Brrrrump bum ba bum, bum bum bum bum ba bum!
Hear that? An angry mob of restless Mets fans, torches lit, are beating their drums. The drums are getting louder now as their crowd swells, and with the pulsing rhythm comes a cacophonous chorus of chants:
FIRE JERRY! CALL UP IKE! CAN MINAYA! F@#$ JOHN MAINE!
Brrrrump bum ba bum, bum bum bum bum ba bum!
The once-Shea Faithful appear no longer that, and perhaps rightfully so. Their team mustered only two wins in its first seven games of a season in which they were promised results, coming off a season in which they got none of them.
And the patient contrarians who cry “sample size,” point to a long season and call for calm are drowned out by the drumbeat, hushed by angry villagers yelling, “sample size? I’ll show you sample size! We’re going on four years worth of sample size.”
Still, though the Mets are not very good, their fans should take solace in the fact that they’re almost certainly not this bad. Despite their 2-5 record, they’ve only been outscored 33-30, and they managed that without Jose Reyes for four of their games.
Things will get better. Perhaps not much, but better for certain. They can’t get much worse than they were in last night’s loss to the Rockies.
What’s most puzzling about the drumming is how much of it appears fueled by shock, as if anything happening in front of us is surprising. The 2010 Mets feature several excellent players who have not been good enough to carry too much dead weight in the lineup and on the pitching staff; a top-heavy roster poorly constructed and too frequently mismanaged.
This is a new thing?
Tedquarters 
Is it the 2-5 start that has fans freaking out?
Or is it that the concerns of the more knowledgeable fans have proven true thus far as we see that: (a) 2/5 of the rotation (Maine & Perez) are “power” pitchers who now throw 89 mph and should not have been counted on this year; (b) the players we knew stink but our front office valued (JaKobs, GMjr, Cora, etc.) are as bad as we thought; and (c) our best starting pitching prospect is serving as a middle reliever in the major leagues, although starting pitching is our biggest weakness and we have little depth there in the farm system?
For every Met fan freaking out over small sample size results, there are many others who believe (or, like me, starting to believe) that the tide will never turn so long as the current decision makers remain in power.
Omar is like the fantasy player who overbids on the first 4 or 5 players he likes, then has to fill his roster with $1.00 scrubs. If he gets lucky with some of the $1.00 players, he does well. But if he doesn’t, well you know the rest.
Yabbut…
That’s how you win fantasy championships. Omar’s like a guy who squanders the $1 slots on potshots and familiar names.
(Only research mitigates the risk of relying on unproven/injury-discounted talent. Trusting this FO’s eye for analysis has proven a fool’s errand.)
Thanks Ted for providing some sanity. Seriously, “This is a new thing?”
I’m with Sherm on this one…
Sherm nails it. I’d go one step further. Fred needs to man up and move his Idiot Son out of the COO job. Since Jeffie took that role, the 3 GMs have been Steve Phillips and his 2 hapless underlings. That’s no accident. Jeff does not want (and given his track record, probably can’t attract) a strong grown-up to completely overhaul the Mets system, from the front office down to scouting and player development. That’s what’s needed, on a 3 or 4 year plan, to put the organization. Without that, we’re just patching up the bursting wounds with overlong, overpriced FA contracts for guys past their primes (Delgado, Pedro and, truth be told, even Santana) r guys who never had one (Ollie).
I’m saddened by Maine, and holding out hope he’s not done. He has been lucky with BABIP the last couple years, so we are seeing some correction to the that. Now everything hit is finding holes. If he doesn’t throw that ball away, maybe he only gives up 3 runs. Tatis also showed questionable range on a hit or 2. It was about 35 degrees in Colorado last night, there’s no way we are going to see the best of Maine in that environment.
Okay, I’m a Maine apologist, sue me. If we had Figgy or Meijia ready to step in and make starts I’d say ditch Maine to the minors or pen, but we don’t. Give Maine 5 to 7 starts.
“Omar is like the fantasy player who overbids on the first 4 or 5 players he likes, then has to fill his roster with $1.00 scrubs. If he gets lucky with some of the $1.00 players, he does well. But if he doesn’t, well you know the rest.”
That is by far the best description of how the team was constructed that I have ever seen.
It isn’t shocking. That is what we’re mad about.
Do I have to link that clip of the couple driving next to Steve Martin and John Candy screaming “YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!” ?? That is how the fanbase feels.
Ted, we’ve seen this type of writing before, back in the latter halves of 07 and 08 when Cerrone was preaching that there was still time to turn it around and the team was mathematically alive. I called BS as soon as I read that because I saw on the field that the team was listless and running on fumes. Sure enough they were blown away at the end of those seasons.
Last year, we kept reading that there was still time, that the team was in striking distance and once the injured get back it would all be good. Of course we all know how that turned out. To see the same results and then to hear the same speeches coming from the team and the writers is really just comical. On paper its a great team and the stats say that anything is possible. But my own eyes say that this is the exact same scenario we’ve seen back when Willie’s job was on the line. The team couldnt get a hit to save their lives and honestly I have no clue how to change that.
I do know one thing. That this just isnt working. There’s not enough money or decent free agents out there to turn around an organization as rotten as this one. The FA market is drying up already and the only possibility of any upside is that the youngsters will be able to right the ship in ’11/’12. There are some good hitters, so maybe those clutch hits will come, but who’s going to pitch? Old man Santana’s looking rather pedestrian these days and there isnt another FA out there. The minors have some good pitchers, but they all seem to project as relievers. Only one who could possibly start is being wasted in middle relief. Its a pretty miserable situation for fans to be in, so yeah, I feel perfectly justified in asking for heads to roll.
One thing is for sure: stats DO NOT say this is a good team. Stats say anything but good things about GMJ, Cora, Jacobs, Ollie, even Frankie.
Yeah that seems to be some major fallacy, that stats say this is a 90 win team and they’re just not doing it because they don’t have enough heart. Stats say no such thing.
Sherm pretty much nails it. Nice one.
My problem with Mets fans so far this season (not all of them, obviously) is that I’ve seen so much anger. Anger at management, I get. Those guys are terrible and should be canned. Anger at the players, I don’t get so much. As much as I may not want a particular player on the team, I can’t take my frustration out on them. Is it Ollie Perez or John Maine’s fault that they keep playing when they aren’t particularly good? No, it isn’t. Anger at specific plays or, heck, to each pitch in an at-bat? Oh man people have too much time on their hands.
My reaction to the situation this team has put itself into this season is one of utter bemusement. I can’t really believe what has been allowed to happen but I’ve also got plenty of other things to worry about that aren’t the Mets. I can just look at this team and chuckle because the situation is so sad that it’s kind of funny.
I mean, I get the anger from people, but it’s just not my thing. I ain’t got time to be angry about a sac bunt in the third with a man on second and no one out, or leaving in a lefty reliever to pitch to a righty. It’s stupid, and I want to see some positive changes, but it’s just not worth my time.
I ain’t got time to bleed.