My baseball gut is in mourning. I know Baseball is a game played by very rich, at times spoiled men, and yes, there are so many real world issues to be concerned with, so let’s put this past season in perspective.
The game of baseball is just that a game. The New York Mets aren’t there to put food on the table. Their job was to bring a bit of joy, to offer the vicarious thrill of watching guys play a game I love. The purpose being to enjoy, through the season the highs and lows of your favorite team taking the game to fantasy levels. The Mets were supposed to provide a diversion filled with a little fantasy to enhance life. In this objective the Mets gave us a thrilling mid season only to fail us miserably in September.
As if the collapse wasn’t enough to make you leap of a bridge, the quotes and weak excuses that followed drained the water so the Met fan could fall face down in the dirt. There was just no excuse for the quotes that came from certain NY Mets(Tom Glavine and Carlos Delgado). "We just expected to win; Sometimes we were bored cause we felt we had so much talent. We just were laid back sometimes cause we just sure we would win"
WTF?!!!! Bored? Expected to win? That turns my stomach. I never expected to win when I played AA ball. I was always aware that you were only as good as your last catch, your last hit, your last win. There is no excuse for such a terrible example for failure! Jeff Wilpon was absolutely correct when he went public and stated there was no excuse that would explain this season’s collapse. I completely agree with him on that point. There was no excuse for such an embarrassing array of complete and utter futility. Especially after John Maine pitched such a gem. His last start was a work of art. He painted a masterpiece and the shame was no one in the Mets dug out even came close to understanding what that young man had accomplished, except perhaps for Pedro Martinez who in his past had put together some masterpieces of his own. Maine wasn’t bored or expecting to win. He was pitching the game of a lifetime. A lousy blip in the infield turned his dream into a one hitter. Yet he gave all that he had. Carlos Beltran is another who gave 100 percent every day. He showed up played hurt, limping, and in the end, in need of surgery ( Beltran underwent surgery, debridement of the patella tendon in BOTH knees yesterday).
The painful question is how does one bounce back? Can this team bounce back from such a disgraceful fall from perfection? The good news is Yes! The best thing God gave us is tomorrow. At least I pray that there is a tomorrow for Met fans. I hope Omar Minaya (who better do some shopping in the off season) and Willie Randolph, (yes, we are stuck with him for another year) come together and sort this garbage of a finale. Turning it into fuel for next year where spoiled rich men don’t whine about being bored or brag about how much talent they have that others should just hand over the win.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and as a die hard Met fan, I hang on to hope as I live through the winter in a world full of grim realities and uncertainties. Waiting for that moment in the early spring of 2008, where my realities will divert into a little fantasy of baseball trophies and championships. Maybe even a masterpiece no hitter by John Maine. To quote John Lennon "You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one."
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