The 2008 Mets: We'll Get Them Next Time

(Note: Guest post for you today. Nails wrote this piece Monday morning, but it got lost in our technical difficulties (see below). Well, better late than never. Enjoy.)

I've been wondering, over the course of the last week, whether I will ever like a Mets team as much as the 1999-2000 Mets.

Sitting at Shea with about 10 friends from high school through a 3 hour rain delay before Curt Schilling shut us out through 8 innings only to see the Mets fight back for the 6-5 win in the ninth… Sip's birthday out in the right field upper deck where Monster went yard off Trevor Hoffman… Buzzing the flight attendant every 10 minutes on a cross country flight to get updates on the Mets-Diamondbacks series before the pilot finally came on the PA to announce that Todd Pratt had hit a game-winning home run.

And, of course, Robin Ventura. Whether he was sliding across the tarp at Yankee Stadium dressed like Monster, turning L.A. Woman into a cult favorite of Mets fans throughout the private school scene, or hitting his Grand Slam Single (which I didn't realize had gone out until about 5 out-of-body experience minutes later when I looked at the scoreboard), there was really nothing like rooting for those Mets teams.

They also played their hearts out. Based on runs scored and runs allowed, the Mets "should" have been a 0.568 team over those two years. They ended up playing at a .588 clip. The 2000 Mets made it to the playoffs with the ferocious outfield tandem of Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton and Derek Bell (RIP).

It generally didn't matter who the opponent was. The Mets just did not have losing in their blood. I remember making a rare appearance with the old man up in the green mezzanine seats for a Mike Hampton July start against the Pirates. He was absolutely dominant coming up to bat in the 8th inning with a 4-0 lead having pitched one of the best games I've ever seen. Bobby V asks Hampy to bunt and, after not getting any of his three chances down, Hampton walks back to the dugout, slams his bat into the turf halfway there and let's out an expletive that could be heard from my seats 100 yards a way. This from a guy throwing a three hitter.

With these memories in mind, I've wondered if I would ever like a Mets team as much as those guys. I certainly don't the 2008 Mets.

At first, I wondered if maybe it was just a problem with aging. Junior spring of high school through freshman fall of college are pretty good times in your life. Basically every friend you have lives in the same place as, except for summer camp, you've never really met anybody who lives elsewhere and never had friends spread across the country for jobs or school. With little to do, even less responsibility, and a new discovery called beer, it's a pretty good time to be a baseball fan.

But then I think of some friends of mine who are Red Sox fans and clearly get the same joy out of their team today that I got from the Mets back in high school. Not just the Schilling with Ketchup on his socks Red Sox team, but last year's and this year's. Nah, it can't just be a function of where you are in life that made the '99-'00 Mets so loveable.

So I wondered if maybe it was me. I used to go to 30 games a year, now I make it to 15. I spent most of the last 8 years living outside the reach of WFAN, Mike and the Angry Puppy, and TimeWarner Ch. 26. Maybe it's not them, it's me?

That too doesn't ring true. I went down to Florida this year for opening day against the Marlins, Johan's first start as a Met. I honestly could not have had a better time. The weather was beautiful, the baseball perfect, and Santana magical. I'd have to split hairs to figure out where it ranked among my top 5 ball games of all time.

And then the last two weeks have played out. I'm already sick of non-Mets fans reminding me the baseball season is a marathon not a sprint. Mets fans know what I'm talking about. We watched this same nonsense for most of last season (not just the September collapse, but the entire last 5 months of a really talented team playing 0.500 ball). A.F.O.M.G. emailed on Thursday night: "I am so tired of watching the Mets lose this exact same game over and over again to the Phillies." Sip and I had a beer on Saturday night talking about how tough it is to root for this Mets team.

This team has all the talent in the world and it… just… can't… win.

You can pretty much summarize this team's problem in one sentence: Our highest paid player… our cleanup hitter… our potential MVP bat has a penchant for bunting in critical situations. WTF? I am fairly confident there has never been a team in baseball history where, in critical close and late situations, the star hitter stands at the plate and the other team's catcher runs out and yells "Hey guys, look out for the bunt."

Our #5 hitter, after popping out with the bases loaded in one of the most embarrassing games I've ever listened to, is asked whether he is disgusted or angry after the game and responds, "About what?"

There is not one player in the bridge between our starters and our closer who you can be confident will not turn any given game into a complete and utter catastrophe. Aaron Heilman wants to start and, reports recently say, other teams do not understand why he's never been given the chance. Here's why. I've probably seen the guy pitch 150 games. He causes the Mets a loss about once ever two appearances. Why would any team start a player who is a mathematical certainty to take your team out of the game by the third inning. I realize his numbers don't necessarily prove my contention. Maybe he dominates when I don't watch and I should just stop watching the innings that he pitches. Game theorists would call this a win-win situation.

The only contribution Luis Castillo will make to the Mets over the next four years is getting out productively.

I don't want to be negative on the entire team as individuals. Santana has shown us a lot in his first three starts, I think a lot of the problems with this team would be lessened if Pedro were with us for an entire year (he seems to loosen the team and the fan base up every bit as much as Robin did), you gotta love Nelson Figueroa and his story, and I think at the end of the year we'll look back at the concerns about Reyes' second half of 2007 and start of 2008 the same way we know do D-Dubya's second half of 2006 and start of 2007.

But, at the end of the day, this team finds ways to lose games. David Wright does everything you could ask of a player – no doubt he's my favorite player in baseball right now. He answers every question after a tough loss, he works out as hard as anybody, great with the fans, good guy off the field with his family. You couldn't ask for a better superstar. The guy is so committed that in the minors his home/road splits sucked because you couldn't get him out of the batting cage at home and he wore himself out. But, at the end of the day, he's the leader of this team. He needs to find ways to win. It's time for fans to stop making excuses for him, it's time to stop talking about what his batting average was in September of last year. It's time to win. Figure it out.

There is nothing worse than when a sports team is losing towards the end of the game and Gene Hackman comes on the jumbotron. "If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners."

Bullshit.

At the end of the game, the scoreboard tells you whether you're a winner or a loser. Tom Seaver once said that second place is the first loser. For the last year, the Mets have been the favorites in the National League and have ended up losers. It's time for somebody to step up and say enough is enough.

Bobby V used to say at the start of every game, "This game is the most important game of the season, because it's the only one we're playing."

The Mets decided not to have a team marketing slogan this year. Yet their play on the field and attitude after the game proves that this year's slogan is the same as last year's:

The 2008 Mets: We'll Get Them Next Time.

- Nails