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Is This The Worst Met Team Ever?
Relatively speaking – I think the answer may be yes.
Of course the good ol’ Metsies from 1979 were a helluva lot more awful but during the late 70’s we expected to finish last. If you were a Met fan back then you rooted for Maz (who hit .303 that year) and called it a day.
The funny thing is I actually have fond memories of that team. Guys like John Stearns, Eddie Kranepool, Steve Henderson, Doug Flynn and Craig Swan were my boyhood idols. But we knew the team as a whole sucked so we were content to lose.
This year, on the other hand, is a very different story… or at least it was supposed to be.
Taking into account our new stadium, lots of all-stars, and a resolve to beat the Phillies this year was supposed to be quite a ride… instead what do get? Snake-eyes!
We expected an October run but we’ve got a line-up that can’t score. And I don’t mean can’t score a lot – I mean they can’t score AT ALL!!! Check out these stats (lifted from Metsblog) The Mets have gone 20 straight innings without an extra-base hit and the 3-6 hitters combined to go 1-for-30 (!) on Saturday and Sunday.
Unfortunately as much as we all want to crucify someone you can’t kill the GM or skipper cuz the entire team is hurt, with the latest injury being F-Mart’s bum knee. You know it’s bad when you’re wincing over losing a guy batting .176! (Haha BMF luvs ya’ Fernando)
The 2002 “Robbie Alomar Mets” always stuck out in BMF’s mind as an unmitigated disaster of a team. Billed as possible World Champs they finished last 75-86 and 26 ½ games off the pace. But the truth is we, and Steve Phillips, were fooling ourselves thinking that team could make the post-season.
This season we were again the “team to beat” (or were at least in the conversation) and now we can’t get out of our own way. The sad truth is we have no idea how good we actually are because we’ve been gutted inside out.
I don’t even know what to say anymore. Should I be mad at the trainers? The WBC??? None of that makes sense.
What I will say is I highly doubt Oliver Perez’s return will be the solution. Ollie’s slated to pitch on Wed vs LA so get yourselves ready for an 8-walk performance. Unfortunately if I could pick the order Mets returning from the DL Perez would be last.
That series win vs the Cards was an aberration and I think we just helped get the Phils on their feet. I suspect they’re finally gonna start playing winning baseball which is bad for us because the best Met strategy so far has been hope for everyone else to lose.
We’re 3 games under .500 and 4 games back.
I’m frustrated. I’m angry. I’m embarrassed.
Ahhh, life as a Met fan - ain’t it grand???
Quick Hits:
• At least Johan was good – I’m not concerned with just 3K’s
• The Mets are obsessed with the good old rally killing GIDP
• Thank God we’ve got a day off. The entire franchise and fanbase needs a collective day away from the game.
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Mojo Kitty rocks the batting helmet for luck!
July 6th, 2009 at 2:01 am
BMF, how can you continue to give Omar a complete free pass? Injuries are acceptable. Not being prepared for the possibility of injuries is not.
Who is shocked Delgado went down? Who is surprised Maine had another issue with his shoulder? Who is amazed Beltran has issues? I’ll give you Reyes’ injury as unexpected and impossible to prepare for, but the rest was. And by the way, plenty of us felt this team wasn’t good enough offensively BEFORE the injuries hit. But hey, they brought in Sheffield, all the problems are solved.
Why does the team need a day off? They just took their second consecutive weekend off!
LET’S GO METS!
MAYBE NOT THE WORST TEAM BUT EASILY THE MOST DISAPPOINTING!
THANK GOODNESS I’M IN CONTENTION IN MY FANTASY LEAGUE!
July 6th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Right now the problem is bigger than what you see on the field. You have a gutting of the whole organization by poor management at the top. the major league team is awful but so are all the minor league teams. There are no decent prospects in the system and we’ve given up all our early round draft picks. Oh yeah….and we have the highest payroll in the NL. We have long term commitments to many aging/injured players that can’t perform and a clubhouse that is divided. Did I mention the 2 biggest September collapses in baseball history? At least that won’t happen this year. The team is going right for the “brass ring” of failure in June.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Blaming injuries has got to stop, these guys are major leaguers (supposedly) and hitting .196 over three games in Philly is just awful. The fielding and baserunning looks like little league version of baseball. Thinking Murphy was a starting lefty fielder - you’ve got to be kidding. Thinking Delgado could make it through an entire season - dream on. Castillo/Schneider/Church/Perez - forget about it. The seeds of this disaster were sown a long time ago.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:23 am
I’m not going to p***y foot around the issue anymore .. this team sucks … they scored 3 runs against the Phillies … PATHETIC … Wright is 1 for his last 20 … PATHETIC … I just can’t take anymore .. I’ve been a fan since 1973 but it’s just too frustrating now … why should I be committed to this team when management has no committment to winning … imagine what a small market team like the Twins could do with the Mets payroll …. Management and Ownership and just PATHETIC
July 6th, 2009 at 8:57 am
BMF-couldn’t agree with BlondiesJake more.
This team was set up to be a disaster.
There is and was no plan, and now we have current management for what, another 4 years I think.
Have the flu, so hopefully feel up to posting some nastiness later.
Team took a punch, and it’s obvious they have a glass jaw.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I think the only way to keep one’s sanity right now is to walk away from the tv. I took the weekend off and it was perfect timing. Oy.
The guys we have right now, with the exception of Wright, are just not everyday players—its just a giant bench. I loved Tatis last year but Omar always tries to catch the lighting in a bottle twice and over and over we get stuck with aging veterans who have completely lost it: Alou, Valentin, etc. Of course if he was just an occasional pinch hitter as he should be, he might be okay.
I think that the pressure on these bench guys has just completely overhelmed them—not to make excuses for them, but they are just not mentally, physically etc the kind of players that can play every day and for sure not carry the team on their back. Its an offensive desert wasteland.
Well. Let’s hope the big boys get well soon. In the meanwhile I recommend caiparinhas and a weekend at Fire Island. It does take the sting out!
July 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am
actually the Mets made only two mistakes during this past three game series with the “slumping Phillies”, they showed up and played the games.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:11 am
“…NOT THE WORST TEAM BUT EASILY THE MOST DISAPPOINTING!” - I concur.
“…I think we just helped get the Phils on their feet.” - Highly disagree. Phils just beat up on a minor league squad. Big whoop.
“Blaming injuries has got to stop.” - It can’t stop but it’s the truth. You take away your best players from a team, the team then sucks, period. The Spanks were a .500 ball club without A-Hole. He’s back and now their not. The Phils have had injuries this year as well but they have been spread out. Lose Ibanez and they get back Lidge and Romero.
Yes we have been forsaken by management but they are in a tough position. Help now and mortgage some of the future or sit and hope for the MASH unit to come back. Myself, I want help NOW but I can see why they aren’t thinking that way.
It is what it is…sigh.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Santana should be traded so guys like Murphy and Evans can be surrounded with the tools to win now.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:03 am
omar and the pons gave away this season when they failed to pick up a big bat off the clearance rack during the winter. all the other injuries just moved the expiration date up from the end of september to the middle of july.
but hey, maybe we can trade for a bat, get our guys healthy, go on a big tear…and fight back to miss the playoffs on the last day of the season
July 6th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Maybe not the worst but surely one of the most disappointing teams. Omar cannot get a pass on this. There were bats out there that could have been signed for relatively cheap. If you are a win now team, you go all in. They are not a win now team now of course, there are too many holes to fill.
In that ballpark three runs the entire weekend is inexcusable. Non power hitters run into homeruns and doubles there. Other than Livan, who can’t get through power lineups in hitters ballparks (see game at new stankee stadium), the pitching held up this weekend. Nieve pitched like a capable fifth starter and Johan was solid. The bullpen looks like the rest has done them some good.
Has anybody heard anything about when Jose Reyes is going to return???? Beltran is slated to come back after the all-star game.
Ollie’s first start is at home - He’s going to get ripped apart if he has a bad outing.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:32 am
My brother-in-law gave me tickets to Skankee stadium today. I only went to the old shiznit box four times and the skanks were 1-3 (the one downner being a defeat of our juggernaut 03 Met team), including a glorious playoff loss against Cleveland in 97. Jared Wright threw a gem that night. It’s not much consolation, and I’ll take Mets success over Skank defeat anyday of the week but maybe I can bring my mojo and watch them lose.
any suggestions for curses I can cast?
July 6th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I blame the weekend on those red hats the team had to wear.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Glad to see WE are all on the same page. Too bad management doesn’t see things our way.
Seaver, I totally understand your frustration. Of course, when I uttered similar comments previously I was called a fair-weather fan. I prefer to consider us intelligent fans.
FGMF, this mess is so bad I think we may need to take the 2nd half off for sanity reasons. Oops, I’m being fair-weather again!
A Phanatic, you need better lines this morning. I’m not laughing yet!
July 6th, 2009 at 11:05 am
A man walks into a bar. Ouch.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:11 am
just drink whiskey
July 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
the red hats didn’t sink the Mets this weekend, it was the players that wore them who were the embarassment. it makes you wonder just who has put this team of overpaid underachievers together and passed them off as contenders? don’t wonder too long, the name is Omar.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Well, you can and can’t blame the injuries just like you can and can’t blame Omar for the way the team has been performing. If you’re driving and you get a flat, usually you have a donut tire as a quick, temporary replacement. You won’t complain about having to drive slower b/c the donut tire can’t handle high speeds. However, if the person who’s in charge of maintaining the car doesn’t get a new tire, or a full size replacement, the car won’t go anywhere fast. If you have more than one flat, really you’re going nowhere unless all flats are replaced.
I’m sure Omar wants to make a trade, but he’s just the driver of the car, not the owner. The Wilpons don’t like spending too much money on “car repairs” probably because a lot of the “repairs” they had in the past have been expensive and didn’t do much. But Omar needs to tell the Wilpons to fix the car or nobody is going anywhere.
At this point, even if they did pick up an actual donut tire, it would help the team… mmmm donuts.
July 6th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Good stuff Nick.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Nick-I know you tried…but I would say that this still falls on Minaya. You would think he could put together a team for oh say….$140M!!!!!!
July 6th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Omar is not that smart. Here’s a question. If you picked up a player who had played about 9 years in the minors, and less than 1 yr in the majors, before you acquired him, and that player had never slugged better than .360 (I’m talking his slugging average here not his batting average) since his age 21 season in low A ball, and he had a career OBP of .304 in 9 minor league seasons, but for the 1st 40 games that he played for you he was slugging .475, would you think a) he’s playing over his head, lets count ourselves lucky or b) he’s suddenly become a much better hitter than he ever was before, we can trade any extra players that play the same position. If you said a) you’re smarter than Omar because for some reason he thought the Omir Santos made Ramon Castro expendable. Maybe because his name is almost Omar. I don’t know. The same logic is a work in signing Oliver Perez to a 3yr $13/million per year contract. Yes he’s talented but he had struggled mightily before the Mets acquired him. The same logic is also at work in assuming that Daniel Murphy was going to be a well above average offensive player based on a couple of months of work. Look at Murphy’s minor league career. The PECOTA projection for Murphy for this year was .263 batting average .327 OBP .406 Slugging. He’s at .242 .311 .354. Worse than projected but NOT BY MUCH. You have to be smart enough to recognize a hot streak for what it is, temporary, and not a new level of ability. It seems that concept eludes Omar.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
WOW! If the Phillies lose tonight The Mets will be only 3.5 games out of first!!!!! Well I was once only 3.5 inches away from Megan Fox at a Starbucks in LA. Yet soooo far!
July 6th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
They’re all major league players. They all should be ready to play when their bell is wrung. Saying this team isn’t playing well because all their “players” are hurt is an indictment of the system, the players that aren’t hurt and the players who are hurt. This team is an unmitigated disaster, and the blame can be spread all the way from the Wilpons down to the dadgum ball boys. After watching Wimbledon all week, at least we have the Open coming up to keep us interested in something sports related!!! Maybe by August 31st we’ll have our “players” back and we won’t stink like milk left on the counter over a hot summer weekend. I wonder if Andy Roddick could pitch . . . .
July 6th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
To all Met fans who cut Somar Sotominaya, The Affirmative Action GM, even a modicum of slack:
STOP IT!!
Somar is THE PROBLEM, not the solution. Your denial will only prolong the agony.
Sotominaya must go and the only way for the deRoulets to eat his contract is for a W-L so appalling, say 75 - 87, that they fire him after this season.
So - Somar is the problem and if you want the problem fixed, you have to root for a horrific finish for the Mets. Otherwise, this will go on and on and on.
Actually, the deRoulets need to go but I fear we are ten years away from them getting so fed up that they sell. Maybe the Cubbies’ price tag will entice them.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
BMF
There is one more big difference between 1979 and this bunch. In 1979 an upper deck seat cost $1.50 and nobody stopped you from bringing your own beer into Shea. Who the hell wants to pay top dollar to go watch this team make basic mistakes that most high school teams get right?
The Wilpons have a major public relations disaster on their hands, having spent $140 million on a team that can’t hit the cutoff man. Omar burns at the stake…..
July 6th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
The ghost of: can’t you come on this site without spouting your racist bullsh*t? I for one wish you would give it up already. What the f**k is your problem anyway?
July 6th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
by the way-i give the bat boys a pass.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
GF: maybe so, but the idea that Omar thought he could use the same tired old batboys for all 81 home dates, shows just how clueless he really is about these things. He should have had a backup plan in place one of them got a splinter.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
All I can do is watch it sink. The sinking is the show, now.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Kinda like the Titanic…
July 6th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
celine dion makes me cry.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
celine dion makes me barf
July 6th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Can’t you Phillies fans agree on anything?
April 20th, 2010 at 1:34 am
I was in Oregon when Mount St. Helens blew. I was very glad I wasn’t any closer. It’s scary to see Mother Nature in action.