Fools Gold (And Fools Blue And Fools Orange)

Perhaps now we’ll see that Opening Day victories eleven game winning streaks in April don’t mean a damned thing. Perhaps the people that overly celebrate the following:

Mets       1-0

Yankees 0-1

… will get their heads on straight and realize that “taking back the city” is of no consequence and is not deserving of a banner or a wall plaque or a parade. But probably not because our fan base has been so splintered and fractured and mentally brainwashed because of the mismanagement of ownership that ruined this franchise that rational thought escapes us more often than not.

Look, the Mets aren’t as bad as they looked the last four games against the Chicago Cubs just as they aren’t nearly as good as the team that won eleven straight earlier in the year. And as much as it reeks of “excuse”, it cannot be denied that the injuries to David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud, and now Juan Lagares are affecting this team significantly. There aren’t many teams that could lose three regulars and three relievers and remain in first place for very long as the Mets incredibly have done. And with Lagares due to come back tonight and d’Arnaud on the mend, fortunes will pick up a little bit.

But let’s not kid ourselves. And I don’t mean that as filler, or just to turn a phrase. I mean quite literally: do not kid yourselves! This team is flawed until proven otherwise. You would think that this team would still have enough to … I don’t know … not get swept by the Cubs. Michael Cuddyer has two hits in the last four games. TWO! When a guy costs $21 million and a draft pick we should reasonably expect better than that. (I didn’t, but I’ve been wrong before and would still like to be wrong.) And I don’t care how many players are hurt, nobody should be forced into a situation where Ruben Tejada is playing third base. Not that Eric Campbell is any great shakes, but him having to go down because Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Flores are terrible defensive players meaning that Dilson Herrera has to come up just seems appalling now. Injuries or not, Ruben Tejada is a dead spot on this roster and most organizations would have gotten rid of this guy about two years ago. Forget that he made one nice play in the field in the fifth inning. Or are we going to blow that out of proportion too?

The lineup the Mets trotted out on Thursday … their designated lineup against lefties … was atrocious. And somehow scored five runs. So to then lose because the catcher can’t catch? An awful passed ball by Recker with two outs in the seventh undid all the good he did with his two home runs. It’s excruciating to lose in that fashion and yet the Mets must think they’re so much better than they are that they can afford to throw away games like this, and continually put themselves in the position where bloop hits are more death blows than simple bloop hits. I mean, that’s gotta be it, right? Can’t be because they’re just not that good, right?

Stop kidding yourselves. It isn’t too late for most of you. This team hasn’t earned anything. This team hasn’t earned a damned thing. Not one damned thing. They may very well be fine when this is all said and done once they get their guys back. But a team that hasn’t won more than 79 games since 2009 has to prove it to me. Stop making dumb mistakes, throwing the ball away, and putting Ruben Tejada anywhere near a baseball field. Oh, and if Michael Cuddyer isn’t too preoccupied with anything like fedoras then it would be nice if he got a couple of hits here and there.

Today’s Hate List

I gave you the reins today and you didn’t disappoint whether you were consciously adding to the list or not:

1.

@Metstradamus Tuffy Rhodes. His 3-HR game vs Doc came during NY’s last sweep in CHI. Mets have won 6 of 25 series @ CHI since ’94. #HateList

— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) May 14, 2015

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@Metstradamus Tommy Gunn. No one should beat Balboa up the steps. No one. #HateList

— The Jewish Content (@fsolomon75) May 14, 2015

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3.

@Metstradamus Walter O’Malley #hatelist

— Dom Pascullo (@domdom1018) May 14, 2015

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@Metstradamus @metspolice I blame that deGrom garden gnome. It all started going wrong when he appeared!!

— Ken Cotter (@kencottermusic) May 14, 2015

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5.

@Metstradamus I honestly think we just need to get past this fedora giveaway and all will be well again.

— dcowan (@dcowan850) May 14, 2015