Mets writers around the net react to the unofficial end of the Mets' season. I don't have much to add, but I have a new article entitled The Abysmal Thirteen over at MetsGeek.com, recounting the Mets' storied history at Turner Field. Here is what others had to say about Braden Looper's and Willie Randolph's latest disaster...
Jeremy Heit of MetsGeek.com:
No, Willie decides he wants to bring in Shingo Takatsu. At this point, I'm sure, like me, you were all reserved to the fact that Francoeur was hitting a grand slam. Well, not quite.
Francoeur pops up foul. That's one.
Brian McCann pops up to short left to Reyes. That's two.
Hope. We were being teased with hope, a little ounce of belief left in all of us that the Mets might still hold onto their Wild Card chances. Heck, Houston was entering the 9th inning down 6-5 to the Phils with Billy Wagner stepping to the mound.
But then Ryan Langerhans, the ninth inning hero, steps to the plate again. Takatsu gets to a 3-2 count. Nowhere to put him.
And in that moment, you knew something was going to go wrong. You knew it since Looper entered the game in the ninth, that the Mets were doomed to lose this game. Hell, you knew it before the game started. The Braves were going to sweep us, end our season... finally finish us off.
But to allow Takatsu to get two outs and one strike away with the bases loaded, to tease us like that. Only the Braves would do that... take our hope and belief that there is still life, dangle it in front of us and then rip it away.
Langerhans hits a 2-run single to left field. Game over.
Craig Biggio hits a 3 run home run off Wagner. Season over.
...however, when everyone, and i mean everyone, including me, my dad, you, the writers, mets fans, braves fans, commentators, and even my yankee-fan-fiance, all agree without doubt that bringing looper in to pitch, again, in the tenth inning, after he had already blown one lead...when we all agree...then it is a mistake, no way around it...a move such as this warrants no latitude, not even from me...
This should feel...not like it does.
I'm at peace tonight. There is nothing more I can do, nothing more I can say, nothing more I can even think.
It's over. I knew it would be over eventually. I didn't know how it would end but if I had to guess, this is how I would've figured.
[...]
The Braves swept the Mets at Turner Field when the Mets could not afford to lose there.
My watch is set to within a nanosecond of dead-on balls accuracy.
Twenty-three games to go. I'll watch. I'll write. I'll care. But I'll no longer believe. Not this year.