I became an avid New York Met fan when the New York Yankees traded away Reggie Jackson in 1982. My first recollection of going to a baseball game was when I was 7 years old and i went to see the Mets play the Pirates I believe in 1975. The Mets won that game behind 2 homeruns by Ed Kranepool. Jerry Koosman pitched for the Mets and Bruce Kison pitched for the Pirates. I remember Rusty Staub and how big he was. I may have been a Yankee fan but I still watched the Mets when they were horrible. I remember Ellis Valentine, Joel Youngblood who became the first player to get hits for two teams in one day. I believe both hits were game winners. I remember when Ed Ott picked up Felix Milan and body slammed him after a rough play at second base. Before Darryl and Doc there was Hubie Brooks and Jon Matlack. Randy Jones was supposed to be the savior. Tom Terrific was the horse. I am reminiscing because prior to 1984 the Mets had no expectations. They were something to watch if the Yankees were off.
The Mets have been to two World Series since 1984. They had a team for the ages in 1986. That team only produced 1 world title. Some say the 1988 team was better but ran up against a hot pitcher and team in the Dodgers. We all wanted to see the bash brothers take on the Mets 5 aces in 1988 or even 1989. I loved Strawberry and I touted him over Canseco and Big Mac. The 1990's the Mets made on paper great trades that was supposed to get us back into the post season conversation. They also had the young arms of Wilson, Isringhausen, Pulsipher, Kirk Pressley, who was Elvis's nephew or cousin, and of course Bobby Jones, the stud pitcher from Florida ST. They traded for Frankie V. and John Franco. They got Bobby Bo, and Bret Saberhagen. Hojo was their star after they let Darryl and Doc go. Then they signed future hall of famer Mike Piazza and he was the glue that kept this team together.
I tell you this wonderful walk down memory lane because, the month is July and for the 5th year ina row, the Mets are falling apart. They have these amazing unexpected or overachieveing first halfs of a season and when the temperature goes up, their winning percentage goes down. They are about to lose their 10th gut wrenching game in a row. They flat out stink. They have no one who can pick them up because they don't have the ability to fix this mess. This team plays like they are the Bad New Bears. They come up with a way to lose games each night that defies logic. A botched double play here, a wild pitch there, throwing the ball to wrong base, or over throwing a base or cut off man, are just a bunch of ways that this team has lost in the last month alone. Their bullpen alone has cost this team 16 losses this year. They have the worse ERA in baseball. I couldn't hit a lick when i played and I gurantee you that i could reach base against this bullpen. Santana's no hitter is being treated like a curse. We all saw the blown call by the umpire. R.A.Dickey's Cy Young bid is done. Yes he still has a great record and palatable ERA, but even he is starting to fall apart. David Wright is still hitting above .340. Even he alone does not appear to have the ability to carry this team on his back for ten days just to get some confidence. It is a sad sight to see.
There were no expectations for this team this and most people thought that the Mets may challenge the record for worse season because of the money problems to start the year and trading away Reyes. No one expected Dickey to be this good or no one knew what to expect from Santana. Maybe I am too hard on them. The trading deadline is next week. There are no relief pitchers who can help this mess. I think that the problem lies between the ears. Confidence is very sexy... Dont you think?
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