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On his blog, Keith’s Moustache, Tom notes the roots of his frustration with the 2008 Mets, including the lack of fan support.
Tom writes:
“The Shea crowd, somehow, is a spoiled child. They went in to this season mad about last year. They’ve thrown tantrums and booed and expected this team to make the playoffs as a foregone conclusion. What these idiots don’t realize is that they’re in the midst of one of the more awesome pennant races in baseball right now.”
“If not for last season, Shea would be rocking and rolling and the fans would be supportive and having a great time. Because last season gave the Met fan some sort of entitlement complex about getting to the post-season this year, they’ve decided to be as assy as humanly possible.”
…despite the condescending tone, i agree with tom in that the team needs the fans more than ever right now…how great would it be for them to be down by a few runs late in the game and to have a sellout crowd cheering them on instead of filing out to beat traffic…i have been as frustrated as anyone lately, but i can’t live in fear of the mets losing…it’s now or never, so if you’re headed out to shea in the next couple of days, make some noise, and stay until the end…just my two cents…
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I’m going to have sort-of disagree with you there. Oh no, I definitely agree that there is an awesome pennant race and come January, right around Super Bowl, we are all going to wish we enjoyed it more when we had it. What is a Mets fan if (s)he is afraid to lose - a Yankees fan? I think 2007 has little to do with it…we want our memories of quasi-domination from 2006 and that has clouded our perception of how good this team actually can be. Forget 2006. Forget 2007. Remember the second season of 2008 — the last 7 games.
Its a joke to put this on the fans. They made their bed, they need to sleep in it…. i’m as big a met fan as the next guy, but sometimes i’m glad i live in chicago, so i can just flip the channel on these guys. maybe if they showed some heart, some intensity, wear their emotions on their sleeves, i’d respect them a little more. but they don’t, so i can’t.
most of the time, i’m screaming at the tv, wishing Manuel would call on me from the bullpen. I’LL TAKE THE BALL. aside from santana, no one has that attitude.
d.wright is playing w/ a bullseye on his back instead of the #5. he’s running away from the pressure, instead of accepting it and thriving off it. everyone’s waiting for the next guy to execute, so its hard to be optimistic. sad but true.
I hear ya Coop. The fans are certainly not to blame here, I just hope they can find it within themselves to support the team over this very trying time. I know that patience has grown thin.
I agree. It’s a copout to blame the fans. The bullpen stinks with or without the mets fans’ hearts there to break.
besides, if the game ended after 6 innings, the Mets would be 11.5 games up in first place. It’s just as well to leave early and quit while you’re ahead.
What does last season have to do with it. They only showed up to boo last year when we needed them the most. Mets fans chok e in September more than the players.
So was I wrong to boo Glavine and Willie after they combined to surrender 7 runs in one-third of an inning against the Marlins on the last day of the 2007 season?
Last year has nothing to do with this year.
Last year was gutless Willie rolling out the same lineup and the same awful relievers every day (Mota, Mota, Mota).
Last year was Willie saying ridiculous things about champagne tasting sweeter.
This year is Jerry playing the kids down the stretch (Murphy, Evans, Niese) and calling out the players when they need to be called out. He talks about swinging at awful pitches and not adding tack-on runs.
Let 2007 go folks. It makes a nice EASY storyline, but in reality Mets fans aren’t bitter about this year. I think most sensible Mets fans get that this year the bullpen is just not good enough. The team is trying and leadership is doing whatever it can to pull through this.
Just sit back and enjoy the show, no matter how heartwrenching the whole thing is.
It could always be worse, Willie or Art Howe or Jeff Torborg or Steve Phillips could still be part of the Mets.
Steve Philips got us to a World Series, more then can be said about the current cast.
Manuel keeps rolling the same losers out as well! This just goes to show that Willie should still be this teams manager and last year was not his fault! I pay a ton of money for my tickets, if i want to boo ill boo. I have spent hours and hours on this team and i hate the fact people cry about the fans being too tough on the players…its simple win and play well. I was there last night when the mets took the field shea was rockin’, so we want to cheer …not boo
OMG! And you are serious too.
I say this all the time. As fans, we can’t hit the ball, pitch the ball, or field the ball.
We can only do two things: believe and cheer our rear ends off.
There’s simply no reason not to at this point. If you don’t like some player or think the team has no heart, talk about it in the offseason. For this week (and hopefully a few more weeks in October), let’s just keep believing and root, root, root.
Let’s Go Mets!
you’re preaching to the choir…
unfortunately the fans that don’t show up or cheer aren’t educated enough to use metsblog (except for furioso and whoever the guy is that wanted barry bonds)
Where have you been from last year till now. It’s nice to have a few fans left.
I am going tonight just bought my ticket. I have been to 15+ games this year and will try and get there for a few more this year. It all starts tonight. Enough with negativity lets get behind this team and show them we believe with them.
Guys there are some great seats available for tonight. You can get MEZZ and UPPER Box seats and they aren’t that crazy expensive. Everyone get off your fannies put on your mets gear and get going to Shea.
I hear you. Just went to game #22 of the season last night.
When poor Luis come to bat it seems as if the stadium is filled with those guys from Major League that boo’d the Indians.
When Delgado and Pelfrey, who had been recipients of all the “boos” admit how much better it feels to get cheered, you know that the players do hear and are effected by the crowd.
We need support from the crowd, we need to be the 10th player in the stadium.
Now, there were times when the crowd tried to bring back this club. The rally towels given away last night were twirling from every seat. And the playoff feeling did permeate the stadium.
However doubles plays by Luis and Schneider squelched the good feelings.
Totally agree! if you don’t like the team or the players, go watch something else? Why are you here?
I believe they can do this. they might not, but it will be exciting either way.
We have to love it all, the thrill and the heartache. You can’t have one without the other…
I also must add in the fact that. IF this team does not make the playoffs we as a group that has called Shea stadium home since 1964 have 6 GAMES LEFT AT SHEA STADIUM.
If you are a true fan you go and you root and you take in your last chances to be in our toilet bowl of a stadium.
I couldn’t agree more. I just wish I lived close enough to go to these games.
Those that opt out unless they’re winning, well, I just don’t quite understand…..
I couldn’t agree more. Only wish I lived close enough to get to some of these games.
Those that are only around if they’re winning, well, I just don’t quite understand…
AMEN!!! …. You live in the past, You die in the past.
This is as exciting as Baseball gets
LETS GO METS, LETS GO METS, LETS GO METS
I was there last night and will be there the rest of the week cheering and pulling for my team …. if they don’t make it I have all offseason to be angry and critize but not only are they still in the race THEY LEAD THE DAM WILD CARD BY A GAME …. for these last 6 games lets cheer these guys instead of booing every dam out they make or hit they give up.
I dont completely agree with that. I was confident beyond anything in 2006 and we lost, then in 2007 that confidence rolled over and the team collapsed and now in 2008 they are still not playing as we expected of hoped for. They lost my confidence when they collapsed and now they have to fight to earn it back. The trust and confidence of the fans is earned through th elong season and not just bestwoed because you wear a Mets uniform. I dont think this team can win when under pressuer. The bats go cold and cant score late inning runs and the pen is just awful and cant hold a lead after the 7th inning. As if thats not enough we have ni closer, to speak of and an incomplete rotation. I hope they prove me wrong.
Last year the team didn’t have a winning streak longer then 3 or 4 games. This year they have put together longer streaks multiple times.
Last year from June on the team was a .500 team. This year this team has put together one of the best 2nd halves the organization has ever seen.
Last year the Division was really the only way in. This year we are leading the WC and are still fighting for the division.
I am gonna go down fighting with this team and you should all too.
wrongo. if we won the last game, we would have been tied for the division AND the card.
Every year every MLB team breaks there fans heart except for one the team that wins the world series. The Mets over the last three years are a very competitive ball club. There are plenty of other MLB fans out there in other cities that would love to have a team that for the last 3 years now have still been playing very meaningful games the last week of the season. Why quit on the team you love?
I thought the Yankees fans where awful but look at them showing up when the Yankees are out selling the place out making noise and getting behind there team and look at Mets fans …. they have given up already.
Totally right on post… You have to root for them through good and bad… and criticize when it’s warranted on the blog, in your living room, at the office, and there is a lot to criticize, but always root for your team at the game, plain and simple!
Yea, this is the awesomest race to see who can choke worse EVER
That sentence just gave a migraine to every English teacher in America.
My favorite part of it…
“If the season ends with the Mets out of the playoffs, I’m relatively certain I’ll lay about a third of the blame on the home crowd. ”
for some reason i can’t see how you can place a third of the blame on a group of people who don’t touch the ball at all. that’s just plain stupid.
How about 1/10th as they are supposed to be the 10th man?
oh my god you are more ridiculous every day.
No more ridiculous then all “team has no heart/gus/etc. etc. etc.” arguments.
lol good point.
I agree with the overall message of the post, and I am as optimistic as they come, but this team has let the fans down time after time and to go out and be supportive in a game in which you let the pitcher hit a grand slam to break it open, for example, is far easier said than done. When a guy like Luis Castillo ends the game looking at 3 straight fastballs down the middle, it’s hard to back that. Watching the game last night, I was saying to my friend, they better be booing right now..because that is what I would have done.
Right now it’s up to the team to win the fans back. Win a game, win a series. It’s now or never…
its kind of sad how many empty seats there are and it makes me understand why the wilpons took away 10,000 seats since last nights crowd probably wouldnt have even filled citifield. I will be going to tomorrow nights game and I really hope Im not surrounded by cubs fans.
What a condescending jerk this clown is. He’s projecting his own anger and frustration with the team onto the fans. Every single Mets fan has a right to boo the sports atrocity (not to be confused with actual, real-life, important atrocities) that they have been subjected to both last September and now this September. The most heartbreaking way to lose is to give up a lead late, whether it’s in the course of nine innings or the course of a full season. How many times do Mets fans have to be subjected to late losses before it’s deemed “acceptable” for us to voice our absolute disgust? Maybe he should get off the fans for booing, and realize that it would be absolutely impossible not to boo all these late inning and late season meltdowns.
“If not for last season”. Well, last season happened. It’s there. Face it. Deal with it. Because it’s happening again. Maybe it won’t, maybe the Mets will pull this one out. But at what time this season have they shown us they can hold a late lead?
Hey, fans. If the team stinks, if the choke it up like they’ve been doing for a year and a half… boo. Boo your lungs out. If they win… cheer. This is not group therapy. We don’t need to hug these millionaires and tell them “It’s all going to be okay”. We need to be fans, and fans boo when the team loses, and the cheer win the team wins, and that’s life, and that’s sports, and get over it. The fans haven’t done anything wrong. We’re all reacting to the same mess that’s been in front of us late in the game for the last two years. So get over yourself, “Tom from Keith’s Mustache”. And stop calling the Mets fans names. It only makes you sound like a spoiled crybaby.
You are soooo right.
But what’s the most frustrating to me as a fan who follows the team on a daily basis, and has for 35+ years now, is that they are close to unwatchable. They’re not fun to watch; they’re not entertaining; they are just.plain.blah.
It’s time the Mets took a serious look at the team and those responsible for its construction, and made some serious changes. More importantly, what the Mets need to do is decide whether they simply wish to compete after a fashion, or if they really want to build, support and maintain a winner. THAT is the main problem; I don’t think the attitude in the Met organization is that they must win — just that they must compete. And put fans in the seats while they’re at it.
I’m not convinced that the Met organization is built to win — more that it’s built to compete, which is exactly what the team does. It does not know how to shut the door, finish what it started, cross the finish line, whatever cliche you want to use.
I’m being brutally honest because I love the Mets and have for a long time, and it saddens and angers me to see so much money thrown around for a team that simply just wishes to compete.
“Built to compete”. That’s a great way to put it. Built to compete, but not to win.
They only showed up to boo last year when we needed them the most
The idea that millionaire professional athletes “need” us to win is laughable.
They “need” me to cheer? Then I need to be paid.
The fact is, WHY should anyone waste their time and money trekking down to Shea? To see the bullpen blow it again? To watch another agonizing crucial loss?
Sorry Mets…..you’re on your own.
Either be strong, or crumble. Either way, the responsibility is yours. Leave me out of it unless you want to send me a check.
yes yes yes yes
Choke, Choke, Choke.
Furioso–a serious and respectful question—Keith Hernandez says all the time how his Met teams fed off of the fans, especially in 1986. Now of course the 86 team had the division sewn up by Memorial Day and was loaded with the clutch/heart guys, but don’t you think the incredible cheering those years helped spur the team on?
I am NOT comparing the Omar era to the Cashen one, but just suggesting that maybe a load of enthusiastic fans can indeed help the team.
It’s tough to be enthusiastic when the team keeps ripping your heart out by blowing games late. If every time you stick your hand in a foxhole you get bitten, sooner or later you’re not going to stick your hand in there anymore. I’ll be enthusiastic when the Mets show me they can kill the fox.
Okay, that metaphor kind of got away from me, but you know what I mean.
True but that’s really what being a Mets fan is all about.
Race, I do not disagree with you at all…I guess I was just trying to get at the idea of whether or not the crowd can indeed pump up the players and truly affect what happens on the field….and the metaphor was original and cool.
What, constant self-flagellation? Yeah, sign me up for that every summer.
Look, maybe the crowd can pump the team up. I just can’t blame Mets fans for going to Shea and expecting the worst in September anymore. And to say the fans are a big part of this team’s failure to produce in the clutch… it’s just unfair to the people who spend good money and time watching a team that has been finding new ways to rip their hearts out for two years straight.
When i go to Shea i cheer as loud as anybody.
But when the Mets are down (especially by 3 or more) and you know they never have come back from more than a 3 run deficit all year, then it is tought to cheer.
its not about entitlement, its about losing all those years and knowing that you have a very good team that will translate into another year without a CHAMPIONSHIP.
how great would it be for them to be down by a few runs late in the game and to have a sellout crowd cheering them on ….
How about the Mets being up a few runs and holding onto a lead for a change????
I blame 2006 for turning some of the fans into entitled, spoiled babies.
Agreed. There was no sense of entitlement before that. It was hell yeah we have a chance to make the playoffs.
Agreed - how many Yankees fans did we see that year say they were “rooting” for the Mets because the Yankees were “horrible” (you know, with their 97-win year and umpteenth playoff run)? I take the down years as a fan every time…we didn’t expect much, and only the true dyed in the wool people came out there.
+1
Heck, +1000
I can’t tell you how many of us were running around after 2006 as if it was the cusp of a new dynasty.
Look at the win totals from 05 through 08.
2006 is nothing but a flukey abberation
i blame rising ticket prices.
unless you are sitting behind home plate, Citifield is actually cheaper than Shea plus better seats.
2006 was our year and we blew it. We had the best team and the best record and I felt that we could and would win any game no matter what the score was or how late it was. That is the feeling I want back and 2007 and 2008 has NOT given that to me. I have no faith in this team.
the fans didnt start booing until the team pissed away a huge lead, after failing in ‘06, with a MEGA payroll…..i don’t feel sorry for these guys. maybe if they played with some pride, we’d have more pride in them.
Maybe if you had more pride in them they would play with more pride? How does that make any sense? Either you are a fan or not.
And who are you to judge?
I am not. You are the only one that can decide that.
You realize these guys get bonuses for making the playoffs? Besides for “pride” they have other incentives to want to make the post season.
I will be there unfortunately only for the next two games and not the rest of them! You better believe I will be as loud as possible! We can do this, Lets go everyone lets back them up and not boo them, granted we pay a lot of money to watch them compete, but honestly when I was playing ball it felt good when people got behind me, so I personally think if we want them to win, they need our help!!!! LET’S GO!!!!!
I agree 100%. The Shea crowds have been disappointing and annoying. Flip over to the Phillies and you see 40,000 people going nuts rooting the Phillies on. Lets just do this and then complain when the season is over if the Mets lose. Or after the last pitch ever at Shea, I wonder how that atmosphere will be if the Mets lose out after the last game at Shea. I don’t want to see that but would be interested to see how Met fans react..
That’s because the Phillies are winning. I’ve been to Philly for a Phillie loss. They all leave. It became Shea Stadium west.
David Come was on Russo yesterday and said the Shea crowed was amazing in 86 and they definitely were a factor. Why can’t we help this team and maybe sell the place out and go nuts!! In 6 days there might not be anymore baseball in NY so why not just do what it takes to try and give this team a positive thought? Everything is so negative around the Mets and that affects them!!!!!
Cone
ummmm yea david cone was drafted by the royals in 1986. Not sure how he knew what the crowd was like when he wasn’t a professional athlete at that point
My apologies. I meant in the 90’s when the Mets were good. Which was obviously the late 90’s..
I give up..lol
it was obviously late 80’s, Early 90’s with Cone. The point is that he was involved in some pennant races and he said the crowd’s were awesome. Can’t we be awesome this final week?
the phillies have 2 years in a row of REMARKABLE stretch runs….the mets have 2 years in a row of pissing the bed….You wanna talk entitlement? Are these players entitled to our support even when they are overpaid and choking?!
What are you entitled to? You keep doing the same thing.
Fans actually ARE entitled to boo, if they so desire.
That’s the ONLY entitlement here, and if you can’t hack it……well, that just makes you one and the same with the players.
They can’t hack it either
So because fans pay money it some how entitles them to boo? Ok.
So do you pay money for this site? Are you entitled to boo on here? Can I boo at a bar watching the game if I did not pay to watch it?
People who boo their teams are just miserable with their own lives. I think some go just to boo and get upset when we win.
My life is usually fine… until I turn on/go to the Mets game in September. Then it gets pretty miserable.
Then don’t watch, turn the channel, lots of options.
I think that when a pitcher gives up a grandslam to th eother teams pitcher and we loose a must win game we should all stand up and cheer as loud as we can. When the pen gives up 4 runs in the ninth inning to a last place team and we loose we should all stand up and cheer again.
I don’t know about everyone else, but there were no fannies in the seats last year around this time. The place was a ghost town for the Nats series. A little support would have been nice.
i was there last year
and i’ll be there this year
but if this ends the same way, and nothing changes
i will NOT be there next year
The fans take their cue from the team. Uninspired play leads to uninspired fans.
Uninspired fans leads to uninspired play.
That doesn’t seem to bother the Tampa Bay Rays.
LGM, I am not even saying that is the case. But it’s a never ending relation. You can’t prove one without the other.
The Rays have the best home record in baseball with perhaps the worst fans in baseball. That’s all the proof you need.
LOL, Great example.
You are totally correct!!
That was for The Real
I am very inspired by all the runs the METS score late in games and at the way the pen can hold a game. That just makes me al warm and fuzzy inside. LETS GO GUYS, how can we loose the game tonight? Santana will give up 2 runs and leave in the 7th and we will loose by 5.
hits the nail on the head. imo mets fans have become some of the worst in baseball this past year. the sense of entitlement in the average mets fan outweighs the yankee and red sox fan combined. it’s really sickening to see some of the comments made by these “fans” after every loss this year. i know the jackals are gonna jump all over this, siting “the collapse”, wright’s clutch stats, castillo et all, but what they fail to realize is that it’s baseball. it’s a sport where the best players fail 70% of the time and the best teams lose 30-40% of their games. do i expect the mets to make the playoffs? yes. do i want them to? more than anything. am i gonna jump ship and denounce them all as horrible players/people if they don’t? nope. most downers here claim that the team has no heart and no guts, well i say that most of the fans of this team have no heart and no guts. it’s a pennant race, and a d**n good one at that, and every single advantage is needed…especially the home field one. 6 games left in the regular season….i hope the fans remember how to be fans.
Seems to me you want fans to be more like lapdogs.
Great post.
GREAT POST!!
Turn your percentages around. What’s the percentage of a team holding a late lead? What’s the 2008 Mets percentage in that situation? What’s the percentage of teams blowing a 7 game lead with 17 to play? Oh, 100%? Not anymore. Yes, baseball success if failing 70% of the time. But it also matters WHEN the 30% of success comes. It’s not HOW WELL you perform in sports, it’s WHEN YOU PERFORM that counts. And when it counts, holding late leads, this team has failed for two years. And “late leads” is a situation that the VAST MAJORITY of teams a high percentage success rate in.
terrific post, however one thing irks me.
When people say successful baseball players fail 70% of the time and theyre great players — its innacurate. Failing 70% of the time makes you a .200 batter. It puts you in the minor leagues. Failing 60% of the time means you succeed 30% of the time = .300 bating.
just a note to all you guys.
LETS GO METS
If you bat 10 times and strike out 7 of them, and get 3 hits, you have failed 70% of the time and are hitting .300….right?
? So percentages add up to 90 now?
yankee-level prices = yankee-level expectations
If this team blows it, the fans will tear down Shea themselves on Sunday, booing the team and organization out of the building. And you know what? That would be their right. And the Mets, as a whole sports franchise, would deserve it.
That would be the Wilpon’s worst nightmare. The last day ever at Shea to be spent by the fans booing the team off the field. But it’s a good point. If this team misses out on the last day of the season, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
The odds of something that bad happening are long and far away.
So you just know the Mets can pull it off.
It’s going to be a horror show.
Note to everyone:
This is NOT a pennant “race”
You see, teams in pennant “races” usually are winning.
If anything, this is a “race” to see who can choke the least.
I agree. How big were those three games in Milwaukee now? Good thing we swept.
Last year is a permanent scar. The lackadaisical play filled with errors, bumbling plays, lack of hustle, lack of fundamentals, and Willie’s “no big deal” approach. It will always be there unless this team can make the playoffs again, and the fans will have a tough time dealing with it. That’s a fact. End of story.
Well, the fans have adopted that if the players don’t care enough to finish the season hard, why should the fans? After all, at least the players are getting paid…Joe Schmoe has to spend a few hundred bucks to take his family to a ballgame and for what? Watch the team lay down like dogs for the 3rd straight September (I realize that the Mets won the division in 06, but their September record wasn’t great - just something about this team that doesn’t want to finish strong apparently). Joe Schmoe can watch the Mets lay down in the comfort of his living room.
Not saying it’s right, but that’s one of the prevailing thoughts of the fan base right now.
How do you know they are not playing hard? Just because the results haven’t been showing the last week and a half doesn’t mean they haven’t tried. These guys get nice bonuses for getting into the post season.
I completely agree with the tom referance but that has been the case for a while now. Remember these are the same fans that booed delgado then call him an MVP. It would be nice if we can stand behind our team and root for them to succeed but im not really counting on it. Just with some of the posters here you can tell that some fans will never be satisfied unless the mets go 162-0 and score 100 runs a game. We will not win every game but i guess thats a concept thats hard to buy into when fans have been spoiled by 2006. Some people are not even over what happened last year and we expect them to cheer whats going on now and get behind our team. Yes the crowd does not hit or pitch but ill tell you what im sure 55,000 fans yelling and cheering would give those guys a special kind of motivation that money doesnt. Again i will always be a met fan and will always be optimistic about our chances because i love this team (even though aparently on this blog thats a bad thing per some posters) but everyone is different i guess.
screw this team. Fire minaya. Boo his trainwreck.
What I don’t get is, why if you are a true Mets fan with heart and everything, why in the world would you boo your own team? Those are the same people that say if the Mets aren’t in the playoffs you will root for the Yankees, NO if you are a REAL METS FAN than you won’t do that! Have some heart and cheer this team on!
If the Mets aren’t in the playoffs, then I will root against the Phillies.
agreed, and I will probably go against the NL and root for the Rays!
Why should we have to have more heart than the team itself?
why not? Whether they want to win or not, don’t you want to see your team win?
This idea that the fans are spoiled is ridiculous. It’s not a sense of entitlement, it’s an expectation. This team was one game from the World Series in 2006 and by all accounts should have won, but didn’t. This team had a 7 game lead with 17 to play last year, but didn’t. This team brought back an awesome lineup and added Johan Santana, a move that skyrocketed them to the top of anyone’s ranking of the NL and NL East, yet they’re struggling to hold to the wild card.
This team has let the fans down over and over and over again. Don’t blame the fans for leaving at the end of the ballgame, show me a game where they’ve actually scored in the last three innings when they were trailing and fought their hearts out for a win. Show me any player in a Met uniform that can hit over .200 with RISP not named Fernando Tatis. Show me a situation where a reliever, ANY RELIEVER, could prevent an inherited runner from scoring.
Blaming the fans is weak, petty, toothless excuse. NY fans are tough, you actually have to earn our praise.
Thank you, great post.
It’s not a sense of entitlement, it’s an expectation.
How is that different?
Blaming the fans is weak, petty, toothless excuse. NY fans are tough, you actually have to earn our praise.
There’s a time to voice displeasure and a time to put everything aside and just band together for a common goal. Now is the time to put everything aside and band together for a common goal. Next week might be the time to start vociferously expressing displeasure again.
If they do back in to the playoffs because the Brewers collapse harder are you planning on booing the team throughout the NLDS? If so, please stay home and let someone who wants to see the game and support the team go.
Listen, all you wellsprings of optimism, did you cheer when Heilman gave up a bomb to Yadier Molina? When Ayala gave one up to Greg Norton? Wagner to Werth? The list goes on. HOW MUCH do we have to be subjected to? A grand slam to the opposing pitcher? TWICE IN ONE SEASON?! Hey, I’m always there, I’m always watching, I’m always rooting and hoping for the best, but it’s beyond words that this sort of collapse could be happening. AGAIN! There’s only so much un-clutch baseball one team’s fans should be expected to stand for!
Don’t stand for it then. Stop watching the games, stop coming here to talk about it. Go be a Yankee fan or what ever team is fulfilling your need to win every game.
I don’t need to win every game. I’d just like to, for once, win when it counts. And let me say this… the patronizing “I’m a better fan than you because I root harder all the time even when they’re losing so go root for the Yankees” act is annoying and naive. Fans have a right to express themselves when things go badly. Do you have people you love in your life? Do they ever do things to make you angry? Do you always pretend those things don’t happen? Do you ever get mad at that person over something they’ve done?
Well, same thing. I love the Mets. But I will let them know when I’m not happy with them. Doesn’t mean I’m any less of a fan. I’m just not naive about it.
Fans have a right to boo. You choose not to, ever, and that’s fine. But don’t tell me that I don’t have that right.
The next time my son does something that bothers me I’m going to boo him. Maybe I’ll feel better, after all to use most people heres judgement I pay his salary so I’m entitled.
Way to take a metaphor too literally, guy. Good job there.
Thanks guy. Hopefully you get the point but I doubt it.
npanzeca,
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I’VE EVER AGREED WITH YOU!!
HELL HAS FROZEN OVER!!! LETS GO METS LETS GO METS!
Then a winning streak is on the horizon.
Don’t DARE to get on the fans for a sense of entitlement.
It’s all we’ve had shoved down our throats by the organization itself.
Remember “Your season has come” anyone???
Remember Wilpon and Omar “This is a championship team” statement in spring training?
If we expected anything, it wasn’t because we were spoiled, that’s for sure.
Fans have a sense of entitlement because they are not satisfied with ‘meaningful games in September’, another Wilpon favorite.
Guys, can we put things in perspective here? Has everyone lost their mind? It is a game, a season, a sport. If these guys can’t get themselves prepared enough and focused enough to win a game, then please don’t fault me for leaving a stadium when I have work in the early a.m. and I have to prepare for a long day of work, which by the way I don’t get nearly compensated enough. I think I have proven my fan-hood! I am annoyed that it always falls back to the fans not being supportive. Have we forgotten that with tax payer money we fronted a stadium? With our money we helped build a billion dollar franchise? We buy tickets. Souvenirs. $869 stadium seats. Costs us $9.75 for a beer. Do me a favor, win a darn wild card. Enough said. I’ll check in on Monday.
I wonder how long the playoff ticket refunds are going to take. My bet is Spring Training.
So let me get this straight if the Mets don’t make the playoffs it’s the FANS FAULT!!!! That’s one of the STUPIDEST things I’ve ever heard. So the fans cheers will make Heilman pitch better, Schoe pitch better, and Castillo play better right?
Probably not, but could it hurt?
Yea real go to Shea and try it, let me know if it works.
I was there last night cheering Heilman, Castillo and the rest. It didn’t work for me, but then again I think I may have been the only one. I’m going to back again tonight and try again, though, because I’m a fan.
Good for you, your medal is in the mail. Again another freaking guy judging Mets fans, who gives you the right.? I root for my team, but when they lose heartbreaking games like they have, what are people suppossed to do CHEER?
We’ll never know because it hardly ever happens. They boo and bail at the first walk or run by the opposing team.
“how great would it be for them to be down by a few runs late in the game”
How great would it be NOT to be down by a few runs late in the game?
How great would it be NOT to be down by a few runs late in the game, especially after leading earlier in the game?
How great would it be NOT to be down by a few runs late in the game, so we didn’t have to listen to how the momentum kind of slipped away?
Want the fans to go wild, give them a 6 game win streak and see what happens, want to see tha fans leave, give them a few more late September, momentum slipped away losses….
I just dont understand if you dont like this team and so many people are sick if this team blah blah blah..why dont people just go root for another team. Why does it seem some posters have to defend the mets TO OTHER MET FANS…If you dont like it just go root for another team.
Great question Dirty. Been doing it for a year now and all it’s gotten me is carpal tunnel and being called every name in the book.
So, fans can’t boo their own team, who gives you the righrt to say they can or can not? Who are you to judge who a REAL Mets fan is or not? It’s simple, win the last 6 games and there will be no booing.
why would you boo the team that you “claim” you want to succeed. Tell me what booing will do that the player you are booing doesnt know already..what purpose does booing do. I just always thought the concept of a fan is to support your team through the good and bad and to cheer them on to succeed. Am i wrong?
So if they don’t make the playoffs for a second straight year and basically COLLAPSE for a second straight time, you want fans to CHEER, say GREAT SEASON GUYS. Come on Dirty, give me a break. Win and the Boos go away it’s that simple.
my point is theres no purposeful reason to boo. But i guess i come from a different understanding of being a fan than you and apparently alot of other people do.
Fans aren’t supposed to kick the team while it is down. There will be plenty of time to boo this team during game 162 if the chips fall that way. I don’t think booing helps anything.
not according to alot of people here 09. Im not trying to be some holier than thou kind of thing but like i said i grew up under a different set of understanding of what a fan is supposed to do. Alot of people seem to have a different outlook on what a fan is supposed to do or be like. To each his own.
agreed real. This is my first year here and wow it was fine when i first got here but it has gotten so bad now. I wish i was here during the time that you guys talk about alot.
Nice try Matt. Thinking like a company man.
If you can’t handle boos then GET OUT OF NEW YORK. Go play in Tampa Bay, oh that’s right. they play in front of NO FANS but are in first place, blows the whole fans to blame theory out of the water doesn’t it.
Totally the exception to the rule.
But then your RULE doesn’t work, don’t give me this exception nonsense.
I’d be willing to bet that the % of attendence to capacity at Tampa Bay is the lowest of a playoff qualifying team in the history of baseball. That my friend is an exception.
You Gotta Believe is dead. If the Mets blow it again, I NEVER want to hear it again.
“Just Win, Baby!”
You gotta bereave.
I don’t post alot on here, but I did something I have NEVER done at a Mets game, Shea or on the road. I left early. I go to 30-40 games every year, I’ve been there till the last out of a couple of double digit blowouts this year alone, but last night I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked out after Castillio had the great rally killing 6-4-3 in the 6th. Its the same story as last year. This team is dead.
Honestly, what motivation is there for the Mets fan to support their team? In 2005 they were a 1/2 game out of the Wild Card going into September, and they had a dredful September. 2006 after rolling all season long, they come up small in one of the worst games in Mets history. We all know what happened in 07, and I went to about 4 games the last week of that year, ready to cheer my heart out to get them into the playoffs.
I’m sorry but I just don’t have anything left anymore, and I’m sure alot of fans are the some way. I’ve given this team everything the past 3 years, and have gotten nothing but heartbreak every single year, getting worse each year. It’s the same crap all over again. The team has no life no matter what the crowd is doing.
They had a 4 game lead 13 days ago!!!!!!!
And yet people wonder why Mets fans are pissed off and boo and don’t show up? It’s because its the same crap over and over again. Why should we pay good money to see what we all know is going to happen? Of course I’m still going to 3-4 of the 6 remaining games because for some reason I still want to, but with the crap they have pulled year after year, theyre lucky they haven’t started a riot at Shea yet.
You had heartbreak when they won the division in 2006 and lost game 7 in a hard fought game? Man I don’t know what to tell you then.
Of course he did! It’s always heartbreaking when your team gets knocked out of the playoffs! Last year was worse, certainly, and this year will be worse if we end up on the outside looking in, but you can’t fault a fan for being upset because their team got knocked out of the playoffs!
Games 2 and 7 of the NLCS I did. Ok so Mota gives up a game tying double and Wagner blows the game open in the 9th. Whatever, its baseball, I’ll take it. But game 7. After that catch…then killing the ensuing rally that would have all but got them to the WS, then after the C@ckpunch of Molinas HR, then after loading the bases with 2 outs in the bot of the 9th, having the man who you want to have up strikeout looking to end your season.. if that’s not heartbreak, I don’t know what is.
In Beltran’s defense… that was a filthy, filthy breaking pitch.
Of course it was, I don’t blame him at all. But just because there was nothing he could do didn’t make it feel any better.
Agreed.
Listen, we all want our team (METS) to be in the playoffs Right? Question then: Isn’t this the playoffs? Aren’t we playing to survive to go to the next round? Aren’t these meaningful games (to quote Wilpon). So what if its still the reg season and not the Div Series, NLCS, or WS; we all should root for our team Right Now! Because this is what its all about. To be playing games that actually mean something. To have our house half packed and quiet these days is a disgrace. Come on Met Fans, we all need to chant ‘Lets Go Mets’ together for a full 9 innings.
Thanks, it helps that you pointed out which team was all “our team (Mets)” because without that, according to Tom and Matt, we wouldn’t know who to cheer for. Whew, thank god we have all these enlightened people guiding us to victory. Hey, just for giggles, maybe look at the team on the field for the answer.
No, this isn’t the playoffs. It’s desperate “must-win” time, but the playoffs start in October. Once the Mets GET to the playoffs, than all is forgiven. But they aren’t there yet.
I have been following the team for 3 decades, like many fans here. I don’t boo or act petulant at games. Look at this team for a second before saying this is a great pennant race. 1973 was great. 1985 was great. Even 1998 wasn’t terrible, since they were finally a good team again. We’re watching the team go down the tubes two years straight and it’s somehow our fault for caring about it? If this guy Tom enjoys this September so much, he must have loved last year’s ‘race’ as well. This is not a pennant race, it is a train wreck.
thank you. Perfectly said from a long time Mets fan! Shove that in your corporate pie hole Matt!
Matt didn’t post this info, c’mon guys.
You know what, this is ridiculous that he wants to rip into the fans. This year we set Mets attendance records, coming out in unbelievable numbers all season long. Go check the attendance numbers on espn.com, there has not been 1 game this year with less than 40,000 tickets sold. That means every single game would be a sellout at Citifield next year. I myself, a 21 year old just out of college went to 31 games so far this year, and am going 3 more times this week. These generalizations are absurd. Saying Mets fans boed Johan and Reyes, that we don’t support the team - nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that we are there every single night watching as this team gets battered in a way that I have never seen before. The way they lose these games is astonishing, and there are deep scars from last year that this team is completely responsible for. It takes a rare breed of Met fan to take the punishment that this team has handed out over the past decade (between the Yankees winning all the time and the Mets NOT), and to keep showing up at Shea and rooting this team on through it all. I appluad all of my fellow Mets fans who manage to have short memories when it comes to the bad losses, and are able to enjoy the moments of this race. We have it very difficult for a big market team, and I think our fans do an AMAZIN job
Boys- get out there and win some games so I don’t have to listen to these absurd rants from anyone. Lets focus on the only thing that matters, 3 little words: LETS GO METS
Thank You! I guess Matts got the code word ban on because I just spent half and hr typing to thoughtful
posts which were not in any way vulgar BUT highly critical
of the Team, managment and ownership for their treatment
of fans who supported the Mets for 35years Most of which
have been dismal BUT they wouldn’t post up. Wonder why?
Just sit in traffic, park half mile from shea for $15,give ‘em
$100 for a seat(in a dump of a stadium) a dog and a soda,
Cheer or shut you mouth or you’re not welcome. Right?
I love the Mets but TWO grand slams to opposing pitchers?? This would only happen to us in the final week of the COLLAPSE part 2.
“Honestly, what motivation is there for the Mets fan to support their team?”
I keep seeing posts that say this, or some variation of. I don’t understand it. Baseball is a sport. A game. You watch it because you love it and it gives you enjoyment, and you want to see your team win. Or at least that’s why I watch it. And when my team loses I turn it on the next day to root for them to win.
That, to me, is the motivation. If you have to ask what the motivation is tp support the team, then maybe you should step away for awhile and figure out how you want to go forward. I know how I want to go forward.
Lets Go Mets.
more like part 3. We were the best team in baseball in ‘06
and have nothing to show for it. just like ‘88.
what will they come up with next to blame?
cant anybody take responsibilities for their own actions?
if your going to blame the fans
doesnt that mean
the mets will lose EVERY AWAY GAME?
gauranteed 0-81 right off the bat. (pun intended)
I hate to agree with this, but sadly, I see a lot of truth.
It’s like I said on here a few days ago - a sad combination of entitlement and cowardice has turned a large portion of our fan base into despicable fans. And those of you who think it has no effect on the players because they make millions of dollars… well, I wonder if you’ve ever performed anything - sports, theater, music - in front of a large crowd. Because if you had, you’d know that it does. Support can boost you; derision can drag you down. Don’t take my word for it; Mex talks often about how the 80s teams fed off the fans.
I was there last night. I did see a number of Cubs fans, but nowhere near the amount of Philly trash that shows up when the Phillies are in town. Still, there was a lot of loud cheering when the Cubs got going.
The stadium was not completely full, but it was pretty full for a Monday night. The big problem was that the team took us out of the game early. I’m sorry, but it’s very hard to get up for the last 5 innings when Jason Marquis takes you deep, especially a grand slam. Mix in Luis “The Rally Killer” Castillo and you have a bad recipe. I generally don’t understand booing your own guys at your home park, but he almost drives me to do it. At any rate, booing may be ridiculous but I can’t argue with some guy on here who says he paid his money and he has a right.
I stayed until the bitter end - my 7-year old will not leave early, no matter what the score is, and that’s how we grew up rooting for this team. I even tried to “rally the troops” a couple of times, but I guess my fellow fans don’t like me as much as Chris Rock or Kevin James. but I can’t fault people who left in the 8th to avoid the horrendous traffic or the sardine-can effect on the 7 train.
Meanwhile, I am close to giving my seats away for tonight for free just to make sure someone is in them (I am going with a friend, using his tickets, unexpectedly). I’d like to see people rally behind them for this final week, but little that you or I do on this site will have any effect. The team and the media are the only ones that can really reach the fan base on a grand enough scale to get them to show up… but that a-s-s-umes they have something to say once they reach them…
The Mets should petition MLB to let the National League go back to announcing actual attendance. The no-shows are making the Mets look bad.
You know what annoys me? The Ivory Tower of Superior Fandom, where those who are REAL real FOR REAL fans look down on us LESSER fans and tell us how we’re rooting the wrong way, or not rooting hard enough, or if we ever have any displeasure with the Mets we should just go away and root for the Yankees, “who always win.”
(That last part is the most mystifying. I’m sorry, are you under the impression that Yankees fans are HAPPY all the time? Have you ever met one?)
I’m as big a Met fan as anyone. So, please, nobody else tell me or anybody else to go away because we’re not “true” fans. I’m sorry if I’m expressing displeasure with the second September collapse in two years, but the truth is it eats at me inside. Emotionally. It drives me nuts. So if you can sit there and take it with a smile… then maybe YOU’RE the one who isn’t a real fan.
I was at the game last night….it was a pretty weak crowd for such an important game. People were filing out after 6 innings.
Im on the fence with this, but truthfully its hard to keep rooting for a team that is striking out on 3 dead red fastballs to end the game without even swinging the bat.
Tom that is utter crap. I went to last nights game sick in the freezing cold to watch my Mets win at my last game at Shea Stadium. My Dad paid 120$ for tickets 15$ for parking, not to mention gas to get there. And what do the Mets do, they lose. They just don’t lose, they lose miserably. How is that my fault? Was it my fault John Niese gave up a grand slam to the pitcher? Was it my fault Castillo did everything to lose the ballgame? Was it my fault that our bullpen is complete garbage? No one likes to get booed, but its hypocritcal to blame us when Mets fans aren’t the only fans to do it. Fans worldwide boo atrocity, its human nature. Just like we cheer when they do well. Oh and not to mention, there were a lot of Cubs fans at Shea, are we supposed to tell them to not boo our players? Maybe you should blog about the evils of other teams fans booing the Mets. And yes, I was being sarcastic.
Bad Baseball
Raise the ticket prices for next year, keep long time fans in the dark about what will happen to their ticket plans next year, and staff at Shea being even ruder and surlier than ever. So yeah, we should be SOOOO grateful.
I’ll be at every game the rest of this week, and we’ll have seen 35 (home and road) by the time the season ends. I don’t leave early unless I’m sick. I don’t blow off a game unless I’m sick. I don’t boo either, because it doesn’t help, but I understand the people that do. I understand the people who look across the field at Citi Field and realize they’ll never ever be able to come home from work, decide to go to a game, and roll up to the stadium and buy a decent seat. I understand the people who have had Saturday plans for 15 years but all the Mets will tell them is to get in line, buy a full season now, or you’ll be shut out of Citi Field.
The same amount of people leave early that have always left early. People are booing louder now because ticket prices make a dent now. Just like I’ll think twice about going to see a band that might put on a bad show, and I’ll look hard at that ticket price, people start making those decisions about baseball tickets too. Gas is expensive. People are worried about the world and the economy and the election.
It’s not just black and white.
Great post, couldn’t agree more. They are taking advantage of our love for a sport and a team. It has gotten out of control.
Amen!
Good post metsgrrl but as someone who has never booed
the Mets (in 35yrs) and has been put off the last few by some of my fellow fanatics, i must say even i’ve become
tired of the teams treatment of me as a fan. I was a season ticket holder in the 80s and 90s but now dont live close
enough to go all the time. When I do its a nightmare.
Traffic,parking,prices and lets face it Shea is a dump.
But we as loyalists deal w/ this these things no matter
what.I for one am getting very close to being done.
Feel very much like some of the fans profiled on HBOs
real sports story recently about PSLs.
So its 1/3 our fault? Matt, when’s your turn in the rotation? Im scheduled to pitch Friday, I hurt my thumb playing madden tho so I’m not sure if I can still pitch. Anybody wanna take my spot?
That being said I’d take anybody here at 2B over the bum thats currently there.
I think the true fans are interestesd in one thing: a good product. The bottom line is that effort goes a long way, and superior effort will lead to what counts most: wins. So booing a player that makes an error: not cool. Booing somebody who appears not to care that he made an error: fine.
Along those lines, does anyone really think Castillo was giving max effort last night as he watched / flailed at three straight c_ck - shot fastballs??
Watching Delgado at the plate was hilarious……haaa
Not sure what that means really, but Carlos is one of maybe 3 guys that I would want up there right now in a high leverage situation. The hustle to beat out the dribbler late in the game? Now that is effort worth cheering.
Not being able to hit a fly-ball, not even attempting to hit a flyball with man on third with less than two outs? That is booable effort.
Nope. Every Little Leaguer knows that you don’t look at strike three with runners on base and the game on the line. Better to swing and miss badly.
He’s a big problem. I know all about the numbers, so save your breath, but I’d still take Argenis in the lineup over him every night.
I don’t care if Castillo’s career OPS is 4500 against Jason Marquis, he has no business in the lineup against any righthander anymore.
I agree 100%. At least Reyes is a kid who doesn’t think it’s OK to swoon because he’s got a resume. The kid will at least bust hump every night so show he belongs in the bigs. Not to mention, if we get 0 production out of the 2B spot, at least give me someone with range.
To the 2008 mets: Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I’ve already forgotten about last night. Really. I know we’re going to win tonight. I can feel it. And if the Phillies lose, then it’s back to 1 1/2 games. This can be done. We have to take this pitch at a time.
Let’s Do It!!!!!!!!
the Braves are in position, bent over for tonight’s game with Philly, get real…
Mets must win every night… A little effort woul be great…
Really. And I know people love to hate the Mets and it seems all teams give A game when they play the Mets, but it makes it sooo much more frustrating watching the Braves gift-wrap the win for Philly last night when they fought so hard for those 2 wins in Atlanta. (Or maybe we just gift-wrapped those for them??)
Slider, the Division is done. we’re not catching the phillies
only hope is not sliding(no pun) past the brewers.
Is it still early?
Author here. It comes across more terrible then it means to by cutting off the last paragraph. It’s meant to be more of a plea instead of a slam:
I’m continuing to think positively. We essentially have a seven-game series against the Cubs and Marlins with the added advantage of home-field throughout all seven games. Let’s make it an advantage, not a detriment.
We can do this.
Booing the team at home to make them play better isn’t working. Why don’t we try something else?
And yes, booing at home is your right as a ticket buyer. I think we can do better as a city then aspiring to be an Philadelphia Eagles fan.
I know as a fan we are all opinionated, who is the best player, best park, best place for a hot dog etc. Some opinions are more accurate than others. All I am saying is we spent the last three weeks last year getting on the fans, and that didn’t work. We even kept Willie because it just wasn’t his fault. This team will lose or win without our influence. Rooting for this team, as all other teams, is an emotional gamble which over time hasn’t paid off well at all. It is a dog. I happen to hold onto it because I like pain. So I am a fan. No better fan than the rest of you who root for your team the way you want. For the next 50 or so years. But this is still a dog.
You see, I understand booing the players. I understand that you have to let them know that you feel that they are not playing up to their potential or with any heart.. I don’t fully agree with it, but I get it.
But for some fans to call it a season with 6 games left and a lead is just ridiculous and cowardly. It’s like if the team loses, its just a way for fans to back out of this struggle and say “I knew they’d blow it”, as if that deserves credibility.
Seriously, enjoy the last week for what it is, not for what it could have been. I’d rather take my chances and go down with the ship than jump off while it’s still afloat and watch it sail away.
I’d just say that it is not only 2007 that brought this about, Met fans have become an increasingly festering grotesque sore over the last decade plus of time.
From the failures of the late 1980s, Met fans endured the Yankees not only winning a championship, but running out a string of championships, what’s worse with the likes of Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and David Cone making impacts, the latter two quite significant.
Then when the Mets got over the the competitive hump again, they could not would not should not beat the Braves, and the year the Cardinals took care of the Braves for them, who should sit in the Mets way, but the Yankees, clinching a 3rd consecutive title and 4th in five years at Shea no less.
The Met fan in many ways has taken on the miserable rotten attitude of the Red Sox self loathing little brother to the Yankees approach. Bemoaning the Yankees existense, and yet cackling at their shortcomings.
Met fans have a disturbed inferiority complex and it is manifesting itself in very disturbing ways.
2007 was no bowl of cherries, but you know what, for a franchise that made the run it did in 1969, or 1973, and the absolutely insane cosmic good fortune they were dealt on October 25, 1986 while on deaths door, this team was due a karmic kick in the groin.
A couple of years ago I had a fellow fan say to me, “where is my dynasty? Where is my back to back title run?”
To which I said, “and you are entitled to this why? Ever?”
It is a god damn game.
If they win it will be fun, if they lose it will be mildly depressing but the Earth still turns.
are you FREAKING kidding me Tom? do you know what the fans had to go through last year? do you not see this bullpen implode? do you not hear Heilman gettin booed on the road? on the freaking road? DID you not see the lack of hustle in the beginning of this season and the end of last season? Did you see how it still continued? Castillo acting like a little girl complaining about what he hasnt got playing time? A freaking cop-out to blame the fans. The Mets have done nothing since the second half of last year till now but tease the crap out of their fans, and make up stupid excuses for their losses. They are as gutless as any Met team I’ve ever seen. NO heart, NO gamers! my freaking street team can beat these players. get the heck out of there with that BS! This team is still stuck on 2006 success and never built on it. A collapse last year and now another one possibly this year. When the Mets start playing with heart, maybe the fans will come back to Shea or fill up the seats at Citi Field. Lets talk about the bonehead errors Wright makes or Reyes makes or how Castillo doesnt break for ground balls or never hustling, or the grand slams the Met pitchers love giving up…4 of them!! 4 grand slams, 2 of them to pitchers!!!!…give me a break, learn what the Mets are doing on that field before criticizing the fans. PATHETIC TOM IS!
This pennant race would a lot more exciting if the Mets hadn’t dropped their last 3 games, and 4 of their last 5.
A close race because the team you are rooting for is blowing game after game, doesn’t make it exciting. It’s make it miserable.
I still blame Mets blog for that. It was a promotional tool that all sponsored blogs would put up. Hey Matt, do me a favor, stop being so corporate.
Regis is the one who did this post…
for the record, i’m not blaming a graphic, but this blog invites hostility when it calls out its fans and readership - even indirectly - for this annual nightmare on the field
Huh
I think I was the first one to beg matt NOT to post the magic
number. Just bad karma.
Present it