Halftime!

This season started in somewhat disjointed fashion for the Mets, who had already suffered through a pair of close-but-not-quite-good-enough finishes the previous two seasons. The prevailing thought was that whatever problems had reared their heads, be it character, bullpen or otherwise, had been sufficiently addressed and the Mets would rightly resume their position in October Baseball. If we, as fans, weren't already a bunch of basket cases, we soon would be. That promise, so far, appears to have been nothing but idle talk.

It's not so much the mounting injuries that have been the issue for the Mets thus far, it's a combination of a few issues, some of which don't even pertain to the Mets.

1. There was no way of knowing that three players who combined to miss less than 10 games in 2008 would miss significant amounts of time in 2009.
2. There was no solid contingency plan within the organization to compensate for an injury to any of those particular players.
3. The team's system was not properly stocked with attractive-enough prospects that could be dealt for a replacement to one of the injured regulars.
4. According to an article by Adam Rubin in today's Daily News, there appears to be a dangerous discrepancy between the doctor-recommended advice given to the Mets and the treatment given to players by the team's medical staff.
5. The poor play of several divisional rivals has given the Front Office a rather convenient excuse to not do anything, hiding behind the guise of "Hey, we're only 4 games back!" (this excuse becomes less palatable when the Phillies win 9 of 10 and open up a larger lead)

Basically, you can look at it this way: Unless some major changes happen within the coming months, the Mets are screwed well beyond 2009. You can already toss this season down the toilet. The reality is that while the Mets would like us to believe that there's still a shot for them (Primarily for the purpose of filling the seats at Citi Field), they're not going anywhere in 2009, and any move that they make now is going to be so reactionary that there's a good chance it could hurt the Mets beyond this season (Omar seems to be fond of these deals, while the Nady for R. Hernandez/Perez deal, Bannister for Burgos and the Castillo trade weren't terrible moves, they also weren't necessary moves, which is part of his problem). In reality, the Mets should be selling off this year, and rebuilding for 2010. It might not be good for attendance, and it might not be what Freddie, Jeffy and Omar want to do, but for the good of the future of the team, they have to seriously consider sacrificing this season.

That said, let's examine just how bad it's been:

What's gone Right: Sadly, not much.

1. Citi Field has been as good as advertised, despite lengthy lines at Shake Shack. Food great, Seats good (I have yet to watch from an "obstructed" seat), general look of the ballpark beautiful.
2. David Wright has finally learned how to hit, even if he slips into idiot mode from time to time. It's come at the cost of his power stroke, which has drawn the ire of a lot of fans, but I think he's better served hitting .340 with 15 HRs than .280 with 35 HRs. This will become evident in the long run.
3. Daniel Murphy has shown signs of being a decent-fielding 1Bman.
4. Johan in April.
5. Francisco Rodriguez (except when he walked Rivera)
   

What's gone Wrong: Just about everything else.

1. Injuries to key players, and then injuries to the guys replacing them.
2. Sudden and inexplicable loss of fundamentals.
3. Too many games like This One.
4. Too many games where the Mets not only lose, but embarrass themselves in the process.
5. Lack of ability to generate much, or sometimes any offense for days at a time.
6. Inconsistency of pitchers such as Pelfrey and Livan Hernandez.
7. Oliver Perez.
8. Daniel Murphy's complete and total inability to play the Outfield.
9. Fernando Tatis' carriage turning back into a pumpkin.
10. Days where Jeremy Reed was the #5 hitter in the lineup.
11. Jerry Manuel's constant chuckling.

Bad contracts, injuries, questionable medical advice and failing farm system have crippled Mets [NY Daily News]

The New Key Met

My initial response to the Ryan Church/Jeff Francoeur deal was something to the effect of "Huh?" I have to say I didn't expect it coming, or at least not a deal particularly like this. But if this is the kind of deal Omar Minaya is going to make to somehow cosmetically make us think he's conscious, well, so be it.

I understand the logic of the deal, which I assume to be something like, "Here, we'll take your headcase off your hands, but in exchange we'll deal you one of ours and hopefully this'll work out for both of us." That's the only way this deal makes sense to me, because I think that both players more or less cancel each other out.

Neither Church or Francoeur are going to save the Mets season at this point. I suppose thinking longer term, Francoeur is the better player, if only because he's 25 (5 years younger than Church), he has some sort of demonstrated record as a full-time player (though not necessarily a good one) and he gives the Mets some sort of decent bat from the right side (though, at this point, any bat that wasn't already on the team is probably an upgrade over the incumbent). On the other side, I was never especially fond of Francoeur, though, let's face it, that was primarily because he played for the Braves and drew a ton of hype during his initial splash in the Major Leagues and his solid seasons afterwards. There's also the whole "Sleeping with the Enemy" factor, which more often than not ends up burning the Mets in the long run (see: Glavine, Tom; Stanton, Mike; Randolph, Willie).

Then, there's Church, who becomes the first Met to be traded during the same season in which I named him a Key Mets player. To this point, Church has posted better numbers than Francoeur, but at the same time, there wasn't any sign that he was going to perform any better than he was. He hadn't gotten hot like he was at the beginning of '08, and it seemed like he was constantly being called out as being hated by Manuel, a problem in the Clubhouse and not a fan of New York. He also didn't help himself with that whole missing 3rd base fiasco. Again, who the hell knows if any of this is true, but I have a feeling that we're going to find out now that he's been traded and the Mets and Braves will play each other next week. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Church has already been in touch with good friend Larry, promising to spill all the Mets signs to the Braves. A common practice, no doubt, but when you have two teams whose fondness for each other can be best compared to, say, Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell, these things can escalate.

Braves fans seem to be tearing their hair out. Mets fans are not surprised that Church was dealt, but perhaps odd to hear who's coming in return. I guess this can only work out in the positive for the Mets. After all, things can't get much worse.

Heading for the Exits

Last night's game was a first of sorts for me.

It was the first time I ever seriously considered leaving a game after one batter.

I was pretty ambivalent about going to the game in the first place. If I didn't have the tickets already, I probably wouldn't have gone at all, especially after El Guapo begged out earlier in the day. Essentially stuck with out a posse, I decided to forge ahead anyway, and I seriously wondered if I was doing the right thing. I have these existential crises at games every so often. Sometimes, they come and go with the ebb and flow of a game. Other times, however, they fester and get worse as the game progresses. I knew that the Mets were probably not going to win the game. I rarely, if ever, feel quite as pessimistic as I did last night. But they had won on Wednesday and didn't look particularly impressive in doing so, and the Dodgers really look loaded from top to bottom, particularly within their starting lineup. But, basically, knowing it was probably a waste of time, I went to the game anyway. I had the tickets, and I suppose I didn't have anything particularly better to do with myself for three hours on a Thursday evening. This, I suppose, is why I'm single and only marginally employed at age 30.

Rafael Furcal hits a dying quail on Livan's 2nd pitch of the game. It lands softly in left field for a leadoff double. An older gentleman sitting a section to my right, someone I'd seen before, one of the denizens of Shea's UR1, no doubt, piped up and yelled, "ONCE AGAIN, NO NO HITTER FOR THE METS!" I was seriously tempted to walk over and punch him in the mouth. Right then and there I wanted to stand up and leave. Nothing good was going to happen. Nothing whatsoever. Instead, I stayed. What I witnessed didn't surprise me in the least.

The crowd was taken out of the game by the end of the top of the 1st. People started to leave in the 3rd inning, I imagine, in between the Mets losing 6-1, the weather chilly and the first 3 innings taking about an hour. The game moved along at a crawl most of the way. Livan was getting creamed. The Dodgers hammered every one of his mistakes. Wolfie wasn't particularly good for the Dodgers either. But the Mets, attacking with the ferocity of a bunny rabbit, kept getting men on base and then either hitting into double plays or grounding out to the Shortstop. Wolfie wasn't good. He was just reaping the benefits of pitching against a Double-A lineup.

By the 6th, it was 8-2 and the stadium had about half-emptied out. I still stayed. I still would have prefered to leave. But I never leave early. The reasons why are beyond me. I'd already had my Sausage sandwich before the game. Had I wanted, I probably could have run down to Shake Shack and been on line for 3 minutes. Instead, I opted to move down from my perch in section 518, just to see how things looked from a little lower down. I ended up somewhere in the 400s, where you really feel on top of the action. That made me feel a little better. Then I looked up and somehow Tim Redding had made his way onto the mound. This game couldn't end fast enough.

By the 9th, I'd say there were fewer than 10,000 people left in the stadium. I'm still there. I'm still not sure why. It was about 10:20 and I'd been looking forward to the train ride out of there since about 7:12. I was plotting my escape. It was virtually empty around me, I wasn't going to bother with a ramp tonight. The stairs were right there. The game ended, and I struck, dashing down the stairs and onto the Subway with a ferocity. A trip that, on a crowded night can take up to 20 minutes was accomplished in exactly 7 minutes, and I was on that express. Of course, it sat there for about 5 minutes before I was moving, but at least I'd managed to make it through the game.

What the hell is the matter with me?

The Accidental Victory

I don't know if the Mets won last night's game out of any sort of skill or means of outplaying their opponent, rather it seems as though they may have won by accident, or by some cosmic alignment of stars and planets, because it certainly took some means of divine intervention to will the Mets on to victory.

Let's start with last night's starting pitcher. Oliver Perez hadn't pitched in the Majors in 2 months, following a lengthy DL stint for general suckitude. Our hopes were not high for his return. I predicted that he would give up 6 runs on 4 hits and 10 walks by the 3rd inning and that would be the end of that. Not that his numbers were anything noteworthy, but Perez did manage to get himself through 5 excruciating innings in which he only gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, but, in typical Oliver Perez fashion walked 7. Somehow, he won.

The Mets hadn't scored a run since Saturday and hadn't had an extra-base hit since Friday. These particular streaks don't last forever, but they both fell within the first two innings last night, first when Daniel Murphy doubled over the head of a befuddled Manny Ramirez, who clearly does not understand the intricacies of the Citi Field Left Field area, and plated a run when Luis Castillo barely beat out an infield hit, scoring Jeremy Reed. But the Mets didn't stop there. They even had an extended rally in the 3rd inning, scoring 3 runs to give them a bit of a cushion, and plated a 5th run in the 5th. Predictably, they also didn't get another hit after the 5th inning.

Then, there was the Murphy play, which I suppose has already cemented its place in Mets lore as "The Murphy Play," one of those plays where your supposedly defensively challenged 1Bman somehow makes a play that defies all logic. I heard it on the radio first, and when the normally milquetoast Wayne Hagin raised his voice to a near-squeal in his description, I figured something good had just happened. After examining the replay online later in the evening, I still don't know how Murphy managed to grab the ball and blindly fling it behind his back on target to Parnell in a singular motion. This, I suppose, is why athletes are athletes and why I'm sitting on my ass writing a dopey blog that nobody reads.

But I digress. When these sort of plays actually end up going in your team's favor, chances are they're going to win the game. No matter how many different ways they try to screw it up. Call it an accident, call it whatever. But whatever it was, it went the Mets way for once.

Broken Offense

It appears the Mets have been using the remaining shard in Sheffield's hand as their bat for the past week or so. Or at least that's how they're making it appear.

These particular performances now the norm around here, I think it's become more frustrating knowing how bad the rest of the division has been around us. Not so much because of the "if we were healthy..." argument, but because the Mets remain merely 4.5 games out of 1st place. The problem is that this is a 4.5 game deficit that's pretty much impossible for the Mets to make up. It would have been a lot easier had Philadelphia and Atlanta played better baseball and just buried the Mets in late May or mid-June. Playing out the string is a whole lot easier to swallow when you're 10 games back instead of under 5. But in reality, that's what the Mets are doing. And there's no relief in sight from this. Beltran remains weeks away, Reyes appears to be months off and Delgado will be back in time for his contract to expire. So, what's there to do now?

Maybe it's time to start going to games and watching them from other parts of the Stadium. Maybe I should just go down to Shake Shack in the 2nd inning. Just hang out in the World's Fare Market and eat cookies all night. Get drunk in the Promenade Club. Tack a $50 dinner onto my expenses for the night at the Acela Club. The Mets e-mails no longer advertise the opponent or the team's play, now it's advertising, "Be a part of the Citi Field Fun!" The fun now lies in the attractions in the ballpark, no longer in watching the team on the field.