Disgruntled Mets Fan

It’s not easy being a Mets fan these days.
Ok, that’s probably the understatement of the year, as anyone who has donned a blue baseball cap with an orange interlocking “NY” on it can vouch for the validity of that statement.
Think about it for a moment. Since the Mets were one game away from the World Series in 2006, Mets fans have suffered through two consecutive late season collapses, a 90-plus loss season, embarrassing moments from management, terribly misdiagnosed injuries, uninspired and often mistake-prone baseball, a World Series crown for the division-rival Phillies, and now a World Series that will result in either a 27th crown for the cross-town rival Yankees or a second consecutive title for Philadelphia. In other words, the only true loser in this World Series will be Mets fans.
I feel for all of my fellow Mets fans, but there is a bright side.
You guys could all be me, a Mets fan living in northeatern Pennsylvania.
I originally grew up in the New York City metro area part of New Jersey. Growing up during the 1980’s, and being within a stone’s throw of “Big Apple” contributed to my Mets fandom, even despite the fact that the rest of my family members were Yankee fans. After getting married and having kids, it wasn’t financially possible to stay in the area of my youth, so I picked up and moved to a small town in the Lehigh Valley called Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Big mistake.
Don’t get me wrong, Nazareth is a terrific town. It’s got plenty of modern ammenities, while still keeping it’s small-town charm. The school system is excellent, the taxes are low, and our street is the definition of the American dream. It really is a great place to live, unless your a Mets fan.
Situated only nine miles past the Delaware river, Nazareth is relatively close to both New York City and Philadelphia, about a 90 minute and 50 minute drive, respectively. We get both New York and Philadelphia local channels, and the area has it’s fair share of transplanted New Yorkers, so I have never really felt out of the loop.
So what’s the problem?
The area is completely filled with Yankee and Phillies fans, so much so that both teams’ games are played on the local sports radio stations. Sure there is also the occasional Pittsburgh or Red Sox fan, but after living here for slightly more than six years, I have met three Mets fan. Three.
I am totally convinced that this is the worst place on the planet for any Mets fan to be. Sure my fellow Flushing Faithful in New York City has to deal with elitist, pompous Yankee fans on a regular basis, and anyone openly rooting for the Amazin’s in the “City of Brotherly Love” probably has a death wish, but living in Nazareth lately has made me feel like I’ve died and gone to Mets fan hell.
I still wear my Mets cap with pride around town, hearing snickering and laughing from both sets of fans. My Mets jacket has been known to completely stop baseball debates between the two fan bases as the one thing they both agree on is that they thank God they’re not Mets fans. There is simply no where to hide.
Like I said, It’s not easy to be a Mets fan, especially here in Nazareth, PA.

June was supposed to be where the Mets really turned it on and started turning everything around and getting hot. They had taken care of business over the three previous series, besting the Red Sox in two of three on the road, sweeping the Nats, and taking two of three from the Marlins.

A four-game set in Pittsburgh followed by a three-game series in Washington seemed to ensure that the Mets would be white-hot as they hurtled toward an important mid-week series against the Phillies at Citi Field, where it was clear the Mets had started to build a solid home-field advantage.

But it wasn’t meant to be. The Mets kicked off the month by losing a game that, at the time, I deemed to be “a great way to start a losing streak.” The Mets jumped ahead of the Pirates, 5-0, went to sleep, and promptly had their setup man, J.J. Putz, retire none of the five batters he faced in the inning.

Pittsburgh ran up an 8-5 lead going into the ninth that the Mets would not overcome. Putz went on the shelf the next day, never to return, arguably not to ever return as a Met.

But their stopper would turn things around, right? Wrong. Johan Santana seemed off as he gave up three runs in six innings, striking out just a pair, as he was outdueled by Zach Duke.

A rainout the following day was sure to give the Mets a breather so they could recuperate and salvage a game from the series. But Big Mike Pelfrey came up small, getting shelled in an 11-6 loss.

The Mets responded well the following night in defeating the Nationals in an extra-inning contest. Despite scoring just an unearned run off John Lannan (might as well call him “Johan Lannan” against the Mets), the Metropolitans bounced back to take the series in a Sunday contest, heading into the Phillies series with neutral momentum.

This series, to me, seemed to be where everything really took a turn for the worse. In the first game, the Mets got a huge win in one of Johan’s most memorable starts as a Met. Despite surrendering four home runs, Santana ground his way through a seven-plus inning start, playing tremendous defense and adding a butcher-boy double that tied the game in the sixth.

He was furious when he got yanked after just 91 pitches too. As Jerry Manuel approached the mound, Johan showed everyone in the park how he felt. On camera, he could be seen saying, “I’m a man. I want you to know, I’m a man.”

But the Met bullpen came up huge. Santana left “Perpetual” Pedro Feliciano a runner on base as Pedro came in to face Ryan Howard. In the appearance that stands out more than any other appearance in his Met career, Feliciano threw Howard one pitch that resulted in a 4-6-3 double play, and Pedro finished off Raul Ibanez to end the inning.

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I’ve been taking part in a new organization called the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  The reason for the group’s formation was to do season award voting similar to the Baseball Writers Association.

Our first season of award voting has come to a close, and you can view the results here.

You can also read individual posts regarding the award voting here.

Feel free to read these posts tonight while you’re pretending the World Series isn’t happening.

There was a certain anxiety that started when the Mets lost the final game of 2008 that led up to April 6 of 2009.

It’s safe to say fans knew in the offseason that they would have an overhauled bullpen for 2009. Not much else seemed to need change. The bullpen blew 27 saves in 2009, and the Mets won 89 games. Had they locked down 12 of those games, they would have had the best record in baseball.

Leading into 2009, they had a top-three pitcher in baseball (Johan Santana), top-five players at three positions (David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran), and a first baseman coming off an MVP-caliber season (Carlos Delgado), not to mention a promising young left fielder and a right fielder who was the team’s best hitter in April and May of 2008 before sustaining a concussion.

Fans expected big things from the rest of the rotation, with Mike Pelfrey coming off an unconscious hot streak to end the season; two pitchers with fantastic stuff, if only they could harness it (Oliver Perez and John Maine); and a promising fifth starter in Livan Hernandez, along with depth in the rotation.

The way the season began was very ironic. The Mets beat the Reds in two out of three games, including an Opening Day win that we all thought was going to be “the formula” for the season. Santana pitched dominantly into the sixth, Sean Green provided solid middle relief, and J.J. Putz set it up for K-Rod, who locked stuff down.

I want to point out that “the formula,” as our esteemed manager deemed it, played out just four times this season in Mets wins (that is, Santana starting, Putz setting up, and Frankie finishing the game). One doesn’t need to read into this too much; it’s simply an observation on my part.

Next up, the Mets split the first two games of the series with the Marlins and then suffered a loss despite Johan’s most dominant start as a Met. Santana turned in seven innings of two-run (none earned) ball, striking out 13, but ended up on the short side at the hands of Daniel Murphy (literally), who dropped a fly ball on the warning track in the second inning that led to two runs for the Marlins.

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Steve Phillips pulled off a move he was notoriously against in his tenure as GM of the Mets in his recent sex scandal…

He went younger!

Mets fans everywhere would expect Phillips to go after a crafty veteran girlfriend, way past her prime, but he shocked the world picking up a young, unproven, and highly untouted addition to his line up instead.

Oh Steve…

If only your baseball savvy was as strong as your life savvy…

I’ll certainly miss you during those nationally televised games I’m forced to watch when I’d much rather be listening to Gary, Keith, and Ron.

I, like I’m sure a lot of people, have been scouring the internet for a picture of Phillips’ now estranged wife, but have been unsuccessful.

Just picking one of Phillips trades out of a hat for comparison purposes…

In 2002 Phillips traded away Jason Bay and two others to the Padres for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed.   Middlebrook pitched in eight games as a Met before fading to obscurity, and Reed pitched in 24 games, but left the team for free agency at the end of the season.

Using a simple comparison, I have made a guess as to what Phillips’ wife must look like.

Based on other Phillips trades, I concluded that his wife Marni must resemble this picture on the right, based on what his girlfriend Brooke Hundley looks like.

It’s going to happen Mets fans.  Barring some major comebacks, which while not impossible, are highly unlikely, the Yankees will be facing off with the Phillies in the World Series.

Some Mets fans think this is the worst case scenario.  Two bitter rivals facing off in a situation where they can’t both lose.  One team that we hate to see win is going to be World Champions.

I don’t see it that way.

To me, the Yankees are not rivals.  In the history of the Mets and the Yankees, the teams have played one meaningful series, the 2000 World Series, and the Mets got spanked for lack of a better word.

When it comes to the Phillies, the Mets play meaningful games all season every season, in an attempt to win a division, make the playoffs, and win a championship.

I would imagine having a team that I consider a bitter rival in the Phillies, winning back to back championships would be a lot worse for Mets fans than having the Yankees win one.

Sure Yankee fans all over New York would retake their position on their high horse, pointing out that they root for the superior franchise.  The truth is, they do.

So here’s my point…

If we have to root for one of these teams, root for the Yankees.

It’ll be a lot easier to swallow going into next season if the Phillies aren’t coming off two straight championships.  I can’t see ever rooting for a division rival to succeed.  I know back when the Yanks were facing off with the Braves in the 90s I was rooting for the Yankees.

This is why this may not be the worst case scenario.  The Yankees are actually good enough to beat the Phillies, especially if the starting pitching and A-Rod stay on fire the way they’ve been.

They are winning all kinds of games, playing the kind of baseball Mets fans can only dream about, and they’re doing it while having fun.

Maybe my point of view is the result of growing up as the sole Met fan in a family of Yankee fans…  Lately when they ask me “What were you thinking?”, I have trouble coming up with a good response.

Waiting for a relevant baseball team…
Disgruntled Mets Fan