A Sad Day...

I was originally going to post this long analytical piece on everything I think went wrong with the Mets. Then I got an email message from one of the biggest Mets fans I've ever known in my life. So instead of going in depth, I'll just post her email and my response. I think it sums up the emotions that all of us Mets fans have gone through these past weeks.

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Subject:
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 08:32:55 -0400
From: ************
To: ************


Well Keith, I really don't know what to say, except that was the worst Mets game I have ever seen in my entire life. I'm not even disappointed, I'm just mad. The Phillies deserve that playoff spot, they played their hearts out for it and that is something the Mets just didn't do. Things might turn out differently next year if the Mets make some changes this winter. Thanks for the encouraging words the past few weeks.

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My response:

Hey ***... yeah this sucks. I really kept hope and thought they would eventually pull it out. I mean, they're not called the "Amazin' Mets" for nothing. And after Saturday, I just knew deep down that Philly would blow it and the Mets would slide in. But after the first inning of yesterday's game, I knew it was not to be.

I just can't understand how this team lost so many games in the same fashion night in and night out for the last month. Score 6 runs, take a 3-run lead into the 6th inning, watch the bullpen blow it. Hold the other team to 2 runs, score 1 run on our end, lose the game. I mean it was sickening to watch. No clutch hitting, no clutch pitching... The whole thing is unbelievable.

A year ago I remember saying how the Mets would be good for years to come because the core of the team was young and Omar was building for the future. At the same time the Yankees were the old team of has-beens with the gloomy future. Somehow the whole thing flip-flopped and now the Mets look extremely old.

And what in the world was up with Jose Reyes? The guy seemed depressed for the better part of 4 months and it showed on the field.

They should just let all of the old players on this team go their merry way and continue to build for the future. Wright will be an MVP someday and we should build around him. Delgado, Glavine, El Duque, Alou (even though he hit well this season) Lo Duca, Green, Castillo... I say let them all go. Play Milledge and Gomez or bring up the kid Fernando Martinez and let them play the outfield. Get a young, big bat to replace Delgado or fill one of the corner outfield slots. But most importantly, get an infusion of young pitching talent into the organization. If that means trading Milledge or Gomez so be it.

The big question - would you trade Jose Reyes for Johan Santana? The fact that I can even sit here and not give you a definitive answer says a lot.

Anyway, Omar has plenty of work to do this offseason. They basically need everything - bullpen help, quality starting pitching and a legit, clutch run producer for the middle of the lineup. It sucks not to have October baseball this year when making the playoffs was never really in doubt all season... but hey what can you do?

So for 2008 and beyond... Let's Go Mets!

(P.S. - Even though things didn't go our way this year I can honestly say that I'd still take being a fan of this team over any other team on the planet. They broke our hearts but that sorta comes with the territory when being a Mets fan. This year's team learned a valuable lesson and hopefully it will stick with them when we compete for the World Series next year. Yes, I still believe.)