WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By Bull Allen. September 30, 2009: I’m sorry. I have to get this off my chest. I cannot wait for the weekend. It has to be said now.
Up here in the mythical upper deck, behind the mike, straw fedora hat perched on the back of my head, at the WPIX mike, watching another hideous Metropolitan loss today. I can no longer sit around and listen to the excuses the press makes for the Mets of 2009.
The New York Metropolitans lost again today, 7-4 on a grand slammer by Justin Maxwell with two-out in the ninth off Francisco Rodriguez. A 5-run ninth by the Nats whom the Mets made look like the Yankees the last three nights. It was the third straight loss the Mets have rolled over for in the Nation’s Capitol this week.
CitiField, this Spring.
This team has no heart. They are not playing for their manager. They are not playing for themselves. They are not playing for their fans. They are not being managed for the fans. This is the team that gave up in June when their General Manager Omar Minaya did not make a move with his two big hitters went on the D.L.
You gotta do that.
All summer long the Metropolitans have moaned and groaned about their injuries. Wait’ll next year, the Metropolitan fan is told.
Forget about it.
Next year the aging stars Beltran and Delgado will be another year older and another year creakier.
Next year the same inconsistent pitchers will be back. And Johan Santana may not be the Johan Santana of old.
The Wilpons have to be beside themselves with concern.
The new CitiField – the name which they stayed with despite the adverse publicity CitiBank received from the bailout farce last fall – has presided over the most unfun, disgraceful season in New York Mets history. The Mets are as bad as the bank their field was named after.
Call it the curse of CitiBank.
Why disgraceful?
This team quit in June. They played like barnstormers in August. They played in September like zombies. They pitched with no fire. How many losing streaks did they have? I cannot remember. They seemed to be always losing. And they did not care.
When was the last time a Met pitcher brushed a batter back or got a big out in the clutch? They failed over and over again.
When was the last time the Met manager got thrown out of a game? Could the Met management ban buffets in the clubhouse and not supply the bubble gum, at least, since Jerry Manuel never turns over a buffet. What’s a buffet for, anyway?
If you exumed Billy Martin or Gil Hodges and put their coffins in the dugout the Mets would have played better by the vibes coming out of the coffins. There would be mystique.
But never fear Mets fans, Bobby Valentine is back in the U.S.A. and he’s unemployed. If I’m the Wilpons, I bring Bobby back for 2010 and bring in another G.M., pronto.
It is a tribute to the Met broadcasting team that they have stomached the terrible inept play of this team. Even Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner had better games to watch in 1962.
In the 1960s when the Met teams were bad, the fans loved them because you got the sense they always tried. They could do the impossible. They were valiant in defeat. In 2009, you get the impression these ballplayers do not care. That is a bad taste in your mouth.
The 2009 Mets are not gallant.
They are not valiant.
They are not smart.
They do not play heads-up ball.
They are woefully inept in fundamentals, throwing to the wrong base, failing in the field, failing on the mound, and when you see this consistently for three months it means they are not playing for their manager.
The Met mistakes this year were not lovable. They were not funny.
They are collecting checks—big ones.
There are no leaders.
If you’re a 2009 Met you do not play through an injury, you hit the disabled list as soon as you can.
We are seeing vivid evidence the last two years why former manager Willie Randolph did not like this team. They have no pride. They don’t play hard. They play lazy – all of them.
They are not a team, either, it seems.
How is having a healthy Met team with the same roster next year (2010) going to change this culture of irresponsibility?
Will they suddenly remember not to throw ahead of the runner? Will they remember to back each other up? Will the manager put some plays on? Will a Met play hurt? Can Johann Santana lift the team spirit by himself? You could see many times this year that Santana was shocked by what was going on behind him. He was the Roger Craig of 2009. And will Johan come back strong as ever?
But losing all three games to the Nationals this week was the worst.
Minaya the General Manager gave up on this season in June.
He has a history of that. Ask the Montreal fans in the mid-1990s.
Minaya cannot pull trigger on trades down the stretch. He cost the Mets not one, but two pennants because of his inability to make a trade down the stretch the last two seasons. One pitcher either year would have won the pennant. One. Another hitter would have been nice, but a stud starter or reliever might have done the trick. They needed just a coupla more wins in 07 and 08 down the stretch to win.
Omar could not do it. Or the ownership would not let him.
This year though, he showed he could not retool when he lost two wheels, Delgado and Beltran. He said wait’ll next year.
(We are also treated to the ludicrus prospect of the New York Knickerbockers before the NBA season starts with bogus refs, already saying they are looking forward to the 2011 season when they will have Lebron James. But, I digress.)
Could the Mets have – with their $50 upper deck seats – gone out and swapped or paid the Blue Jays Cash up for Ray Halladay this season? Halladay and Santana back to back in the rotation would have been an instant improvement – and Minaya could have done that in June! They might have played .500 ball.
Could Minaya have swapped with Washington for one of the Nationals’ sluggers —
Dunn or Zimmerman– (that inept Washington management will never be able to pay them when they become free agents)? Mike Francesa of WFAN rightfully said in June the Mets had to make a trade and he was right.
Omar Minaya did not make that big trade or big acquisition to keep the Mets respectable.
Obviously the Wilpons did not want to spend the money on Halladay next year but they would have had him for a year!
I cannot think of one reason why any free agent would come to the Mets this winter when they see the team culture they are stepping into if they come here.
There is some real old dead wood on this club. Dead in the head and faint of heart. A bunch of designated hitters. No speed. Weak up the middle, and a hideous defensive outfield.
But the heart issue is fundamental.
This team could not even get up when they played contending teams like the Braves and the Phils.
But as a fan – one sin this team committed day-in, day-out the last three months was not playing with heart.
Fans can tell.
Remember those 1969 Mets of 40 years ago? They looked bad too, but they kept coming back at you. There was heart in that team. As a fan caught up in the 1969 Impossible Dream, that team built up hope.
With the 2009 Mets — hope is lost when they announce the starting lineups.
Meanwhile across town at “Money Stadium” in The Bronx, the Yankees are in a league of their own.
Why? Because the Yankee general manager went out and signed Sabathia and Teixeira (incredibly the Red Sox did not grab him) and Swisher. Posada incredibly came back from shoulder injury while Andy Pettite amazingly returned to his form of five years ago. What is Andy’s secret? But this may be Pettite’s last hurrah. Of course, I said that last year. You never can tell. Pettite has heart or a pitch no one is talking about. I salute Brian Cashman, the Yankee G.M. for making those moves– but they really lucked out with Pettite and Posada. In fact Posada should be exposed in the post season, because he does have throwing problems. His hitting — unconcious — I have to salute him for having such a great year at the plate.
The Yankee success this year positions them to buy anything they need in the free agent market for next year. They will win for years to come at the “House that New York State Built” in The Bronx.
Far be it from me to even think that major league baseball would like nothing better than a Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Yankees World Series to raise last year’s dreadful World Series ratings (lowest of all time) due to the Tampa Bay-Philadelphia Phillies match-up. How does Manny wind up in L.A.? How does Mark windup in The Bronx? How do the Red Sox let C.C. escape?
But why should we even care about major league baseball where the teams love the fans so much they will play games in rain from beginning to end to keep their massive attendance, and keep moving $9 beers.
The game has a hold on us.
I was at a Yankee game two weeks ago, and the old magic and beauty of “the only game” was still there.
I made my peace with it.
There’s nothing like The Show.
Maybe that’s why it pains me so to see the Mets going through the motions day after day playing zombie ball.
They are letting the young fans down.
The fans do not deserve that.
Hustle. Heart. Desire. Pride – they could at least show that.
Mr. Met has a tear in his eye.
This is Bull Allen in the Upper Deck, saying so long everybody!
