Message to Mets fans: enough complaining. Do you realize how good we have it? Somewhere along the lines, fans clad in the blue and orange have
turned on the Mets. But the postseason isn’t God-given to any
team—certainly not Mets fans. What has happened to this loyal fan base,
people who turned out in greater numbers to see the 1964 team lose 109
games than the crosstown Yankees drew with a world champion?
All season long, the refrain hasn’t been about what the Mets can do to get into first place, the talisman Mets supporters have been chasing, with very limited success, since 1962. The Mets have been in first place.
No, with a straight face, fans complained that the Mets were in first place (which gets you to the playoffs, incidentally), but the lead wasn’t big enough.
Remind me if you will, loyal Metsie supporters, of the last time the Mets won back-to-back division titles by any margin. That would be never.
The words tossed around, even before this recent cold streak, were Disappointing. Underachieving. Frustrating. Infuriating.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your first-place Mets and their passionate, loyal fans!
A frequent taunt thrown at Yankee fans across the way is that they expect victory. That leaves only disappointment or steely confirmation. No Miracle. No Joy. A baseball team with all of the lows and none of the highs.
Was the 2000 Year Old Man right? “We mock the thing we are to be”?
It’s supposed to be different in Queens. Not long ago, the Mets were borderline unwatchable. And still we watched. Scott Kazmir was traded for Victor Zambrano, not in 1972 just after Fregosi for Ryan, but three years ago! Same President. Same Iraq War. Britney was already over-the-hill. Not that long ago, people!
Now the Mets find themselves in first place by two games in the loss column with ten games to go. You want meaningful games? Shea will have seven of ‘em this week. Packed houses, tension on every pitch, October in the balance. The way it should be. October should be earned.
I’m sure in their own way, Yankee fans are content with the chance to play in the postseason every year. Even then, championships are largely a crapshoot (just ask about those standing orders on a 27th World Championship banner, still on hold).
But merely the chance to qualify for the Mets’ third, entering Game 153, is being treated in a similar way. There’s no denying Jose Reyes is slumping—but where is the patience for a 24-year-old who has provided tremendous thrills to Mets fans already, a Silver Slugger award, multiple All Star selections, and 142 stolen bases in less than two full seasons? Let’s take a page from the Brooklyn playbook—Dodgers fans (many of whom raised us) didn’t boo Gil Hodges through a horrific 1952 World Series. Hodges certainly rewarded them with his play in the years that followed, as Jose will as well.
Or perhaps you’d rather escape this nightmare and return to Game 153 of 2004, when the Met shortstop was… Wilson Delgado. Miss him, do you?
We can escape the much-maligned Carlos Beltran, he of the Gold Glove defense and paltry 71 home runs and 219 RBI over the past two seasons, and return to 2004—Game 153 saw center field patrolled by…Gerald Williams.
Or Mets fans can take a deep breath, look at the standings, and watch their favorite team take the field in control of their playoff destiny, with stars like Beltran, Reyes and MVP-candidate David Wright in the lineup as Pedro Martinez takes the mound. Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez will provide commentary (perhaps you’d prefer Fran Healy, the Wilson Delgado of commentators?) as the Mets battle losing teams for the next ten days in search of a second division title.
Hopefully, the other side of this fight is a trip to the playoffs. Baseball Prospectus certainly seems to think it will—the Mets have a better than 81% chance of winning the division, 6% for the Wild Card. Think back to a time, not so long ago, when you watched Roger Cedeno chase after a fly ball as if, to use Keith Hernandez’s description, he was “being chased by a bee.” 88% chance of making the playoffs is still so bad, compared to a 40% chance that your favorite team’s outfielder will catch a fly ball?
So over the next week, try to do something besides complain about the surging Phillies, or a bullpen with three reliever whose ERAs are under 3.16, or a starting staff with Pedro at the top and two pitchers, 25-26 years old with 28 wins between them battling for the 4 spot (one will be the fifth starter should Orlando Hernandez return). Root for the Mets, exult in victory, despair in defeat. But remember: this isn’t like rooting for U.S. Steel. Nothing is owed to anyone in baseball. The game is designed to break your heart—and the game’s highs are why we sit through thousands of games (indeed, more than 3,500 for Mets fans and counting) between championships.
And if the young pitchers, Oliver Perez and John Maine, do come up short this time around, before you boo—perhaps you’d prefer Mike Bacsik and Jeremy Griffiths?
Howard Megdal covers baseball for The New York Observer and Gotham Baseball Magazine. His work has also appeared on ESPN.com, Lindy's Sports, and Inside Pitch Magazine, among many other publications and sites. He is a regular contributor to the radio program New York Baseball Talk with Mike Silva, whose Podcasts are available on iTunes. His daily haiku recapping each Mets game can be read on Metsgeek.com. He is currently at work on a book about Jewish baseball players, which is scheduled to be published by HarperCollins in the Spring of 2009.
Message to Mets fans: enough complaining. Do you realize how good we have it? 
Now the Mets find themselves in first place by two games in the loss column with ten games to go. You want meaningful games? Shea will have seven of ‘em this week. Packed houses, tension on every pitch, October in the balance. The way it should be. October should be earned.