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HeartBreak City: Act II
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It's a shame that my first article in what seems like forever has to come in the form of a rant that will probably outdo any rant I have previously done. Congratulations to the New York Mets for teasing me, building my hopes up, setting them down again, building my hopes up in the 161st game and then SLAMMING THEM DOWN in game #162.
FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!
As a matter of fact, one can even say it was three years in a row.
Game 7 of the Mets/Cardinals in 2006 had all the parameters set up for the Mets to pull off the series victory. The Buster Olney's and Peter Gammons of the world couldn't have possibly predicted that Oliver Perez would go on to have one of the best starts in his life that night. Certainly, you would have expected the Mets to be inspired by this and thus bring a little more aggressiveness to the plate... wouldn't you?
And after Endy Chavez made one of the most unimaginable plays in the history of Shea Stadium and possibly the MLB, I honestly expected that the Mets bats would wake up from their apparent daydream and drop their powderpuff approach to the plate like a bad habit.
It didn't. Yadier Molina took Aaron Heilman into the New York night. Adam Wainwright made Carlos Beltran look like Rey Ordonez. And I proceeded to make my bedroom like it had been ransacked. No one can convince me that the Mets wouldn't have beaten the Tigers in the '06 World Series. The Tigers played so poorly the Colorado Rockies would've beaten them that year.
But yet a beam of hope still was left in me after that game. Something in me felt that the Mets would make it back to the championship series and kick the door down with a sickening thud. In fact, I was so confident I wrote an article about it: http://www.armchairgm.com/The_Mets_upside_ensures_them_many_more_chances
It was silly of me to write this at the end:
"The present forecast may be cloudy and gloomy on the eve of the Mets loss, but the main components of this franchise ensure that the Mets future will be one of long-lasting success."
I was more off than the second FG attempt by Lawrence Tynes in the NFC Championship game.
The Mets' upside indeed ensured them many more chances... to break my heart and in effect, cause me to break my room in half.
Today, the Dow Jones dropped 777 points, the biggest one-day drop ever recorded in the history of the United States. Today's collapse is the only collapse that could have possibly eclipsed the Mets incredible drop in 2007. A team really has to try very hard to blow a 7-game lead with 17 games remaining. No one could awaken Jose Reyes from his nap, not even when he failed to run out groundballs twice down the stretch. Carlos Beltran disappeared into thin air. And David Wright failed to become the leader the Mets had hoped for.
But even in Game 162, the last game of a long {in my opinion insanely long} and regular season, the Mets still had a pulse. Their fate rested in the left arm of old reliable Tom Glavine.
Unfortunately, Tom Glavine decided to summon his inner Hideki Irabu that day. The Florida Marlins were up by a touchdown in Usain Bolt-like fashion. And the rest is history.
And here we lie today, different season, same sad ending. I could honestly say that the Mets' bullpen this year could possibly be the worst bullpen in the history of baseball. They blew so many games this year, especially after the 7th or 8th inning and ESPECIALLY WHEN JOHAN SANTANA WAS PITCHING.
My heart goes out to two people: Johan Santana and Jerry Manuel.
There was a time this season in which this team was thought to be dead and that the collapse of 2007 was still on their minds. Jerry Manuel brought this team to life every time he tinkered with the lineup and every time he ate an umpire for lunch. Players became accountable for their at-bats knowing they weren't guaranteed to start the next day. His presence gave the team life and had playing to their potential. He put this team in a position to win, over and over again.
He tried everything and I mean EVERYTHING with the bullpen. Perhaps he should have tried contacting me or someone here on ArmchairGM. After all, I would have certainly taken the $250,000 minimum salary. It sure as heck beats sitting around praying and hoping that you don't have to bail out the criminals on Wall Street to the tune of $3,700. {My prayers were answered} The core of this team should be shaken up, but Jerry Manuel has an office waiting for him in Citi Field next year.
I truly believe that every member of the Mets bullpen should line up side by side, shoulder width apart... and Johan Santana should go up to every one of them and slap them in the face. The Mets bullpen not only ruined a season, but it ruined what would have been a Cy Young season for Johan Santana. Johan Santana's last loss came in the month of JUNE!! He would have won at least 22 games and he led the NL in ERA.
Johan Santana should be in the mix for the Cy Young based on his performance on Saturday. Despite the fact that the Mets didn't provide him any run support, {2 runs is not run support} you just have a feeling that a complete game shut-out was inevitable. With his team's back against the wall and with him throwing 125 pitches just three days ago, he took the ball and delivered.
Unfortunately, Johan's passion wasn't reciprocated by the rest of the team in Game #162 of 2008.
It would be easy for me to slap the loss on Sunday as the final nail in the coffin provided by the Mets' bullpen. I'm going to put the blame on the absolutely pathetic approach the Mets chose to take to a pitcher by the name of Scott Olsen, who was 8-11 with a 4.23 ERA and in addition, 0-3 with a 6.95 ERA in four starts this year. I'm going to put the blame on Jose Reyes and David Wright, who batted a combined 1 for 8 on Sunday.
Everybody in Shea Stadium knew it was going to be indeed more of the same with the Mets tied 2-2 in the 8th inning. Did anyone at Shea honestly expected Scott Schoenweis to keep the lead this time??? The Mets could have avoided this situation altogether by going to town against a pitcher they had FEASTED ON ALL YEAR!!
The Marlins practically fed the lamb to be slaughtered by the Mets, and they still missed the meal.
It was the epitome of awkwardness to watch the Mets legends come out and grace the field after this debacle. Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver, Doc Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry couldn't erase the stench that was left on the field and the despair in the crowd.
It's going to be a task for the U.S to right the ship as far as the economy is concerned. Imagine how much of a task it will be for the Wilpons to convince the Met faithful to shell out more $$$ to see a team that has teased them one time too many...
Only to break their hearts once again.
