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What’s amazing to me is that if the Mets win this afternoon, they will have gone 3–3 on a West Coast road trip against the two hottest teams in the National League, all while being three games over .500 and an inch from first place all with roughly 80 percent of the season left to be played.
Meanwhile, if you peak in on my e-mail’s inbox, talk with fans on the street, listen to talk radio or read the 
newspaper, you’d think – without looking at the standings – you’d think this team was 10–30.
There appears to be a a huge disconnect between what is happening on the field, in the stands and in the division.
In spite of reality, I feel restless – even though I know I shouldn’t. Even though I know there is plenty of baseball left to be played, I can’t help but feel frustrated, and disheartened, and edgy. I just can’t shake it. I wish this was not the case, but it is.
From what I can tell, the problem is that I’m just not having a whole lot of fun watching this team – and, for me, that’s what matters most.
To much criticism, I have written many times in the past that my goal is to have fun watching baseball. Wins are preferred, obviously, but ‘fun’ is a requirement.
In 2006, if the Mets were down by a run or two, I kept watching because – even if they lost – I knew it would be an entertaining finish. This is not the case right now.
I’m curious, at the very least, what do you want from this team?
It’s a simple question with a a complicated answer.
Do you want this team to win a ring, is that the only acceptable result? Do you want them to at least make the playoffs? Do you want them to at least play fun, exciting baseball, even if they lose. Do you want them to show more emotion? Do you want them to care as much you and I do? Do you want a new manager, a new GM, maybe some younger players – even if it could mean not making the playoffs?
What is it that you want, besides a better-than-.500 team, who is one game out of first place with roughly 80 percent of the season yet to be played.
“Again, speaking as a fan, at the very least, what do you want from this team?”
…put your response in the comments section below, or feel free to send me an e-mail…
3 hours to escape from reality. 6x a week. The rest is bonus.
Agree 100%.
I think it is time Antonio Pierce came into the Mets’ clubhouse with his now legendary air horn.
I just want to be excited to watch. Right now, I love watching the first 5-6, but then once the parade out of the bullpen starts, I lock up, “Here we go again”.
therick4, have you watched most games? I mean, while our bullpen isn’t lights out….what lost us the last 2 games? oh thats right, lack of clutch hitting!
I don’t get this whole idea that the Mets aren’t playing hard. Going 2 for whatever with RISP isn’t “not playing hard” - it’s called not getting the job done. The 2006 team stormed out of the gates. They won many, many games. Now you guys look back and remember them as ‘playing hard??’ How about the fact that that was Delgado’s last effective year? That Beltran had a mosnter season. Fans look at a team that’s a bit over .500 as lacking energy or enthusiasm. These guys go up to the plate and try to get hits. That’s what they do. Because they’re not succeeding means they’re not playing hard? That’s a big crock of you know what. Once they reel off a 7-8 game win streak, then they’ll be “playing hard” I’m sure, and everyone here will be excited about the streaking Mets. 2006 was their first year back to respectability and also the last year before the rest of the NL vastly improved. They’re not getting the job done right now, but they will and they’ll win the division. Period. Thank you.
My problem, is that they raise ticket pricies to give these stars large contracts. I pay $8 bucks for a beer and $60 bucks for a Mezz level seat and this is how they perform??? They are supposed to be entertainers.
We should be getting paid to watch them.
I do not blame randolph one bit. He backs his guys and manages with class.
I blame the players. The players who show up just to earn their paychecks.
Since opening day, which is the last game I attended, this team reminds me of old men going to work, soley for the purposes of getting their time in to collect their paychecks and move a step closer to getting their pension.
What is the deal NY Mets? No fire……
The only man on this team, is Billy Wagner. What does that say for this joke of a ball club?
I said this on the other post, but I’ll say it again:
When Willie came in 2005, there was this “no acceptance of mediocrity” attitude around the team. That attitude carried over into 2006 and got us the devision. The collapse of 2007 and Willie’s attitude toward it as well as his general approach to the entire situation is “acceptance”. “It’s over. Accept it and move on…” - that’s all we’ve been hearing from him. I’m ok with that if the teams plays hard, but the truth of the matter is - and this is showcased by no other than David Wright in his statements - this team has accepted being mediocre. They have accepted striking out with a man on third and less than 2 outs, they have accepted hitting into a double play in a big spot, they have accepted our boos, they have accepted ugly losses. You would never hear these words out of DW in 2006. Their attitude has changed for the worse. They have accepted that they nothing to prove after 2007, yet they’ve proven that nothing has changed in 2008.
What I want is for these guys to come out and play like they BELIEVE they will win. That’s how this team used to play. No matter the score, they played like they will win, and we all watched them as such. I remember in 2006 and beginning of 2007 when the Mets were down by 3-4 runs going into 8th-9th inning, the stadium would still be pretty full, people would stay just because they knew something would happen, they would try, they wouldn’t just hang their heads and say “ok, we lost…” What I want is for this team to stop accepting and start fighting for every pitch, every base, every out, every run…They’re supposed to be professionals, and I expect professional performance and attitude from them….162 times a year. I couldn’t care less about their off-field comments, appearances, advertisements, family issues, etc. When they’re between the lines, during those 9 innings of play, I expect winning, professional attitude, and that we haven’t gotten. I would like to place the blame on each individual, but when it’s the entire team that can’t put some real consistent winning together, and not just one or two guys (on the contrary, it’s only been one or two guys that have been consistent this year - Wagner and Church), then the blame has to come on the manager. Where’s the excitement? Where’s the passion? Where’s the winning attitude? You’ll hear “these games happen” or “turn the page” but is that what you want to hear 3 times a week? I’ll accept these explanations once a week, may be twice. But hearing it every other day is annoying and tired. These guys need to figure out what winning baseball is all about, ’cause frankly, they got no f—ing clue…
it’s about heart. i think they’ve got it. i think willie’s got it, but they don’t SHOW it. that 06 team was great to watch - they were fearless, loved playing the game and since about june of last year, that whole mentality is gone.
look at the white sox - those guys are taking heat in the media for blowup dolls and (gasp!) acting like ballplayers. the mets need to break out of this funk. willie needs to get run, they need a bench clearer - something.
zero09 is 100% right - we hear ‘these games happen’ more often than not now.
where’s the pride? where’s the fire? if jimmy rollins wants to run his mouth about how the phils are the team to beat, someone needs to put him on his a$$ when he steps to the plate at shea. they need a fight or willie needs to throw a piniella tantrum and get run. point is, this team sleepwalks through too many games and has a ‘ho hum’ attitude about it afterwards. they need something to wake them up.
Maybe they are just a .500 team. They could have 10 bench clearing brawls and flip over tables after each loss, but their starting pitchers would still last 5 innings and they would still not hit. You cannot wake up a lack of pitching and hitting talent.
Somehow this team had the talent in 2006. The core hasn’t changed. I refuse to accept that explanation. These guys have shown a very different kind of baseball before. The talent is there, the inspiration is lacking.
I have a hard time agreeing with the “I pay money I deserve to see a good team angle.” You pay money to see baseball, and to see your team the Mets. Just because they lose doesn’t mean you aren’t getting your moneys worth. Sure you’ll feel slighted that you came to a game, and spent 3-4 hours and 60-100 bucks total, but you are paying for the ability to watch the game…not to see a team win. You want the team to win, but by paying money, there’s no obligation.
There’s this strong sense of entitlement that most fans are grabbing onto now. It was what I hated about Yankee fans - “we pay $$ so give us championships.” It’s amazing how much this team and the fanbase has changed since 2006.
Glengarry- haven’t some of the Mets been roundly criticized when they visibly “showed heart”? I’m thinking about Milledge, who was roasted because he was happy for hitting a game tying home run (wouldn’t we love to see some game winning homeruns now) and Reyes, who was roasted for annoying the Marlins. I wouldn’t necessarily be in favor of acquiring out and out jerks, but I would love to see some ATTITUDE. And I just haven’t seen any. This team simply doesn’t have any swagger. Matt seems to chastise himself because he is feeling angst too early in the season. But essentially, the Mets have been only a little better than .500 for most of the last calendar year.
Matt, I agree with your assessment( somewhat). The poroblem with this team is that they seem to be slipping into “we’re just good enough” syndrome. Instead of setting higher standards like sweeping series’ instead of splitting or going .500; the team just likes getting by.
I watched almost every game last year, the year before that ‘06, and this year. The difference between the 2006 Mets and these past 1 1/4 seasons is that the ‘06 Mets bludgeoned the opponent into submission early and often whether it be explosive offense or lights out pitching.
I realize it’s early. True, the offense hasn’t kicked in yet (Beltran is hitting way low, Wright and Reyes have been streaky. (at this juncture I am not even including Delgado into the equation). Ollie Perez has been mostly down and while he had a rough patch, Heilman is coming around a little. Every game is important as we know all too well from last season.
I do not blame Willie for the collapse of 2007 (I mostly agree with his decisions). However, I’ll go on record as saying that if this inconsistent play contiinues to the All-Star break, , I’ll join the few (but persistent) number of fans who believe that it might be time for a managerial change. Something seems to be a little awry in that clubhouse.
I’m with you. What I want from this team is baseball. Sure, I get frustrated when the team doesn’t play well, or misses opportunities, but its still all baseball, and the reason I watch is because its baseball. If the team just didn’t try, it would suck to watch, but they try, they’re just not clicking on all cylinders right now. So be it, I still like watching baseball and the NY Mets. It’s ok to get caught up in it all during the game, but if you’re over analyzing everything during the day, worrying yourself sick about it, and just plain upset over it all, at all times, then where is the fun? People take this stuff so seriously. It’s fun to talk baseball, but when you get people this upset, it just makes you wonder.
What i want is to stop hearing that I shouldn’t be worried because it’s “only” May or because they’re still above .500. After 6 weeks of baseball this team is average. From June of ‘07 to the end of last season this team was average. This team has lost the excitement, energy and passion it had in 2006 and has been a .500 for a full year now. I’m tired of watching the veteran players go through the motions, seemingly not caring all that much what the outcome of the game is. I’m tired of hearing things like Reyes shouldn’t be showing as much emotion during the game because it may rub the opposing team the wrong way. I’m tired of Willie telling Wagner to keep things “in-house” when all he is doing is saying what all Mets fans are thinking. In 2006 I thought this team was ready to put together a 5 or 6 year magical run that I’ve been waiting years for, and now I’m pretty sure that it won’t be happening. Don’t tell me it’s only May, because i promise you this team will be having these same problems in August. And don’t tell me about the last 17 games of last season because the choke really started in June…somehow this team lost it’s fire after May of 2007 and has not been able to recapture it.
hear hear
I just want to see this team be competitive while giving the impression that they are leaving it all on the field. I see that effort level a few innings a game. We still lack the ability to get that big hit, which, if you recall, killed us in the 2000 World Series where we always seemed to be one hit away from taking a lead. That problem persists today. I love the fact that Wagner spoke his mind and ruffled some feathers; maybe if Willie would rip these guys once in a long while they may respond. Last year this team lost 13 of 16 during one stretch yet only lost a half game on the division lead. If complacency and a false sense of security is not bred in that environment I don’t know where it is. Plain and simple this team needs to dig in, wake up and bust some heads.
How do you know that Willie doesn’t call players into his office and rip them a new one and thats why they are pressing and trying to hit the 6 run homerun instead of just looking for the base hit to manufacture runs? Just because he doesn’t call them out thru the media doesn’t mean he isn’t in his office or clubhouse yelling at them!!!
We know, Metsrule, because Willie has said that he does not do that. It has been widely reported. There was 1 time last year that he threw or kicked a garbage can and there was a big to-do about that because that is not willies style.
and to be fair, he does call his players out in the media. just recently he called brady clark out for getting thrown out at home, and reyes for throwing to the plate instead of going for two. so when he says to keep things in-house, he is being hypocritical.
Is it just me of does it seem like Cerrone doesn’t watch the games. This team LOOKS bad on the field and all he keeps bringing up is our record. The don’t hit in the clutch, or in general for that matter, our bullpen is horrendous other than Wags, and it seems like we either squeek out a win, blow a lead in rediculous fashion or get blown out. Even when we get a lead, its like they play not to lose. They never go out and put up 4 or 5 insurance runs to put a game out of reach. But hey we’re .500! Seriously, I’m all for looking objectively but you can’t tell me you think that this team as assembled can actually WIN anything. Maybe the wild card, but please stop regergetating our record. I know what our record is and we’re lucky to be that.
the only thing that matters is the record, I don’t care if the team makes 20 errors in the game and can’t hit with runners on base as long as they find away to win the game. We missed the playoffs by 1 game last year and everyone brings that up, but aren’t you talking about the records there? Maine and the team can go out there and play 9 very strong solid innings today and lose 1-0 and it won’t mean a thing in the standings because all it is is another number in the lose column.
The record? ” we are still in first place” where have we heard that before..hmmmmmmm The record means nothing at all. The games and the way we play will set the record straight. No th eother way around. At the end of 2007 we where in second place for ONE DAY!!! And that one day is all it took. SO the record meant nothing at all. We where crashing and nobody cared or did anytihng to stop it. Now, we are heading in the same direction and we still hear th esame old thing. ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE !!!
Look after the first 50 games I expect the METS to be 30-20 or around there and at this pace they wont be. I also think that all the talk about playing 500 on the road is junk. We had chances to winn all these games and could not do it. This is the weakness of this team and it could be a fatal one. Im tired of al the talk and excuses ts time for ACTION!! PLAY AND WIN !!! Stop playing lousy baseball and start taking advantage of the other team, STOP leavin a small army on base and GET-R-DONE!!! Have faith in the team like we do. Give us a reason to cheer and when you play at SHEA it will ROCK like it should!!! LETS GO METS !!!!
Matt, you should feel restless. It’s called the collapse from 2007. Honestly, many fans feel their inconsistent play is due to last years collapse. Despite what their record states, do you honestly believe they can peak at the right time? I’m not saying they will not peak, but at the same time, I cannot say “yes”. Their play is a huge cause of concern. Granted it’s still early, but their play is probably an indication of what to expect later in the summer.
I agree I have no confidence in this team to be able to turn it on when needed. They seem to have a oh well it’s early attitude and it is getting old. I want to see some fire.
This team played great in 2006 when they were the underdogs and not expected to make the playoffs. Last year they were supposed to win the NL pennant and collapsed. Maybe this team needs to be the underdog again to find their fight to go out and win games instead of having a lead that they are just trying not to lose. I’m not worried because its alot easier to play when you have no pressure to win, how many years have the phillies been leading the Division only to choke and finish behind the Braves at the end of the year?
That’s understandable, but here’s the difference for me: watching this game for SO long, you come to realize that it really is a lot of ups and downs. At this time in 2007, we had one of the best playing teams in the Majors….we were already printing out playoff tickets…all the while receiving heaps of *crap* from other fans that you don’t win the World Series in May. AT THIS POINT LAST YEAR, no one was seeing signs that this team would collapse (aside from a few perpetually negative fans).
Why can’t the opposite be true? A lot of things have been going wrong with this team so far, but why can’t it happen where they turn it on and bust out a huge month? I dont see why it can’t
good post, I don’t see why fans have to be so perpetually upset and pessimistic. Why not just go with the flow? Enjoy baseball for its up and downs, because if you can’t do that, you’re going to have a heart attack before its all said and done. What fun is expecting the worst?
We are talking about the WHY and/or the WHAT. And I agree, why can’t that happen?
But HOW does that happen? It doesn’t happen magically. With “turn around” (for lack of a better term) occurences, you can usually look at a season and find the turning point.
- 1986 was the late April 4 game sweep in STL.
- 2006 was the West Coast road trip and sweeping in PHL..
- The 1990 team got hot when Bud Harrelson took over the reigns.
- The 1988 team stormed out of the gates with a 7HR performance on opening day. As the race got tighter, they pulled together a 7 game West Coast winning streak and an August Gregg Jeffries infusion.
This year…Omar gave us THE stud starter going every 5 days. We just got Alou back. We had a hometown boy (Fig) pitching on high emotion. We’ve had a few extra inning wins. This is the last season at Shea. We had Wagner justifiably calling out the team. All these are reasonable catalysts or at least a platform to build some emotion upon. But not one of these things has changed the approach and feel of how this team played last September.
So not WHAT and WHY. But HOW and, more importantly, WHEN..
Good post Danny….and i’d be hard pressed to try and disagree with anything you said.
some are waiting for the other shoe to drop where the mets fall out of contention….I’m waiting for them to pick it up and firmly think it can and will….
Its true…I realized last night tha the collapse really does hang over this team. Honestly, if they just play a stretch of crisp baseball, it will start to change…I’m not saying they need a 10 game winning streak…I’m saying they need a 10 game streak in which they don’t beat themselves by making boneheaded plays that cost them games.
If you remember last year, they played the same way, and all we kept hearing was, “we’re still in first place”. In 2006, the confidence, the swagger, and the great baseball was there. in 2007, and now, they are playing like a .500 team, when they should be playing a lot better. Granted you have some aging stars but with guys like Reyes, Wright, Church and to a certain extent, Beltran, should be tearing up the NL. The only team with a better lineup, I hate to say it, is the Phillies, just they don’t have the pitching. I am sick of this team making every sub par pitcher look like the 2nd coming of Cy Young. Get it together guys! we want a ring!
Crispness is EXACTLY what is missing!
I want Willie Fired.
Please tell me his good qualities as a manager. I do not think that he has any; he’s a great guy but a horrible manager.