My Mets Good or Bad

ב"ה I know the Mets are doing well right now and I shouldn't despair. I know they have acquitted themselves well, despite how badly they are doing against the Braves (only winning one of the past 5 games against them). But (and this is a BIG but) I am getting very sick of hearing the announcers talk about how wonderful the players on the other teams are. It's one thing to mention a stat or two, but tonight, during a fiasco of a game against the Braves, the announcers kept going on and on about new Brave catcher Francisco Cervelli and long-time Mets killer Freddie Freeman. With the Mets having had a major "dive" after two straight running mistakes not only removed them from a chance to go ahead in a 5-5 game, it was the momentum turner, after which the Braves came up and promptly scored two runs (the second run was scored because usually baseball savvy JD Davis made a mental error by holding the ball instead of throwing into the infield) and then another 2 run...

ב"ה On the mornings after a Mets game, SNY, the network that usually airs the Mets games, has "Mets Fast Forward", a one-hour condensed version of the previous night's game. I'm sure you can understand why I wouldn't want to watch this if the Mets didn't win the night before. Well, lately I've been missing "Mets Fast Forward". Not because my DVR is broken, not because the game isn't carried by SNY, but because the Mets just aren't winning. Granted, they manage to trip over a victory every now and then. It always seems to be a perfect storm rather than a team that's finding its groove. Considering that last night's game vs. Atlanta (after the Mets won the middle game of the series) looked suspiciously like the first game (only the number of runs they lost by were changed to protect the innocent). It's beginning to look as though perhaps the team might not be as good as advertised. Or, perhaps, this is an indication (...

ב"ה OK, it hasn't been the best season for the Mets. Granted, it hasn't been the worst, even in this century. There were times when I was proud to wear my Mets regalia and there were other times I was ready to hide, like the New Orleans "Ain'ts" a bunch of years back. Most often, during the dark days of May, June and the beginning of July, after which the "Powers that be" decided it was time for a self-fulfilling prophesy, calling the Mets "out of it" and not even trying to reorganize the team for a possible run at the rather lackluster Braves (if they had been in the NL Central, AL West or AL East with their current record, this far into the season, they'd be in 3rd place). All the Mets would have needed in 2-2 1/2 months of the season would have been to have had a good winning streak (which they usually experience every year but didn't have a good streak this years since April) and that 15 games behind might have evaporated. Gr...

ב"ה When I was in high school, I read "8 Men Out". I never saw the entire movie, but I think I can safely say the book was better. I had been obsessed in my pre-high school years with the " Black Sox Scandal ". I didn't become obsessed with the scandal from reading the book; I read the book because I was already obsessed with the scandal. From what I gleaned from "8 Men Out: The Book", the person most responsible for the scandal was Charles Comiskey, then owner of the Chicago White Sox. Comiskey was typical for his generation, a generation of Baseball wherein owners were despots and players were treated as commodities. Thanks to Curt Flood and other brave players, players nowadays are at least paid what they are worth (or more????). But in 1919, Charles Comiskey paid his high graduate players better than his non-graduate players. He put up a wall between the two with the way he treated the less educated players. The players who were involved...

ב"ה Jeff McNeil, a new Met, had a great day tonight (ok, that sounds oxymoronic, but bear with me). Today being Shabbat (the Sabbath) I couldn't watch until about 9:30ish and I came in and found the Mets ahead (and then found out the Mets lost last night -- when I had to turn the TV off last night for Shabbat, the score was tied 1-1, so I was pretty disappointed when I found out they had lost a 4th in a row) 3-0 and heard that McNeil had been 3 for 3. By the time the game was over, he was 4 for 4, including a double, and fielded the last 4 outs against the Braves. Not bad. I certainly hope this is not a fluke. I know just about everyone is counting the Mets out, including management, the commentators, the announcers, etc. (BTW, I'm sort of sick of hearing the announcers always down on the Mets and, instead of being happy for the Mets when someone on the other teams makes a bad play and disappointed when someone makes a great play against them -- just who are you rootin...

ב"ה So I just got the news that Asdrubal Cabrera was traded. I'm still upset that they traded him to Philly. Cabrera was one of those players who was always there, always in the mix whether we won or lost, he was one of the players getting on base. And, with Cespy out most of the year and Bruce still out, Cabrera was leading the team that was built on hitting home-runs in home-runs. I wish you well, "Sdrubal" (that was my nickname for him) but, natch, as a good Mets fan, I don't wish Philly well.

ב"ה It was nice having Cespy back "home" for one game anyway. He showed us that he's still capable, but now he needs to take care of his body. Take good care of yourself and may G-d bring you back for your sake and for ours. Now that we know Cespy will be out for the season (and likely past spring training and into next season -- anyone else feeling like we wasted some time with him being on the DL without this going into the process?) the rest of the team (once the trading trash-talk goes by the wayside), whoever is left after the t-bomb, needs to play how they played today. Oswalt may have officially gotten the win (and he did pitch well enough to deserve the win) but IMHO, the win should go to Jose Bautista. Bautista made a spectacular catch that saved a run or two, plus he hit a two run homer to cap the Mets scoring (thank goodness he did -- they needed those extra runs!). Without Bautista, we would never have won that game. So we finally won a series, af...

ב"ה Tonight's game belonged to Jacob deGrom. For the 9 millionth (ok, so it only seems  like 9 million times) deGrom pitched a gem but got no run support. Jake pitched 8 shutout innings but no one scored in 9 innings. I'm glad the Phils didn't score (I'm always happy when the Phils don't score). So off to the tenth we went, after Familia finished off the top of the ninth is short order (and Wilmer did not  hit a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 9th). The Gazelle-man did his thing in the top of the 10th, so it was down to the bottom of the 10th. With Rosario on second, Reyes walked to first. Then came Brandon Nimmo who the Met announcers have taken to calling "the happiest man in Baseball". Brandon was in a minor slump and really needed something to get him back to his baseball hitting self. He hit a walk-off three-run home run on the first pitch.  So this was an exciting day. The Mets first of all split the four game series with the first place...

ב"ה Wilmer, KI"H, is the new walk-off king of the Mets! As I said before, Wilmer Flores is the guy I've been watching since before the tears. I've always loved him. And, even without the fairy dust, he does help make things exciting. It's been a roller coaster year, with so many lows, like the Mets losing a game they led 5-1 and 6-2, like yesterday's and Saturday's game (the latter of which I didn't see because it was on Shabbat), being blasted and not scoring for two straight games. Lots of low-lights this season, but for now, as several times earlier this year (and, of course, the huge "fairy dust" home-run in 2015). There is still more baseball today -- it reminds me of my childhood with double-headers almost every Sunday and occasional "twi-night"ers. Let's hope we can continue to pull rabbits out of hats.... (Oh, BTW, I watched the "Amazin' Life" with Keith and Ronny and their guest start Brandon Nim...

ב"ה So I'm watching the Mets play the Blue Jays tonight. They actually won on Sunday and didn't play yesterday. Tonight is the first of a two-game series "North of the Border". Because the Mets won on Sunday (despite losing badly in the first two games), I watched the replays (first the "Fast Forward" when they show the highlights in a one hour format and then the three hour format where most of the time they show most of the game). So even though I was not able to watch the game while it was going on, I got to see it (knowing they would win -- phew!) So far there have been some good hits, in particular it's nice to see a couple of home runs (as I mentioned, I love Wilmer Flores and he's DHing tonight and I've seen enough of his home runs that I knew this one was going to go out). In any case, I've been listening to a lot of "Baseball Night in New York" (I miss Mets Hot Stove because it's all Mets -- I'm not exa...

ב"ה We all fell in love with Wilmer Flores a few years ago when he showed us how much he wanted to be a Met. I have a secret to tell you -- I've been a fan of his since day one (which, in my parlance, is the first time I ever saw him). There was something I saw in him as a player; there was something I saw in him as a person. Always under the radar, just enjoying his job as a baseball player, still a kid when he started. Then came the gossip about a trade being discussed for Wilmer to go to Milwaukee. Wilmer had been in the Mets organization since he came from Venezuela at 16. So, the friends he had in the US were in NY. But seeing him try (unsuccessfully) to hold back tears made Mets fans love him. A couple of days after, Wilmer hit a walk off home run that one of the announcers said, "dissolved into fairy dust". It did seem to be Wilmer Flores day. But, to be honest, from my perspective, just meant that the other Mets fans finally figured out what I had alrea...

ב"ה Despite how the Mets are doing this year, I'm sorry to hear about Sandy Alderson. His cancer recurrence could be part of the reason they s**k this year. Is it just me or wasn't Omar Manaya the GM who got the Mets into a deep hole in the first place? Why is he one of the three taking over the mantle? In any case, I wish Sandy Alderson the best. I suppose, given this new knowledge, I can forgive Sandy for this season so far. I suppose this explains some of the cryptic messages we have heard from him this season about his stepping down.  Now, I have to tell you, though, I'm still not giving up on my Mets -- I stick with them and I'm hoping this might give the team something to fight for and, perhaps, this might light a fire under  them.  I guess we'll see later today -- from the pre-game show to win one for the gipper  tonight at CitiField.....

ב"ה What can I say? Last year, while the team was pathetic (we were the walking wounded last year) at least they were able to win a game or two here or there. This historic patheticalness has reached a level that makes me (possibly as a sample fan) turn away from the half innings when the opposition is hitting (and I do mean hitting -- and hitting hard). I turned on my TV last night (after Shabbat, the Sabbath) just in time to see the tail end of a grand-slam home-run, not from the Mets, but from the Dodgers. Based on the numbers, they were already behind (the GS made the score 8-2) but at least at 4-2 makes one feel as though it's possible -- 8-2, especially this season with 1962-style losses abounding, makes one feel that the climb up is impossible. I started writing this before the game started today. And the first inning was scary (I was visualizing an inning that would break the Red Sox record of 17 runs in one inning before I was born)  when Blevins (who hasn'...

ב"ה So the Mets just finished off their second straight loss by an identical score of 10-8. While last night's 10-8 loss was depressing (after a "winning streak" of 3, they are back to losing yet again) because they were on the comeback trail into the ninth inning, tonight's loss was even worse. They started out ahead and did the swan dive against the one of the league's worst bullpen. It's really hard to understand how it is that the Mets, who have a team that is capable of winning, have taken an early winning streak and done such a "good job" of losing that they erased everything they did during that early period of the season. To be honest, I am at a loss for how it is that everyone has written them off with still 11 games until the halfway point of the season. Granted, they need to turn it around quickly, but just like last season, there are some serious gaps in the team through, gaps that are leading to losses. So once again, no ...

ב"ה Brandon Nimmo grew up in Wyoming -- no MLB team there (apparently, they don't even have HS baseball in Wyoming) so Mr. Nimmo grew up a Rockies fan. So last night, Brandon had the opportunity (as he will tonight, tomorrow and Thursday) to play against  the team he grew up rooting for. Thanks to Brandon's inside the park homerun, outside the park homerun and a couple of other hits (and 4 RBIs), from that flashy homer in the first to his catch of the final out in the ninth, Brandon Nimmo's name popped up in many of the highlights of the game. Jacob deGrom was great yet again but this time he finally got a win (will wonders never cease?) and pitched through 8 innings (G-d forbid any starting pitcher in the year of 2018 should be asked to pitch a complete game). I don't fool myself for one moment to think the Mets have crawled out of their funk. But it's nice to see a real live winning streak even if it's only three games.

ב"ה For the first time in about a month, the Mets have a real live come from behind victory. You can't get much more "come from behind" than this was. The Mets scored a run in the first inning but they didn't score another run in innings 2-8. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks scored two runs and then a third in the bottom of the eighth they scored a third. I had almost given up (I turned away for a while but came back for the 9th inning). Which brings us to the 9th inning. Two quick outs later, Jose Reyes came up. Reyes put down a beautiful bunt which probably would have gone foul had the catcher not grabbed it on the fair side of the line. By the time the catcher turned around, he had no play. Reyes stole 2nd and was knocked home by Jose Bautista pinch hitting for Familia.  Brandon Nimmo then hit one on the button that went for a homerun (2 runs with Jose Bautista) and Cabrera followed with another homer. Oh, I forgot to mention this all happened after 2 out...

ב"ה I am in no way convinced that this is the one that'll get us started. I am in no way going out to tomorrow buy a Mets World Series ticket (not that I would anyway -- getting to the game wouldn't be easy for me right now -- actually, I've never been to CitiField. And, yes, I have been there since the Polo Grounds became apartment buildings). But when one is a long time Mets fan, one learns to take one's victory where they come. And tonight, they actually had  a victory -- yup, chalk up one in the big "W" column. It's nice to see. Matz pitched a gem and the bullpen didn't dissolve into tears. Hitters got hits. And Michael Conforto got a three-run-homer. Nice to see him hit again and nice to see some long ball (that's supposed  to be the teams' strength). So tomorrow is another day and tomorrow is another game and another chance to make it out of the depths of despair. This team does have the potential to be more like the 1969 Met...

ב"ה I have been a Mets fan for a long time. I actually lived through the 40-120 season and their Polo Grounds years, the Marvelous Marv days, the "Willie Mays returns to NY" days, the Roger Craig losing streak days, the Ron Swoboda, Ron Locke and Ron Hunt days. I also lived through 1969's amazing year and 1973's "You Gotta Believe" year.  Until recently, I didn't watch any of the analysis shows. This season, while not my first season watching (I think I started watching them in the fairy tale season of  Yoenis Céspedes in 2015), this season it feels like everything is under a microscope. I've been wanting to write some thoughts for a while. So here goes: 1) Jose Reyes is no worse than anyone else. I don't think he's quite over the hill yet -- but he does mean a lot to Mets fans. He is, after all, the first Mets to lead the league in batting (and what was his reward???) 2) What is going on? Why is no one hitting? How can a team t...