From Honeymoon to Annulment

The honeymoon lasted ten games.

Granted, when you think of honeymoons, you think of exotic locales like the Bahamas, Hawaii, maybe a cruise through Greece.  A honeymoon in Flushing is more like a honeymoon in … well, Flushing.  But it’s over.  When you call a team meeting, I think that’s a good indication that the honeymoon is over.  The cruise ship has docked, and it’s time for Terry Collins to do the chores.  And he’s already screwed up his first one.

You’ve got second and third with two outs in the fifth.  You have Troy Tulowitzki, who you witnessed murder you the night before with a long home run up at the plate with first base open, who you saw hit a long double the other way just one inning before, and Jose Lopez on deck.  Well, that seems like an obvious spot for an intentional walk, no?

Instead, it was apparently time for somebody’s testosterone level to shoot up and think “we can get this guy out!”

No, you can’t.  You can’t get Troy Tulowitzki out.  Nobody can.  And that was the difference in a game the Mets lost by one as Tulowitzki homered to give the Rockies a lead they wouldn’t give up.  Bad enough the Mets don’t have the horses on the roster to stay afloat, but that makes it all the more imperative that Collins makes the right decisions.  The one he made in the sixth wasn’t even arguable.  I’m not the biggest armchair managerial second guesser in the world, but Troy Tulowitzki … base open … against a lefty, the likes of which he had a career line of .313/.396/.543 going in … he gets walked.  End of discussion.

And now, the Mets are 4-7.  They’re limping along with a ragged bullpen who is 27% gassed, 63% awful, and 10% Isringhausen.  They have two games tomorrow, and as for their best starter so far this season, Chris Young’s Friday start has been pushed back to Sunday because of bicep tendinitis.  All this means that in the next 48 hours, the Mets could easily be 4-10 with two more against the Braves in Atlanta to follow.  Is that a hole you see this roster digging out of?  The honeymoon will really be over then, and it will be on to the annulment.