with not only Shea, but the memories of it, fast enough. This will be its downfall, for the past is what
makes your future. Get rid of the past ... there will be no one around for your future.

It is almost difficult to accept the bonehead after bonehead move the organization of this team just keeps making. You have two straight seasons of complete collapse and failure and what do the they do? They reward that failure by giving one of its architects, Omar Minaya, a new three year deal. Steve Phillips should have been so lucky... Oh wait, he was, showing up on ESPN Radio with SP40, and television, as an authority on baseball, and adding insult to injury, actually permitted to comment on actual live Mets games and getting paid for it no less. Someone still needs to explain that one to me. And what happens to the manager of one of those failures, "We are going to stand by Jerry "Manual". (Paraphrasing here folks) ... Like they stuck by Bobby Valentine? You better watch your back Jerry. What is ownership's love affair with this these guys? What clouds their vision?

Not only how he handled the VP of Player Development Tony Bernazard fiasco, allowing for the decimation of The Mets minor league system, throwing Adam Rubin under the bus, not knowing the condition of his players, throwing players under the bus, allowing the trade deadline to pass without making a play for someone to help lift this team out of the quagmire. I believe that if most of us were in the GM position, and it was looking bleak on the return of any of my regular players and there was a whole hell of a lot of season left, there would be no other choice but to find replacements, however temporary they would be, to at least give my team a chance at winning, or at least make a good showing as if you really care. How Minaya is not gone is beyond me.

As fans, all most of us want when we watch a game is to have a chance at a win. This season I'm thinking that most of you were like me, when you turned on the radio or television that even though the Mets had the lead you were never that confident that they were going to keep it and win. Even I remember The Secret. You have a brand new ballpark to play in, where is the motivation to win? They could not win the opener, and as of this writing they are playing the first of the last three games of the season at the new ballpark and they beat Houston (7-1). There's only two games left of this glorious season. Hope there was enough sarcasm dripping there.

Since mentioning Bobby Valentine a bit ago, I cannot help but wonder ... yes, I know that it will never happen, we can only pray, but wouldn't it be great to have him back?

"I believe this man has forgotten more about baseball then most know who are playing the game today."

A shout out here to fellow Mets fan Karen for that one. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the fans that wanted him gone, it was the press, media, and organization itself that wanted him gone. Not only did Steve Phillips need a patsy, a then rumor had it that then players Franco and Leiter had a hand in it as well. Let us think like a Wilpon for a moment: wouldn't the cheapest way to immediately improve the team and get fans butts back in the seats for next season be to fire Minaya, fire Manuel, and hire Valentine? I'd make sure I was there for Opening Day for that one. How many of you would as well? Let us know.

What, improve the team with players, coaches, a new GM, and manager? No way! What concerns ownership, let's get rid of the pinstripes, why not?, we have just about torn apart all other traditions concerning the Mets, what is one more, and go with cream color jerseys even if another team already has them. Not only does ownership have a love affair with the GM and manager, they have one with teams that have not been part of New York for over fifty years, the Dodgers to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco. I think I will let another fellow Mets fan speak her mind about this one upon hearing of the possible uniform change amongst other things...

"Is this true??? This organization has so much more important decisions to make on how to run a professional baseball team; replace the front office personnel, medical staff, general manager, manager, coaches, etc. Yet, their first priority for next season is the uniform. This explains why we are fighting the Washington Nationals for last place!!!! And props to the Nats for winning and beating K-ROD with a walk off grand slam. Hey, today the Mets announced that Reyes tore his hamstring on Tuesday down in Florida rehabbing. Has Reyes aged fast-forward to the age of 80????? before our eyes. Can he stand up without tearing a muscle, hamstring, ligament whatever........ I can't stand this organization anymore."

- Taylor Tears

Hey Taylor, we could not have said it any better ourselves.

So, by August, life as a Mets fan just kept getting worse. Bad enough the other team here in New York started to surge, mostly every team in our division began to pull away. All but the lowly Washington Nationals, they had to be worse than the Mets. Wondering why the tone of disappointment? here's why:

(to be continued in part two).

END PART ONE