Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Opening Wounds Day

We stink.

Look, I'm all for blaming voodoo on this one. Losses to the Phillies have taken on a mystical, surreal feeling. If it's not a ball rolling 30 feet fair up the line, or an interference call, or a lost triple in the sun, then pray tell it's Brian Schneider committing two passed balls after missing five all of last season ... or it's Carlos Delgado hitting Chase Utley in the back on a double play ball that would have otherwise gotten them out of the inning. At that moment I swear I saw various ghosts, goblins, and Allen Ludden looking into the camera and saying "for all of you folks playing at home, I'm terribly sorry."

(Not as sorry as me, Allen.)

But how did the Mets respond when life got them down? I'll give you a hint: Not with Orbitz Gum. They responded by letting the game get away from them and shying away from the challenge like lambs. And if that mental toughness is going to keep escaping this team, then it doesn't matter what the talent level is ... the Mets will continue to stink, voodoo or no voodoo.

Aristophanes, like losing to the Phillies for the 429th straight time for our last ever home opener at Shea, is ridiculous.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Listening to the WFAN play by play last night (for me) I heard myself shouting "No! Not Again" when Utley was hit for the fourth time, and a clutch double play attempt turned into the pivotal play for the Phils.

You saw it coming Metstra, we're 2-4 after six games with Pelfrey coming up!

katherine said...

It's only April 9th, and I'm already in full TV/print/internet news-avoidance mode, for fear of reading something upsetting about the Mets. The only thing I can bear to read is Metstradamus. If any major global catastrophes occur this summer, somebody better let me know.

Dan Firrincili said...

How much longer can Willie Randolph keep his job? His team regularly looks useless down the stretch of important games. Yesterday was a reminder of how much more grit (dare I say ‘heart’?) the Phils have.

We stink.

Demitri said...

I'm right with you Katherine. Esp. down here in the philly burbs. No news for me. I hope there isn't a serial killer on the loose, because I won't know about it.

Regarding Randolph: if he does lose his job, the title of the book writted about it will be:

"The Catch and the Collapse: Willie Randolph and the Mets"

Who would read it?

Unknown said...

I'm truly amazed that my fellow Met fans are freaking out like this 6 games into the season.

6 games.

This hasty thinking makes me wonder if the city of Baltimore has begun planning it's World Series victory parade route yet.

Do you think network TV execs are upset about the potential KC/Milwaukee World Series? Look at the standings! It could happen! What a ratings nightmare!

Please! Stop!

Look- Willie is a shitty manager. No news there. But can we wait until May to start calling for heads to roll?

The whining is a bit much.

MetFanMac said...

Once again the bullpen is our undoing. Randolph just CANNOT manage a bullpen.

Anonymous said...

I'm with fantasieryck - let's all calm down a bit. No one is running away with the division yet. We reel off a couple of wins in a row and no one will remember yesterday's debacle. If anything, last year taught us it's a long season. Remember how the Phils started last season - 2 and 9 or something like that?

Let's chill - the bats will break out soon . . . I hope.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in worry-mode yet, there's still a long way to go, and if Reyes can start getting on base, our offensive slump will break. Jose just needs to be a little more patient, like he did at the beginning of last season and get on base however he can. The runs will come when pitchers are having to pay attention to him while pitching to Beltran and Wright

Pelf needs to buzz a fastball right below Utley's chin. It's ridiculous that he can get hit 3 times standing on the plate, and not once hard enough that he has to leave the game.

Anonymous said...

So then somebody please tell me - after collapsing in the playoffs in '06, and collapsing down the stretch in '07 - exactly how long we have to wait before it's OK to start calling for the manager's head? Do I really have to wait for Memorial Day? I dunno if I can. I certainly don't have it in me to hold my tongue until the allstar break, and I'm not sure the team has it in them to wait that long either.

Meh.

Right now I don't know what to do, except wait, apparently, until someone tells me that it's OK, that it's not too early, to call for the manager to be fired. Is it all his fault? No. But at this point he's got the stink of gutlessness and collapse about him, and a bullpen that seems psychologically damaged by the fact that he systematically wore them out last year and left them exposed, and I don't think that they trust him at all.

I sure don't.

But apparently, it's too early to say so.

Anonymous said...

I've written a poem:

We lost to Philly
Fire Willie
Some think that's silly
My house is chilly

Anonymous said...

Not for nothing, but I wouldn't call the 06 playoffs a collapse. This was a hurt team with no pitching staff. I was there during games 6 and 7. That team played their hearts out. It was an amazing series and an amazing game seven. That was no collapse, unless you're talking about el douche's leg or pedro's shoulder. Those just fell right off.

upstate met fan said...

WILLIE NEEDS TO GO. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!