Tea Leaves Falling Down

All Mets early, all Phillies late. Where have we seen that one before?

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Last night I went to the US Open; the seats were as good as you could hope for; on the celebrity scale, they were between John Lithgow (two rows behind) and Richard Williams (one row in front).

Better than the seats was the talent on the court. Venus Williams in the opener and Roger Federer in the nightcap; both cruised their opening rounds in straight sets, and I gaped at how fast the ball moves at the professional level. I honestly have no idea how these guys ever return a serve.

Now needless to say the Mets were in the back of my mind, but I made a pact with myself. DVR the game and cut off communication. "A.F.O.M.G.," I told myself, "If you get text messages from Met fan friends, ignore them. If you get e-mails from Met fan friends, ignore those too."

These steps having been taken, and in lieu of a scoreboard at Arthur Ashe Stadium, there was no way for me to know the score of last night's ballgame.

Ahh but you see, it was an imperfect system. The Mets fans in my circle are a generally pessimistic lot, a group that tends to harp on the negative. Whenever something bad happens I can expect a flood of angry texts or e-mails decrying the Mets' ineptitude.

Tonight I didn't get one text or e-mail of the sort. I got a call from one friend, kind of a half way there Mets fan, who reported that my friend from college could be seen in the front row behind home plate in virtually every shot (which was true). From his tone I tried to detect any hint of anger, but none could be found.

Reading the tea leaves, I was as confident as I could be on my way home on the 7 train.

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What I learned tonight is that tea leaves don't mean shit with this team.

The concept of things "trending positively" in any particular game has basically been rendered moot. I mean, how many times do we have to watch this team lose this exact same game over and over again?

There was a time when I used to think crushing defeats like this could only be served up by the Phillies. The Phillies have shown a knack for it, but so have countless others (the Pittsburgh Pirates for one, for chrissakes).

When I think about it, I find myself wondering what could possibly go so right for this team in the first half of a ball game that I'd ever be convinced they couldn't find a way to let it all fall apart?

Am I the only one out there who immediately started worrying as soon as the Phillies scraped together that first run in the 4th inning? Somehow I know I'm not.

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Tonight Johan goes for the Mets. If the team guts out a win we'll talk tomorrow about how much character they showed in bouncing back, but at a point that won't be enough.

At a point you have to stop believing your own bullshit.

If the Mets are going to make the playoffs they have start beating teams, not just hoping to outlast them. This point always comes up when we play the Phillies, who seem to have no inkling that they are ever out of things when the Mets are involved (my god, why should they), but increasingly it comes up no matter who we play.

This team has a fundamental flaw, and more and more, they play like they're scared of it. They come out on fire then fade at the end.

It's all so tiresome and it's become all too predictable.

I missed it in the tea leaves tonight, but no mas. I won't get fooled again.

- A.F.O.M.G.