Vindication (of sorts), humiliation, and happiness

I had to stay away from the blog for a while after that incredible collapse as feelings of murderous rage coursed through my veins. However, this past Saturday and Monday brought a little bit of joy back to Mets fans. I guess it’s sad to feel happiness because of the failures of certain teams in the MLB playoffs, but I don’t care.
philly-loss.jpg First up on Saturday were the Philadelphia Phillies being wiped off the face of the earth by the upstart Colorado Rockies. I was all in a mood to root for the Phillies after they managed to take the division away from the Mets, but strangely it was much more satisfying to see them get knocked out in three games after all of that. I’d rather be known for the greatest collapse in regular season history than have three extra games in October.
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After the Yanks were knocked out of the playoffs on Monday by a very impressive Cleveland Indian team, I felt slightly bad for my Yankee fan friends- especially the ones who offered condolences while the Mets were hanging themselves. Unfortunately, a Yankee loss is still almost as good as a Mets win, so this lifted me up a touch. Do Yankee fans even feel any joy in the journey anymore? It’s got to be awful to consider anything but a World Series championship an accomplishment on a season to season basis. Fans might as well be in a coma from April-August until the AL East race starts heating up from now on.

Monday was an especially crazy night, as I was flipping back and forth between the Yankees demise and the Bills amazing effort against Dallas on Monday Night Football. Only the Bills and head goat Dick Jauron could’ve figured out a way to squander that game- excellent play calling down the stretch there. But you have to hand it to the defense who played absolutely out of their minds, as well as Trent Edwards who, despite being banged around consistently, was able to admirably manage the game for the most part in the face of enormous pressure. Kudos to the Bills- even if being a fan is slightly more than humiliating.

meandher.jpgFinally (even though it doesn’t fit here chronologically, but I save the best for last), Saturday was very nice for me because Carm and I celebrated our two year anniversary together. We’re still not sure how we made it this far, but we’re sure glad we did. We got a couple of cool gifts for each other and went out to eat at Richardson’s Canal House, after which we came home and celebrated some more after the Phillies lost.

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend for a couple of hapless Mets fans who wanted nothing more than to be watching Wright, Reyes, and Beltran take it to the National League without remorse- but it wasn’t to be. Sometimes you have to settle for consolation prizes, I guess. Hopefully we won’t have to re-live the same nightmare on our third anniversary!

Deflated

Since the Mets completed their miraculous choke on Sunday, I’ve barely been able to even THINK about baseball let alone write a post on it. But, after watching the Rockies come from behind in the 13th and Beckett throw a gem tonight, I have renewed interest. This is October, after all.

But I’m having a hard time trying to pinpoint where the Mets fit in all of this- obviously it’s not playing on the field, as they’re all sitting at home playing XBox right now (Glavine is probably having a good laugh with Smoltz right now on the 16th somewhere in Georgia). It was only a year ago that this team was embarking on an exciting post-season run that left us all heartbroken. This year, they left us devastated.

Sure, we can bemoan the bullpen, or the pitching staff for killing the bullpen, or Willie for killing the bullpen, or Omar for building this crappy bullpen and pitching staff- but it’s all for naught. At the end of the day it’s actually really simple.

This team had no heart. And really, that’s much worse.

It all makes so much sense now, doesn’t it? Reyes popping the ball up 3 times a game, silly mental mistakes, bad baserunning, even worse pitch selection. I felt bad when I thought these guys were just playing bad- but finding out that they were just “bored” infuriates me. Finding out that the closest thing to extra batting practice that Reyes might have done was a game of whack-a-mole at some boardwalk in Jersey really pisses me off. Is this what we invested all of our time and money in? That’s embarrassing at best and almost downright cruel.

You know, I was a little worried about this back in August when no one on the team really seemed to give a shit that their lead was dwindling fast. What was wrong with them then is what was also what was wrong with them back in June, and it really came back to bite them in the ass at the end of the season.

I’m sure some of you might be saying “but Chris, the offense was scoring runs at the end of the season- it’s not their fault. All the blame belongs in the bullpen!”

Bullshit.

This division should have been put away in August. And it would have been if the guys on the team cared enough to really try night in and night out. How many times did you see these guys down 2-3 runs late in games and go out with a whimper? How many times did you see them sit on 4 run leads only to have the bullpen slowly give it away, but then the offense never picked back up? I know I saw way more of that in 2007 than I did in 2006, and that’s why the 2007 team will always be a bunch of losers to me.

One final note- did anyone else expect to see Glavine rip off his Mets jersey to reveal a bright white Atlanta Braves jersey after he left in the 1st inning on Sunday? I’m kind of glad his tired arm will be gone next year, although he did bring a little class to the organization (besides those post-game comments on Sunday- you fucked up Tommy, admit it!!).

If the Phillies manage to win the World Series, I may go find the edge of a cliff.

A meltdown of legendary proportions

Well, the Mets managed to complete their unprecedented meltdown by losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0. You might notice that I took the magic number off of the right sidebar- that’s because technically, right now, there is no magic number. Petey pitched well tonight but the offense went out with barely a whimper, and I can’t say I blame them.

Maybe I’ll put this up in place of the magic number…it may be of more relevance come Sunday:

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