People tell me I'm too negative with my teams. They tell me how I don't have it as bad as a lot of other team's fans do. Those people root for teams who never have success. I root for teams that are usually in the mix but always fall short. My hope goes up and up and the pain and the inevitable fall is that much farther. And that's way more aggravating. Those other fans' expectations don't get as high, they can get numb to the pain. You know what? I want to be numb. I want to know what it's like to be numb to the pain of losing. And I guess most sports fans have one team they live and die with above all others. For me, it's the Mets.
And people tell me how we're the best team in the National League. The talent is remarkable. We have such a great shot to make the World Series. The tell me "Adam, you have to forget about the bad moments, remember the good."
1) I have to forget Mike Scossia' homer off Doc Gooden in the 1988 NLCS that turned that series that we should have won right around.
2) I have to forget shortly after that we traded Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell for Juan Samuel and then Mookie Wilson for Jeff Musselman.
3) I have to get over the bust of the early 90's led by Vince Coleman, Eddie Murray, and Bobby Bonilla.
4) I have to forget Jeff Kent couldn't play in New York and he found his Hall of Fame swing right after we traded him for Alvaro Espinoza and the poster child of lost bat speed, Carlos Baerga.
5) I have to forget Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden's potentially Hall of Fame careers were sidelined by substance abuse problems.
6) I have to forget that phenom pitchers Jason Isringhausen, Paul Wilson, and Bill Pulsipher all got injured and Generation K turned out to be a dud.
7) I have to forget that in 1998, the year we got Mike Piazza, all we had to do was win one of our last five games to at least force a tie for the wild card and they couldn't win a game and the hated Cubs stole the spot.
8) I have to forget that Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones to end our comeback in the NLCS, where we lost to Atlants in 6 games.
9) I have to forget management didn't think it was necessary to re-sign John Olerud after 1999 and let him walk.
10) I have to forget we were so desperate for a shortstop in 2000 we traded Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick, who did nothing after his first Mets at bat.
11) I have to forget the loss to the Yankees in the 2000 Subway World Series when Armando Benitez blew Game 1 and that was the end of the series right there.
12) I have to forget Steve Phillips' free agent raid where we got Roger Cedeno, Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz, and of course, Robby Alomar, al of whom turned out to be complete busts.
13) I have to get over that we traded a future All star outfielder in Jason Bay for two lousy pitchers, Jason Middlebrook and Steven Reed, neither of whom were Mets for a calendar year.
14) I have to forget the disaster that was Kaz Matsui at second baseman.
15) I have to get over that we actually traded Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano.
16) I have to forget we've had such illustrious number one draft choices like Stanley Jefferson, Alfred Shirley, Kirk Presley, Ryan Jaroncyk, Robert Stratton, Jason Tyner, etc etc.
17) I have to forget after Endy Chavez made that incredible catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, Jose Valentin struck out with two runners on and one out, and we never scored another run, and blew what would have been a prime opportunity to take the World Series.
Tell me why. And how after games like we saw today. This was as numbing a regular season defeat I have seen in any sport in maybe 6 or 7 years. After losing the first three games to Philly, I knew we were in trouble. And when Philly went up 5-0 on El Duque, our best pitcher, after 3 innings, I could onjly hang my head and sigh. But the Mets rally to tie in the fifth. Lastings Milledge and Carlos Beltran with RBI singles. But then immediately, the Phillies score three runs off the washed up Aaron Sele, all after two outs were recorded in the bottom of the fifth. 8-5. And I'm at work and somehow I managed to stay reserved.
Then the eighth inning. Credit to Marlon Anderson for a big double and Chavez' clutch single. And to Phillies manager Charlie Manual for intentionally walking Jose Reyes, who would score the go ahead run. So it's 10-8 Mets, we get six outs, we at least get one win in this series, the division lead is back up to 4 games and we go to Atlanta.
Then Billy Wagner comes in to get a six out save. He had not pitched in a week, complaining of a dead arm. He strikes out Chase Utley before Burrell hits yet another homer. 10-9. He walks a batter, but gets out of it. The Mets do nothing in the ninth. Then the bottom half. Jayson Werth, who has come out of nowhere, singles. Carlos Ruiz nearly homers, but the ball is caught on the warning track, one out. Tad Iguchi, who they just got from the White Sox, pinch hits. Wagner doesn't even pay attention to the runner and he steals two bases, putting the tying run in scoring position. He singles. Tie game. Wagner has thrown 37 pitches to this point. He had to be removed here and they should have brought in Aaron Heilman. But Willie leaves him in. Rollins gets walked intentionally, Gets a full count on Chase Utley. He singles down the right field line, Iguchi scores. Mets get swept and the lead in the NL East is 2 mere games. An absolute travesty. And after this loss, do you think they're winning in Atlanta tomorrow night? What are you smoking, give me some. I could use it.
Of my core teams, I've had two championships in my lifetime that I can remember (NY Giants in 1990 (when I was a Giants fan) and the Rangers in 1994), the last one coming 13 years ago and that is it! The rest has been cruel teases (92-99 Knicks, 98 Jets, 06 Mets) and garbage (Rangers from 1998-2006, Knicks since 2001). This Mets team is going to straight to the garbage pile.
Let's move onto football and hockey. Because first place or not, this team is more dead than Michael Vick's NFL career.
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