Time for a baseball diversion... If you don't care about baseball or the Mets you will find the following post of no consequence!! I'm just getting this off my chest.
I have been a Mets fan since the mid 1970's, when they were a terrible team that routinely drew less than 8,000 fans to their 55,000-seat stadium. This year, the team was in first place nearly all year; at times they had huge leads over the other teams in their division, but they never looked invincible.
They were proven very mortal over the last two weeks, as they closed out their season with a 5-12 record to fall into second place - and out of the playoffs. For a die-hard like me - after following almost every inning of every game via TV, computer, or my cell phone - a tremendous void has been created by their collapse.
The future looks bleak too, as the Mets have a couple of streaky young starters on their pitching staff but most of the rest of that staff proved to be worse than useless (or injured) down the stretch. Their star players - Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, and to a lesser extent David Wright - looked uninspired and lost. Their manager Willie Randolph - by all accounts a good person and decent coach - somehow failed to motivate his players and keep them focused and hungry.
The off-season will be a time of dramatic re-tooling, not a great position for a team that is slated to open the subsequent (2009) season in a brand-new stadium called Citi Field.
I'll always be a fan - no matter the (relatively insignificant) torture I have to endure. This is a frustrating time, but in April I'm sure I'll have my devices lined up and ready to track every pitch again... saying Let's Go Mets.
Posted by jimj at October 1, 2007 09:40 AM | TrackBackSorry Jim, I have been a Yankee Fan all my life.
I thought at Mid season our roles would have been reversed now. I was actually thinking of a subway
series. I work with a die hard Met fan who has been on me all year about the demise of the Yanks. Needless to say, he has been a bit quite today and I love it.
Go Yankees and Keep it up Lakers. Thanks for the weekly updates Jim.
Pat
Posted by: Pat at October 1, 2007 03:36 PMPat - I deliberately did not say anything all year to any Yankees (or Mets) fans about their apparent success. I have been a fan for far too long to gloat - and now I see why.
Nothing personal, but GO RED SOX! :)
Posted by: Jim at October 1, 2007 03:47 PMJim, Now those are fighting words. Anybody but the Red Sox. All I can say in Bucky ....... Dent.
Posted by: Pat Costello at October 1, 2007 03:52 PMi was at the final game sunday, and that first inning was like a nightmare.
i too will always be a die-hard fan, and look forward to next year(and citi field on '09, which looked awesome, half-completed out behind left field), but the bad taste of this collapse will take a few weeks to fade away.
Maybe all the Mets fans can get a chance to see future stars if Syracuse (Or the "Sorryexcuse") Chiefs become their farm club in '09 !
Posted by: Dan at October 19, 2007 05:48 AM