Historical Epidemic … Or Is That Epidemically Historical?

I usually miss a night of blogging due to logistics, vacation, beer, things like that. But I’ll admit that I didn’t blog about Tuesday night’s game yesterday because it felt silly to wail about how horrible a baseball team while the country marked the passing of the darkest date in its history, and in New York City’s history. Seemed silly. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m thankful that we live in a country where we have the freedom to wail about a horrible baseball team.

And before you ask, my feeling on the hats really hasn’t changed from last year, everything pretty much still holds true. Everything except that it would have been nice to have the hats worn in year ten. To make a big effort to wear the hats kinda seems pointless at this point since MLB has pretty much mandated that everyone wear the hats with the flag on the side so they can sell it. And that’s my small point in the big picture.

Now …

When are we going to stop saying “well, the Mets did better than everybody thought they did” and start taking a good, long, hard look at this team going into next year?

(I said long and hard.)

The answer for me is probably the end of the season. But the foundation is being laid. The Mets scored a crooked number in an inning at home for the first time in about a month on Tuesday, but still couldn’t bail out R.A. Dickey after he gave up a pinch dinger to Tyler Moore (will not call him Mary … too easy), and the quest for win number 19 took a bad turn. Didn’t help that Bryce Harper, who wasn’t expecting to start against Dickey because of his bad history against him, was put in the lineup (probably because of his “in out up down” quote) and had himself four hits.

Wednesday, of course, was worse … as the Nationals didn’t even need Stephen Strasburg to shut out the Mets. John Lannan, who took Strasburg’s place because of mental reasons, did his usual number on the Mets as they were shut out for the sixth time since the all-star break and have not scored three runs at home in three years. Doug Flynn was in the stands watching, and the career .238 hitter probably felt like Tony Gwynn watching these idiots.

Matt Harvey, who had ten strikeouts in five innings, was sharp. He said he didn’t have his good curveball, but got along fine without it … which says to me that he already has an aptitude for recognizing weaknesses and adjusting accordingly. Guy seems to have a 99 mph fastball, and a brain. But the Mets have had their last two games started by the two remaining reasons to watch this team, and they dropped both in disgusting fashion. If Dickey and Harvey can’t win despite pitching well, then what’s the reason to watch this team the rest of the season? It’s gotten to the point where you know going into the ninth inning down by two runs that this team has no chance. None. And it isn’t because they’ve quit. They’re just awful. And all that awful that was supposed to be spread out over a 162 game schedule instead has been concentrated into the last 81. It’s difficult to watch … all of it. Ronny Cedeno gets picked off on a 3-2 pitch with David Wright at the plate? For the love of hump are we thinking about our off-season plans already?

Hell, even the person putting together the game notes for SNY is looking forward to the off-season. Keith was talking about how September 12th was the anniversary of the Mets clinching the division in 2006 … except that it was September 18th. 

And how about Lucas Duda at first base? There’s no good reason for this except to give Ike Davis a day off, or perhaps to showcase him for an off-season trade. Duda has no future at first unless Sandy Alderson does something stupid and trade Ike Davis. But Duda could be a cheap option for a team that is going to be in the market for a first baseman (cough *Tampa* cough). So why not showcase him?

The Mets have another off day today, which is just the right opportunity for them to watch the Phillies, who they hoped to pass for third place, climb back into a playoff spot. The saving grace to this season was that the Phillies were horrible too, but heaven forbid we have one f*cking beacon of light in this f*cking cave known as Mets baseball, because the Phillies have traded two thirds of their outfield and are now three games in back of the last wild card spot and now they get to play the f*cking Astros for four games. Maybe Roger Clemens can come back since the bully wants to only pitch in the majors against contenders. And if that happens, I’d have to root for the Phillies.

I really hate this f*cking game sometimes.