“What a miserable series.”
“What series?”
“The one the Mets just played in Denver.”
“It never happened.”
“What do you mean it never happened? We just watched all three games.”
“There weren’t any three games.”
“Of course there were. There was Friday night, when Matt Harvey’s self-doubt registered higher on the radar gun than his fastball.”
“There was no game Friday night.”
“Then there was Saturday night, when Logan Verrett got jobbed on a swinging strike that masqueraded as a foul tip and crumbled immediately thereafter.”
“There was no game Saturday night.”
“And then on Sunday afternoon, Jacob deGrom looked ordinary on the mound, Alejandro de Aza and Michael Conforto looked clueless in the field, Jim Henderson looked gassed in the seventh, the bats looked hollow, the manager looked beaten and the umps looked crooked when they called Juan Lagares out at a critical juncture even though he was a) not being tagged and b) staying in the baseline.”
“There was no game Sunday afternoon.”
“No game, huh? So you’re telling me the Mets didn’t give up a tenuous 3-2 lead and lose, 4-3, to get swept by the Rockies at Coors Field.”
“Get what where?”
“Swept at Coors Field! The Mets lost three to Colorado and four in a row overall to end a long and futile road trip that left them in third place behind the freaking Phillies, never mind the Nationals.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“How could you not know? All weekend we watched and listened and fretted and moaned and…”
“None of that happened. This series never happened. Sunday’s game never happened. Coors Field never happened. Got me?”
“But the box score…”
“There is no box score.”
“And the standings…”
“There are no standings…”
“And the 19% discount promotion…”
“Look at me. Look in my eyes. Hear what I’m saying. It never happened. It never happened. Kapish?”
“Who?”
“Exactly.”
Redact the last three games from your consciousness and enjoy a much more pleasant evening tonight at Rockville Centre’s Turn of the Corkscrew Books & Wines, where I’ll be reading, discussing and signing Amazin’ Again, the story of a Mets season that most definitely DID happen.
Thank goodness those games got redacted.
Now tonite’s audience will be as happy as Mr. Met (though not the one who didn’t get a the ring).
Great post! Reminds us not to take this game so seriously, as passionate as we are. :)
The Mets definitely looked like a team running on fumes at the end of a long road trip this past weekend in Denver. It is at those times that you need your starting pitching to step up and allow you to grind out a low scoring win or two. Just didn’t happen as the best they got from a starter this past weekend was mediocrity from deGrom on Sunday. I’m sure today is a very welcome day off for a team that has played every day and flown across the country and back during the past 2 and 1/2 weeks.
Great post, Greg. I’ll see you tonight and I promise not to redact myself.
I’m not quite sure how a team looks so out of gas by the middle of May, about a fifth of the way into the season. Yesterday Ron mentioned how Tom Browning of the Reds used to drink a cup of coffee every inning…speaking as someone who believes that caffeine is a food group, I suggest the Mets give this a try.
And yes, I realize that guys don’t play 162 games. But why does TC insist on giving multiple regulars a day off together? He does this all the time. Now, not that Granderson and Wright are producing all that much, but given that their understudies are DeAza and Campbell…yes, I know Campbell did manage to get 2 hits yesterday, but when I see both of those names in the starting lineup, I’m not optimistic. These are not kick-start the offense types of guys. Looking forward to this year’s equivalent of the Uribe/Johnson acquisitions, because this bench needs to get better.
You can’t really criticize a manager when he sits guys who are NOT producing…doubly so when a guy he puts in gets two hits. Also, there is nothing wrong with the bench…we are down a starting catcher and our main reserve player, and one of the starters missed a turn. Teams gets weaker when you play reserves, the point is to not field a helpless lineup like last year (though there was a reason for that, as well).
It’s not that they are gassed in May, it’s that they are gassed at the end of a West Coast trip after playing 17 days in a row. It would have been nice to go .500-ish, but this is not a reason to panic. If you want a reason for the offensive flatness, look no further than the recent struggles of Granderson, Duda, and Conforto.
I am starting to think this year’s big trade is going to be for a first baseman who is useful more often. What good is 6 HRs in 10 games if Duda then falls into a black hole for 6 weeks?
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve had enough of this guy,
Great points Rob E. When the regulars aren’t hitting, it’s hard to find fault with the reserves….. who aren’t starters for a reason.
I get where you’re coming from, Dave.
It is a total downer for the fans, seeing multiple backups in the lineup. I wonder if it has the same effect on the players (no matter how well the backups do).
Some guys inspire others to play above their talent. Perhaps these backups ‘inspire’ others to play below their talent.
Wow you guys that brought up duda….i had that exact thought yesterday. There is no way duda strikes fear in opposing pitchers. Thats why weiss walked cespedes to get to him. I dont know if ive ever seen someone bunch homers like that
We’ve all seen this from Duda for the past 5 years — No surprise in these quarters. Welcome aboard to those now beginning to realize that Rip Van Duda is just not the answer.
Duda began the season with 3 bad weeks, and then 2 good ones, so I predicted on MAY06 in this space that he would go to sleep for 6 weeks and then re-emerge on JUN14 at home —- 4 more weeks to go!
Longtime Met fans will remember that Dave Kingman was very much the same way when he was a Met. Capable of long homers and impressive home run tears but also capable of going into prolong slumps of nothing.
Can’t do better than a blog that uses the word redacted.
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