Taps for My Team

"Where’s Susan been?"

Apparently my "absence" on this site–particularly my lack of a response to the lamentable conclusion of the Mets’ season–has been noticed.

I apologize for my lapse in posting a timely response to a newsworthy event directly related to the subject to which this blog is specifically dedicated. 

Frankly, the mere fact of knowing that someone is interested in reading a post of mine will help to lift my spirits somewhat in what has been a pretty low time since, oh, Sunday evening…so thanks!  Also, the act of putting my thoughts together will distract me from the fact that the Phillies, not the Mets, are playing the Rockies on TBS as I write this.  Sigh…

Kaz Matsui just hit a Grand Slam to make it 6-3 Rockies. YES-S-S-S-S-S!!!!!

I have experienced a myriad of emotions in response to the Mets’ denoument.  With profound disappointment, shock, and a general emptiness being among the most prevalent feelings, my fear has been that if I sat down to write about my response to the events of this past week, the post I would end up with would be loquacious and self-pitying.

The resulting post, I feared, would primarily serve as a personal catharsis rather than as interesting reading for anyone else.

Secondly, any observations or criticisms that I have about the team and its downfall–why it happened, how it could’ve been avoided, etc.–have already been voiced by the media, by bloggers, by one’s colleagues at the watercooler–well before the end of the season and in countless post-mortems that followed immediately after the end of the Mets’ collapse.  While I certainly have my own opinions, I’m not sure any of them are completely original.

I’m quite certain the world is not waiting with baited breath to hear what Susan Spector would’ve done differently if she were managing the team or making trades.

*****

Since Sunday evening, I keep thinking that there will be one image–a photograph, perhaps–that will sum it all up for me.  I guess the cartoon at left comes the closest for me.

Summing it up:  I do think that’s part of the problem for at least this Mets fan. 

With Glavine having such a horrible outing on the very last day of the regular season, I assume that is the reason that the team did not come out on the field to say "goodbye" to the fans…perhaps that and the fact that by then Reyes was getting booed at every at-bat and (I heard–I had left by then) the crowd was chanting, "Fire Willie!"  No doubt the team feared the crowd’s wrath if they came out onto the field at that point.

So how do you make that bad taste go away? Maybe some fans would’ve felt better if Willie Randolph had been fired.  Mike Francesa of WFAN talked about the kind of fan that would not be satisfied until someone "paid" for this debacle, i.e., the "head on a platter" mentality.  Obviously, Randolph’s job is safe and I, for one, would not have felt any better had he lost his job.

• Telling ourselves, "There’s always next year?"

              Sounds kinda lame, doesn’t it?

• Rooting against the Phillies?

              Nah.  Only provides limited satisfaction.

• Rooting for the Yankees?

              What, are you NUTS??!!  I’m not THAT desperate.  Puh-LEAZE!

• Focus on the things in life other than baseball?

     That’s what I’m trying to do at the moment. 

     I’m meeting with limited success, but I’ll keep you posted.

     Literally. 

     Sooner, next time, I promise.