Stuck in a Moment: Reflections on the First Half
Man, when Endy came down with that ball...
The moment was over in an instant, but in many ways it encapsulated everything that had come before in the past 7 months. When Endy came down with that ball it wasn't just that anything seemed possible, it's that everything seemed probable.
For one thing, it seemed certain that the Mets would beat the Cardinals in Game 7; it was just that kind of moment.
It was the kind of moment that solidified that incredulous feeling of the past 7 months as the Mets "ran roughshod over the National League" -- the kind of moment that made you say "Oh my god... this is the year."
Anything can happen in the playoffs, you knew that, but man, when Endy came down with that ball, you just knew somehow that that team wasn't going to fold. And you knew it even after Yadier Molina hit that home run, and you knew it when the Mets loaded the bases in their half of the ninth, and you knew it every second until it wasn't so and there was nothing left to know except that the Mets had lost.
When I look back on the first half of the Mets' season in 2007, I don't think of injuries or inconsistency; no, the predominating thought in my mind is how badly we fucked things up last October.
It's unfair on some level to burden the 2007 team with the squandered hopes of 2006, but on another level it's not. The 2007 team returns many pillars of 2006. Missing are Pedro Martinez, Duaner Sanchez and Carlos Delgado's ability to hit (he's shown flashes lately I guess).
That's a lot to lose, no doubt about it, but we've also replaced Victor Zambrano/Steve Trachsel/Jeremi Gonzalez/Jose Lima with more consistent and established versions of John Maine and Oliver Perez (not to mention Jorge Sosa, who was a nice little surprise before he got injured) and that's a lot to gain.
It's not that I think this 2007 team is hopeless, I certainly don't. We're still in first place, and I still believe we're a lot better than we've played, but we're not unambiguously the best team in the National League like we were last year.
Here we are at the break and we're 9 games over .500. In an objective sense that's good, or it's fine anyway, and we're in first place, which is certainly where you want to be.
But we're in a holding pattern also, unable to pull off a sustained hot streak, unable to pad our lead in the division. What lead we have left in the N.L. East exists because of other teams' deficiencies, not because we've asserted ourselves as the cream of the crop.
And yes, a large part of it is the injuries. Basically every outfielder on our team has been injured at one point or another, and that includes several New Orleans Zephyrs.
Our bullpen hasn't been as solid as it was last year, hurt by the absence of Young Duaner and the addition of the abominable sack of shit that is Scott Schoeneweis. Wags has been nasty, so that's one positive, and Joe Smith is a pleasure to watch.
The stunning thing about this year's team is how eh the offense is. We've scored the 10th most runs in the National League and have only the seventh best OPS. Last year we were 4th and 3rd in those categories, respectively.
I don't know what the solution is, but I am, at this point, one person who feels like some move needs to be made, some shake up or another. Maybe the return of Pedro will be just what the doctor ordered. Could happen. I still don't really feel like this team has a unique identity, and Pedro can provide that in and of himself.
Then again he might not toe the rubber at Shea Stadium once this year; no matter how rosy the reports from Port St. Lucie, it's still possible.
I think what the Mets need to do is take a good long look at this team and determine what it's number one problem is. Bullpen? Offense? Starting pitching? Maybe the answer is to wait for people to get healthy, I'm not discounting that. Whatever. It's on Mets brass to figure it out and fix it.
If they do, I could easily see this Mets team pulling off the kind of second half that catapulted the 2004 Red Sox to the playoffs and, ultimately, a championship. That Boston team started fast then played middling baseball for months before realizing its potential.
The same could easily happen with the Mets. The pieces are there, it's just that too many of them haven't performed as well as we'd planned (Delgado, Beltran, Heilman, Alou, Wright to an extent). There's nothing stopping any of those guys from reverting to the form of a year ago, but they just have to go on and do it already.
It's not that I don't believe in this team, it's just that the way this season has gone with the injuries and the losing streaks, it just makes me think of what I still believe should have been last year.
Seasons like that don't come around too often around here. All the 1-run victories? All the last at-bat wins? The double play at home plate in the NLDS? Endy's catch? It was there for the taking, man -- there until it wasn't. And now all that's left is 2007 and a feeling that's been building up over the past month and change like the best days might be behind us.
The Mets have half a season to change that perception. They go nowhere for the next three days though, and so here we are with our thoughts. Some people will see positives -- we've weathered a storm of injuries and we're still on top. Some will see negatives -- we've played like shit for a considerable period of time now.
Me though, I'm somewhere in between. I'm confident in the potential we have, but I'm somewhat wary about how things have been going lately. Ya gotta believe, yes, but lately the team hasn't been giving us anything to believe in.
And so it is that in a not inconsiderable corner of my mind I'm back in the loge section on a drizzly night at Shea in October. I'm back watching Endy go over the wall before beer and popcorn and high fives go flying all around me. I'm back in a moment when anything was possible and everything seemed probable. And now I'm back in the present, and I'm hoping this year's team can make me feel like that again.
- A.F.O.M.G.
The moment was over in an instant, but in many ways it encapsulated everything that had come before in the past 7 months. When Endy came down with that ball it wasn't just that anything seemed possible, it's that everything seemed probable.
For one thing, it seemed certain that the Mets would beat the Cardinals in Game 7; it was just that kind of moment.
It was the kind of moment that solidified that incredulous feeling of the past 7 months as the Mets "ran roughshod over the National League" -- the kind of moment that made you say "Oh my god... this is the year."
Anything can happen in the playoffs, you knew that, but man, when Endy came down with that ball, you just knew somehow that that team wasn't going to fold. And you knew it even after Yadier Molina hit that home run, and you knew it when the Mets loaded the bases in their half of the ninth, and you knew it every second until it wasn't so and there was nothing left to know except that the Mets had lost.
When I look back on the first half of the Mets' season in 2007, I don't think of injuries or inconsistency; no, the predominating thought in my mind is how badly we fucked things up last October.
It's unfair on some level to burden the 2007 team with the squandered hopes of 2006, but on another level it's not. The 2007 team returns many pillars of 2006. Missing are Pedro Martinez, Duaner Sanchez and Carlos Delgado's ability to hit (he's shown flashes lately I guess).
That's a lot to lose, no doubt about it, but we've also replaced Victor Zambrano/Steve Trachsel/Jeremi Gonzalez/Jose Lima with more consistent and established versions of John Maine and Oliver Perez (not to mention Jorge Sosa, who was a nice little surprise before he got injured) and that's a lot to gain.It's not that I think this 2007 team is hopeless, I certainly don't. We're still in first place, and I still believe we're a lot better than we've played, but we're not unambiguously the best team in the National League like we were last year.
Here we are at the break and we're 9 games over .500. In an objective sense that's good, or it's fine anyway, and we're in first place, which is certainly where you want to be.
But we're in a holding pattern also, unable to pull off a sustained hot streak, unable to pad our lead in the division. What lead we have left in the N.L. East exists because of other teams' deficiencies, not because we've asserted ourselves as the cream of the crop.
And yes, a large part of it is the injuries. Basically every outfielder on our team has been injured at one point or another, and that includes several New Orleans Zephyrs.
Our bullpen hasn't been as solid as it was last year, hurt by the absence of Young Duaner and the addition of the abominable sack of shit that is Scott Schoeneweis. Wags has been nasty, so that's one positive, and Joe Smith is a pleasure to watch.
The stunning thing about this year's team is how eh the offense is. We've scored the 10th most runs in the National League and have only the seventh best OPS. Last year we were 4th and 3rd in those categories, respectively.
I don't know what the solution is, but I am, at this point, one person who feels like some move needs to be made, some shake up or another. Maybe the return of Pedro will be just what the doctor ordered. Could happen. I still don't really feel like this team has a unique identity, and Pedro can provide that in and of himself.
Then again he might not toe the rubber at Shea Stadium once this year; no matter how rosy the reports from Port St. Lucie, it's still possible.I think what the Mets need to do is take a good long look at this team and determine what it's number one problem is. Bullpen? Offense? Starting pitching? Maybe the answer is to wait for people to get healthy, I'm not discounting that. Whatever. It's on Mets brass to figure it out and fix it.
If they do, I could easily see this Mets team pulling off the kind of second half that catapulted the 2004 Red Sox to the playoffs and, ultimately, a championship. That Boston team started fast then played middling baseball for months before realizing its potential.
The same could easily happen with the Mets. The pieces are there, it's just that too many of them haven't performed as well as we'd planned (Delgado, Beltran, Heilman, Alou, Wright to an extent). There's nothing stopping any of those guys from reverting to the form of a year ago, but they just have to go on and do it already.
It's not that I don't believe in this team, it's just that the way this season has gone with the injuries and the losing streaks, it just makes me think of what I still believe should have been last year.
Seasons like that don't come around too often around here. All the 1-run victories? All the last at-bat wins? The double play at home plate in the NLDS? Endy's catch? It was there for the taking, man -- there until it wasn't. And now all that's left is 2007 and a feeling that's been building up over the past month and change like the best days might be behind us.
The Mets have half a season to change that perception. They go nowhere for the next three days though, and so here we are with our thoughts. Some people will see positives -- we've weathered a storm of injuries and we're still on top. Some will see negatives -- we've played like shit for a considerable period of time now.
Me though, I'm somewhere in between. I'm confident in the potential we have, but I'm somewhat wary about how things have been going lately. Ya gotta believe, yes, but lately the team hasn't been giving us anything to believe in.
And so it is that in a not inconsiderable corner of my mind I'm back in the loge section on a drizzly night at Shea in October. I'm back watching Endy go over the wall before beer and popcorn and high fives go flying all around me. I'm back in a moment when anything was possible and everything seemed probable. And now I'm back in the present, and I'm hoping this year's team can make me feel like that again.
- A.F.O.M.G.
(Images courtesy of nycsportsnews.com and media.mnginteractive.com)
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 1:25 PM
5 Comments:
It appears that the Y2K community was rendered speechless by the beauty of this post. So let me step up to the plate and give the proverbial tip of the cap. It really captures an unforgettable moment at Shea.
Pirates fan who just wants to tell you that was an awesome piece of sports writing.
Endy will return, and with him comes the good times.
Awesome to get the Deadspin mention!
Brilliant and well written.
The other day I saw a poll at metsblog that asked what the Mets should trade for to improve their team. I stared at it for a minute. Bullpen? Sure, we've had more bad moments than last year, but is any other bullpen even as close to reliable?
Starters? We have 6 starters (Maine/Perez/Sosa/Glavine/Duque/Pedro) that need to fit in a 4-game playoff rotation (should we get there), just like last year (and, I think those 6 are all capable of pitching great games). Will Glavine ever win a big one? Will Pedro return? And, most importantly, is there any SP available right now that can give us more than Maine/Perez/Sosa could contribute? Why would you want to bring in another question mark to the rotation? The success of the Mets in the second half of this season is dependent on how they hit, we have the arms to get us there.
OF? While we have an endless source of OFs AND Ricky Ledee, it seems impossible to trade for someone here. Eventually, 4 of our 6 very good OFs (Beltran/Alou/Green/Endy/Lastings/Gomez), will be back. And Willie isn't about to sit Green or Alou (if he ever returns). The injuries have made our OF resemble the Agbayani years, but the talent of those bygone days is not even close to today's group.
IF? The only possibility in the IF is getting a 2b, but Gotay and Valentine and Easley works for me, particularly with Gotay's great season.
Bench players? I like Valentin or Gotay switch-hitting off the bench, I like Easley off the bench, we could do better than Newhan, but Julio Franco is the giant albatross limiting the effectiveness of young Mets players. Dude is hitting below Pat Burrell (and to less fields, too). Obviously, you won't be trading Franco, but in a numbers game he could be let go. Chemistry, of course, is about the only reason that Franco is still a Met.
C - Ramon Castro is hitting .300 in limited action, yet I think he could be a great starter if he was given the chance. While LoDuca has been, in many ways, the heart and the soul of this team, it seems to me that while he can often lift the Mets, he can also bring them down. (Particularly considering his recent temper tantrums: both equipment-throwing and verbal.) Moving a clubhouse leader, though, is a very risky move, and I'm sure no fans think LoDuca should be moved (meaning he has reached Piazza Status).
What should the Mets do? I think they should mostly stand pat: they have a great nucleus and a team capable of a championship. But I think there has to be something done by the front office, just a minor tweak, to set a spark in the players. Getting healthy players back won't hurt, so perhaps patience is the best remedy to our midseason swoon.
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