Mets Fans Can't Deal With Average

by Sam Page on Jun 22, 2009 4:19 PM EDT

Currently, the Mets stand just one game above the mythical .500 mark, the same record as the Mariners, who lost 101 games last year. The team remains very much in the race, mostly thanks to the incompetence and injury problems of the rival Phillies. Still, the sense among most Mets fans seems to be desperation. The most common sentiment is that watching the team has become so painful, it's impossible to even grasp that they're positioned for a playoff run. The feeling leads to wishing the team would just pick an identity. If you're going to be bad, tank for Bryce Harper and let the Braves deal with the stress of September! Or fine, be good, but don't win and lose in the most gut-wrenching ways, dragging it out to the last day of the season.

I get it. Entering the season, expectations for this team were very high. The reason the Mets could be lovable losers before, was the expectation level started at 0. Ever since the incredible 2006 season, the Mets seem to have been gradually improving their roster without really going anywhere. Hence, much of the discussion of whether the current stars of the team are at fault. The progression of the team, however, isn't that simple. There are more nuances to a good roster than the 4 top-starters and the closers. Without sounding too self-aggrandizing, I can say I saw much of this trouble coming. Frustrating is a good word.

But this post isn't about second guessing the front office, or touting my own ideas for the team. We have an entire offseason for that. This post is my plea for Mets fans to accept the reality of the situation. The team we attatched all our hopes and expectations to is rehabbing a sore knee and broken ego on a training room bed in Port St. Lucie. This team boasts Livan Hernandez as its third starter. The Mets are average. They're going to lose in ways average teams do. It's not a sign of an apocalypse or crazy roller-coaster ride. Lower your expectations a little and you may be pleasantly surprised as some of the talent coming of the DL picks the team up. Have fun. Enjoy Livan's 59 mph curveball for the majestic pitch it is. The Mets haven't exactly been good at holding the lead in recent memory, so let's give underdog a try.

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Comments

Phew

Tough talk

by TheBigStapler on Jun 22, 2009 4:25 PM EDT reply actions

Sorry I forgot "/rant"

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Jun 22, 2009 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

With Beltran going on the DL

Feel free to keep ranting

by TheBigStapler on Jun 22, 2009 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions

But

but, sputter, they’d be 5 games over .500 if Church had touched third and castillo didn’t drop the pop-up, and, and 7 games over if K-Rod hadn’t blown ANY saves..and and…

by wobatus on Jun 22, 2009 4:47 PM EDT reply actions

You make fun

but you act like it is normal to lose a game on a dropped popup with 2 outs in the ninth that you are winning when the pitch is thrown, and a rbi double where a runner misses a base in extra innings. Nobody is saying that if they only would have hit a sac fly on april 17th with the bases loaded and tied that game then the run they scored 2 innings later would have won the game and shit like that. Those were 2 unbelievably fluky plays, stuff you probably wouldn’t see in a little league game. They also blew 3 run 8th inning leads against the Phillies in back to back games. That isn’t normal.

"It's like the old phrase goes.....The balls in your court now Mr.Church, so you take that ball, you dribble it up the court and....................................... get a layup"
- Keith Hernandez

by nrmax88 on Jun 22, 2009 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I kid I kid

Yeah, part of me wants to rant but it’s NOT a .500 team, injuries and all that, fluke losses.

I know those were fluke losses. And they should have taken one of those extra innings games against the Phils. Etc.

That time against the Braves when they won and beltran stole third…I think he was out.

Sam’s right, though, the thing now is to realize the team is still in the hunt, and if beltran is only out 2 weeks, will still be in the hunt.

More and more like ’73. Ya Gotta Believe!

by wobatus on Jun 22, 2009 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah but I think his point is also

Just drop the expectations. They’ve only been superficially resonable in the first place, yet they’ve been sky high since 2006. We can all enjoy the game a lot more if we don’t expect to be pleased by it all the time. This game rips hearts out all the time, fan and player alike. Disapointment is the nature of the beast, and the more likely outcome than wish fulfillment, even on great teams.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 22, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions

take me to the station

and put me on a train
I got no expectations
To pass through here again.

Yeah, I know. Put aside what we thought would be, and enjoy it for what it is. I was just recalling that team was completely out of it and injured and what a joy that turned out to be, but I enjoyed watching them when they sucked too.

by wobatus on Jun 22, 2009 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions

There's an entire game

that sets up those moments. A better team has larger leads, gives up less runs, etc. Our pythag suggest we’ve been a little unlucky, but the fact of the matter is we’re simply not that good a team.

by yellomellojello on Jun 22, 2009 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually

The strict Pythag suggests we’ve actually been lucky. 310 RS/311 RA. But the adjusted component numbers suggest we should have scored a few more and prevented a few more than that.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 22, 2009 6:14 PM EDT up reply actions

The problem

at least for me is that while I’ve followed bad Mets teams before and been fine with it, I’ve never followed bad Mets teams that had David Wright and Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes and Johan Santana on them, if you catch my drift. If the Mets were “just” a bad team with overpaid players and little in the way of young talent (like the ’93 team) or a young team without a lot of talent but with some hope for the future (like the ’03 team), it would be fine.

But with the core the Mets have, they should be in contention – and I don’t mean the kind of contention where you’re trying to see which team sucks the least. They’re wasting the prime years of 3 of the 5 best offensive players in franchise history and one of the 5 best pitchers in franchise history. That’s a lot tougher to take than wasting Bobby Bonilla or Ty Wigginton or Marvelous Marv.

by cjmulrain on Jun 23, 2009 1:46 AM EDT reply actions

I know and I didn't make that clear enough

but that was my point. That’s where the frustration comes from.
all I’m saying is Omar+baseball god screwed this season over, and we need to accept it or we’ll all go crazy. And I don’t mean accept like “hey look injuries! Omar, take free ride for constructing this crappy team,” but just more for sanity’s sake accepting it.

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Jun 23, 2009 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions

AA should take a field trip

To like a Buddhist meditation retreat or something. Life [as a Mets fan] is suffering – what the Buddha really meant.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 23, 2009 2:04 AM EDT up reply actions

yea

I mean, I don’t disagree with the premise. I’m usually as even keeled a fan as there is, but I just find myself, really for the first time ever, not enjoying following the Mets. Even during the collapses the past two years I really believed they were gonna pull it out, and as crushed as I was when they didn’t, I had full faith that they were gonna re-tool and this would be the year. I still want this to be the year, but I don’t believe it will be, and I have this sinking feeling that the Front Office is just gonna blame the injuries, not fix the underlying problems, and the same thing will happen next year.

But, such is the life of a Mets fan. I’m not gonna stop watching, as much as I’m sure my girlfriend wishes I would haha. Deep down inside there’s a part of me that wants to believe, and knows that I’m gonna get tricked into believing next time they put a 4 game winning streak together.

by cjmulrain on Jun 23, 2009 2:18 AM EDT up reply actions