Sollywood - The New Yuck Mess

Well I didn’t think it would take 13 games to spawn my first Mets rant but it’s Mikey’s birthday so this is my present to him.


The 6-7 record means nothing to me, it’s the fact I’ve seen this act 3 years in a row now. The offense scores early, has the other pitcher on the ropes, and doesn’t do anything the rest of the game.  There has been a lack of intensity, a lack of fundamentals, and a lack of any kind of a sense of urgency really since Game 7 of the NLCS. Last night I saw all of the ingredients in St. Louis, complete with Benny Hill music in the background (thanks Moose).


OFFENSE:


The Mets put up 4 early runs but still couldn’t land that knockout punch and were absolutely atrocious on the basepaths. Murphy was picked off 1B and thrown out at the plate but the best was saved for last when Beltran pulled a Jeremy Giambi in the 8th inning as he tried to score standing up, even though the fucking ball was right in front of him and he knew it would be close. What happened in fundamentals? One of the first things you learn in little league is slide if it’s close. But no, the pretty boy can’t slide because he must have had a tube of Vagisil in his back pocket and/or he doesn’t want to hurt the catcher, his buddy Molina. I hate that shit. If there’s a play at the plate, you need to knock that catcher into the fucking dugout. What a fucking joke.


PITCHING:


Oliver Perez is a cunt. A team gives him a 4-0 lead and he couldn’t hold it, to the point where he went all Kenny Rogers on The Great Khalil, he of the mighty .290 OBP. How the FUCK do you walk him of all people with the bases loaded and two outs? $36M for a guy who’s afraid to challenge hitters, for a guy who has no balls to pitch through tough spots? He’s completely worthless and I wish Omar would have given Lowe that 4th year. Sure he might be a decade older than Perez but has there ever been a more underrated big game pitcher than Lowe? Really though, Perez reminds me of one of those old school Mexican banditos or something. He just needs the evil mustache and he’ll have it down-pat, since he already perfected the stealing money part.


DEFENSE:


Murphy just isn’t cut out for the OF. That’s two horrific errors in the span of 13 games and the worst part is Manuel’s quote after last night’s disaster: “We’ll get to a point to where he’ll almost be average.” Are you kidding me? This is what a $140M payroll gets these days? A LF aspiring to be mediocre? If they were willing to live with horrible LF defense, why not open the wallet to get Manny in the off season? At least he makes up for it with his bat… which brings me to my last point.


PHILOSOPHY:


All winter long, I heard about how these Mets were going to stress a team-first attitude and the value of fundamentals… and then they sign Sheffield. League minimum or not, if you’re going to take on someone with baggage, how about someone who isn’t 40 and who has actually played the field since 2005? You moved into a new stadium, you still could have bumped up the payroll and signed Manny for two years while staying under the luxury tax. I applaud Omar for the new bullpen but there was still work to do, at the very least getting another thumper in that lineup or someone to take the pressure off Wright. The Nats got Dunn for a steal, Omar couldn’t at least have kicked the tires?


I’m just flabbergasted that the same group of players who endured Game 7, the 2007 collapse, and the 2008 choke, are content with this kind of play. I’m not saying treat April like October but this team, more than any other, should know that every game makes a difference and a loss in April is the same as one in September.