Wed 7 May 2008
Sorry for the lateness of this post but to tell you the truth I’m tired of bitching and moaning over our underachieving team and also Matt Cerrone stole the words right out of my keyboard as I checked out MetsBlog this morning and what was on my mind.
Cerrone has a post today titled What Do You Want? It’s his question to Mets fans on what would make you happy as a Mets fan. Of course we all want to frolic on Broadway drowning in ticker tape at a Mets World Series parade but is that the be all end all for Mets fans?
I’ve written about this in past seasons but this season there is just a different vibe around this team and it’s supporters. For one thing the manager and his players can’t get it through their closed minds that WE REALLY, REALLY ADORE THE METS. Now I didn’t say we adore the players but it’s the team the whole Blue and Orange universe that comes with being a Mets fan is what we all embrace. I get a sense from fans I talk to that there is a real disconnect between Mets players, management and the fans a/k/a the folks who pay the freight. That comes from mis-management by the higher up’s in management. I’ve gone over this before with my plan for a Fans Weekend at Shea and you would think that the Skill Sets would jump at the chance to open Shea for Mets like Ozzfest but no, my idea has fallen on deaf ears which surprises me because these are the same Skill Sets who own the Brooklyn Cyclones and they do a fabulous job of making a night at Keyspan Park a pleasure.
So back to what I want from the Mets during a season. Well, I want to see players with passion in their play and to have pride in the Mets uniform. Maybe the quotes of NY Ranger Sean Avery should be posted in the Mets clubhouse, Avery who played most of last game with a torn spleen ( Hello Carlos Beltran you had what the flu? ) when asked about being in NYC and being a NY Ranger said “New York is the place I want to play. I love the team, fans and the organization”. When was the last time you heard a Mets player say that?
Just give me a summer of baseball that I makes me proud of my team. A team, that when I’m a work in the mid-afternoon has me excited to get out and go to the ballpark or watch on TV. A team that plays defense and uses it’s head. A team that doesn’t make excuses that it was cold, hot, wet or they got in late from a road trip or the fans booed them. The people of this city fight too hard everyday to food on their table that last thing they want to hear is a bunch of spoiled millionaires cry about leaving a four star hotel to get on a charter plane and avoid going through the humiliation of being searched at an airport that and they got back to their posh estates late.
I guess what I want is a lunch pail team that roles up it’s sleeves and works hard and doesn’t bitch about it. Sounds like I need to find a new team to root for.
Last night game comes down to clutch hitting (yes there is such a thing) as the Mets still can’t get a big hit when they need one. The offense is so desperate the Willie use a double steal last night and Grandpa Moises, without the need of Access-A-Ride, stole home. Other than that the Mets left 13 runners stranded in scoring position. You can only ask so much from Nelson Figueroa who pitched on a tight rope all night. You can’t get to crazy over losing to the Dodgers who are hotter than August asphalt as they have won 12 of their last 15 games. Let’s hope that John Maine has a top effort in him this afternoon.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I’ll tell you what I want to see with the Mets that would make me happy and Steve, you touched on it. I want to see a scrappy team that fights you every f’in inning. I want to see every player run to first base like the game depended on it even if it’s a routine grounder to the f’in pitcher. I want to see people getting dirty and giving 110% every game. The ‘86 Mets did it, the ‘93 Phillies did it. I want to know they gave it their all. I want to see some emotion out there ala your buddy Al Leiter. I want to see 9 Lenny Dykstra’s out there. If they did that, I would watch them even if they only won 50 games. I think sometime in the mid 90’s, the Mets slogan for the year was “We’ll play our hearts out for you” or something like that. We all knew the team sucked but they still had some grit. When they lose, I want to see and hear them be pissed off that they lost. I’m tired of the sugar coating BS. The other day, Beltran grounded out down the line and made an out with runners in scoring position and the inning was over. After he knew he blew it, he threw the bat down in disgust - I WANT TO SEE MORE OF THAT EMOTION!!!
May 7th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Amen on the MetsFest idea, Steve. It’s great. Which means it will never, ever be implemented because the Mets won’t do one thing more than they absolutely have to. They print the tickets and open the gates. The rest is up to you and your wallet.
Hard to remember how seven years ago the Mets players were rightly praised for being an integral part of their city when without pause they lent out their time and celebrity in the wake of that September’s tragedy. It was Rey Ordonez, for crissake, who refused to take off the uniformed services cap when MLB told the Mets to get with the program and go back to their usual gear. Rey Ordonez, not the most empathetic character in Mets history led the charge to continue honoring the fallen heroes…Rey Ordonez! Even no-longer-Mets like Roger Cedeno and Rick Reed volunteered a day’s pay to the cause of the widows and families, as if they’d never stopped being Mets. I’ll never forget Reed, after being traded, lamenting “I thought I’d be a Met for life.” You live to hear a player say something like that. You’d be shocked if you heard anybody say anything like that today.
Those were extraordinary circumstances, but those were also, in retrospect, extraordinary Mets teams and Mets players. Or maybe those guys only seem extraordinary versus 2008.
You’re right about the Mets universe concept and how much we adore the blue and orange. We bitch and we moan endlessly but you only bitch and moan the ones you love…or something like that.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Entitled is the word. This Mets team has played as if they’re entitled to - (a) the division title (b) the NL title (c) the fans’ support and (d) respect of other teams and the media - ever since August 2006. They often give me the feeling that they’re a bunch of aging aristocrats at the time of the revolution, people who don’t realize that they’re no longer entitled to anything and they’ll have to do a decent day’s work from here on.
However, if you were to ask me which players give me that sense, I’d have only a few names: Reyes, Beltran & Delgado. And, I’m not really sure that they don’t care, especially Beltran, but I do think that they care too much about how they’re playing and not necessarily about the team. What I mean is that those three seem to really get down when they’re not playing well - especially Reyes and Beltran. All fans know that players slump, but you keep working hard, going the extra mile on defense, running hard when on the bases, doing whatever to help the team. The mopey faces help nobody and really annoy the fans. Too often Reyes seems to go to sleep on defense when he’s not hitting.
The pitchers who have been failing - Sosa, Heilman especially - don’t give me that feeling. I just think that Sosa’s simply not that good and Heilman is out of sorts, mentally more than physically.
I do think the Mets could use a Dykstra type player. Not that Dykstra cared more, but he’d do something truly aggressive, almost reckless that would get the crowd going and, often I think, get the team going. I thought we were going to get that from Reyes, but he’s been pretty spark-less for the past year and a half.
Maybe it is all Willie’s fault. He’s too defensive and too repressed. He needs to explode / the team needs to explode.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Willie use a double steal last night and Grandpa Moises, without the need of Access-A-Ride, stole home
First, that’s the line of the year so far. The next funniest line was on the radio this morning when Carton said, “Pelfrey stinks so bad his starts should be sponsored by the department of sanitation”.
All great stuff today, guys. Steve, our leader, hit the nail on the head in terms of what we want. The posts above are dead on as well. Show us you give a shit, guys. We’re Mets fans, we don’t expect a WS title every year (though that would be nice). The people in the Bronx have that expectation. We want a lunch pail team, a team that always plays hard and gets pissed when it throws a stinker out there. We don’t want a manager who covers for them. We want the manager to say, “I’m not happy with the effort today. I’m going to speak to the guys about it and it’ll change”. Say that and I will happily spend my money on your tickets and shirts, because I know you care as much as I do.
It’s like when your kid gets a 70 on a test. You know they can do better, and you get pissed. You may take away a priviledge. But, you still love them more than anything.
That’s how we feel.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Perhaps Angel Pagan and John Maine were reading the blogs before yesterday’s game. Pagan makes that catch diving into the stands in the 1st inning, the Mets score four runs in the second. Sounds like Pagan was the spark plug. Of course, Maine’s pitching and two-run single poured gasoline on that fire. Yesterday’s game was what the Mets are supposed to be.
By the way, doesn’t it seem like this team plays better when certain starters get the day off? (I’m looking at you Delgado.)
Steve, didn’t Paul Lo Duca say on many occasions that he loved the fans and never wanted to leave the Mets?
May 8th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Bravo guys for the great posts maybe it will sink in to the Skill Sets and the front office what it take to make Mets fans happy
May 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am
By the way, Steve, I seriously think your idea of a fans weekend at Shea is a great one. You should patent it before some bone-head back office guy at Shea runs to Omar/Wilpons with it and gets a nice pat on the rump and a little gift at Christmas.
Truly, your talents are wasted.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I also want to agree with Rich on the Access-A-Ride comment, although I had to google Access-A-Ride to find out what it was.