BEAT THE METS, DEFEAT THE METS

 

By now everyone knows that the New York Mets once promising 2007 Season came to a screeching halt as they horribly collapsed like the lungs of a miscellaneous henchman catching a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the chest on a random episode of the now infamous show "Walker, Texas Ranger". The thing nobody seems to understand is why it happened to the Mets. Is it because they were over confident; because Willie Randolph can't manage; because Omar Minaya didn't trade for any bullpen help at midseason; everyone wants to know why? Well all of those things are pretty much true and each represents a small piece of the much larger, Collapse Flavored, 2K7 Mets Season Pie. The Good news everybody is that I'm here to help you find the missing ingredient. The biggest contributor to this massive, recently destroyed pie is something that no Mets fan really wants to eat: THEY WERE NEVER THAT GOOD TO BEGIN WITH!!! Here you go, drink some water because I don't want you choking on me now. Let me break everything down for you a little bit before you take another bite.

Let's start with the batters/fielders first, shall we? Coming into the season, the Mets had a lineup that stupidly mixed a group of young players that already were (Reyes, Wright) or were soon to be (Milledge, Gomez) coming into their own with a grumpy gang of over the hill (Delgado, Alou), overpaid (Beltran, Lo Duca), or a combination of the two (Green, Valentin), me first, so called "Superstars" that were for the most part too selfish or conceited to teach the young-ins anything. And their bench was pretty much a joke, aside from Damion Easley who was himself a journeyman but ended up playing really well for the first half of the year when he started at just about EVERY position because the Ancient Mets players kept decomposing and needed to be replaced. The others opening day players included backup catcher Ramon Castro, 6000 year old Julio Franco (a.k.a. manager Willie Randolph's uncle, which is why he made the team), Infielder David Newhan, and Outfielder Endy Chavez...I think it's pretty obvious why they weren't mentioned.

Moving along, how about the pitching staff? Let's summarize their rotation with this question: When your spring training hope is that Pedro Martinez will come back and dominate (if he comes back at all) in AUGUST, how good can your staff really be? Here are the starting pitchers that they began the season divided into categories: Great Grandparents: Tom Glavine was 97 years old, and not to be out done, El Duque Orlando Hernandez was 297 years old; Thanks But No Thanks: Oliver Perez is a project who was given up on by the Pirates of all teams; John Who: John Maine was a nobody before last season, pitched mildly effective at best, and was acquired as the player thrown into trade with the Orioles that swapped Kris Benson for Jorge Julio; Where Hasn't He Been: Jorge Sosa has bounced around the league through Tampa, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and then and nobody thought of him as more than a spot starter at best; Spring Chickens: The Mets had a handful of "Great, Young Arms" in the farm system, including Philip Humber, Mike Pelfrey, etc., but they were meant to be used as trading deadline bargaining chips as opposed to necessary starting pitchers this season. And as for their bullpen, aside from Closer Billy Wagner (who is reliable for the most part but is also getting up there in age and can be very streaky), there's no way anybody can say they feel comfortable and/or confident with the likes of Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Sele, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and the pitcher who was beginning a 50 game suspension after testing positive for steroids but was still resigned to a ridiculous 2 year, $5 million dollar contract Guillermo Mota.

So as you can see, all in all the collapse wasn't Omar's fault or Willie's fault or the collective players' faults. They simply over-achieved through Three-Quarters of the season and then fell apart at the end, which of all ways to go out, is the most grueling for a loyal fan base in a major metropolitan area to endure. It hurts even more so when everyone and their mother knows the Mets had plenty of money but chose not to make any mid-season additions other than Luis Castillo, who was an upgrade over Ruben Gotay but obviously not "the answer" to get them over the hump. Hell, Pedro actually DID come back and WAS pretty dominant in his last few starts at the end of the season, and it STILL wasn't enough. And despite all that, it's already been announced that Willie is coming back (even though he spent over two weeks GUARANTEEING they would be popping champagne), and since Omar announced it, he is presumably coming back as well.

Now that we have that question answered, let's move on to the next one: WHAT WILL BE DONE SO THEY CAN ACTUALLY CONTEND FOR A WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT SEASON? Stay tuned...