Shall We Give Up Already?

What do you think? Are the Mets done for the year? Or is my PTMD flaring up again? I admit to not having time lately to follow our beloveds as closely as I usually do, and the lack of a Citifield fix is not helping my Mets mood, so I throw the question out there to you, lovely readers. Tell me what to think. Can this team win with a double-A lineup? Will we remain in contention long enough to welcome back some of our walking wounded, and make a serious run in August? Can we continue to rely on the Phils to play like little leaguers? Will DW's wedding planning interfere with his ability to throw the ball to first base? (cause it seemed to last nite). So many questions, three more months until the final answer.

Help me out here. I'm confused.

Kisses!

Just Checking In...

Hi folks. I had fully intended to do a post today about the (admittedly few) good things about our Mets today. I was going to mention Frankie's balls, Carlos' need to be voted in the All-Star game this year, DWright's hot streak, etc.

But I find I don't want to. I am stuck in a morass of bad Mets karma, and all the meditating with Coop's mantra of "But it's the D-Team!" isn't helping (although it's a great one, and so true).

So here I am popping in, saying hello, and seeing how all my gangstas and ladies were doing. Feel free to moan and groan in the comments. Or if there's gossip to be had, fire away. I simply don't have the heart for it just now.

So let's go Mets (she said half-heartedly)

Kisses!

Blogger Brawl

Now that LOF,GOB has two new, super-dee-duper bloggers on the roster, we thought a semi-regular debate feature would be fun. If you follow the Twitters of ohmurph! and Coop, you have seen these two in action. Quicker wits are not to be found in the land of the tweets. Therefore, I will throw out a topic here on the blog, and let these two battle it out both here and on Twitter.

This week's topic is: The book on Daniel Murphy appears to be out to major league pitchers. Will he be able to make the necessary adjustments to become a big-league hitter? Will Jerry give him a chance to do so?

Commence.

Kevin McReynolds - Misunderstood Philosopher

Late in 2008, I'd just had it. Had it with baseball, had it with the Mets, had it with my own emotions dictating how my day was going to go based on how the Mets did or did not do.

So I started reaching for the past. And that past included Kevin McReynolds.

For Mets fans, "Big Mac" has some positive and negative associations. For one, he was brought to the Mets in 1987 under questionable circumstances. While there was no question the dude had talent, fan-favorite and tying-run-scorer-of-86-Game-Six Kevin Mitchell was traded FOR him because Frank Cashen thought he was a "cancer" (meanwhile, the two guys he drafted, Doc and Straw, were more so...). That wasn't cool.

In any case, Big Mac always played hard. In 1988, the rumor had it that Kirk Gibson won the NL MVP simply because McReynolds and Strawberry's stellar individual years cancelled out some voting.

Big Mac was not exactly media conscientious, though. He was known for getting in street clothes while the game was still going on, getting fined as a result and heading out of town and not associating with the team other than wearing similar uniforms.

But one thing he said he resonated with Mets fans to this day. When asked about Game 7 of the 1988 NLCS versus the Dodgers, he was asked whether he would be disappointed to go home or be thrilled to be in the World Series.

His answer went something to the effect of: "Either way, I win. If we lose, I go home to Arkansas and hunt. If we win, I get to play in the World Series."

Whether that was true, he should have been saying that before a series the Mets should have EASILY won.

But his philosophy sure has stayed with me.

Like last night's loss. My thinking lately was - how can I lose as a Mets fan?

The D Team is playing. If the D Team wins - w00t! The D Team won!

The D Team loses? What did you expect? It's the D TEAM.

See? Big Mac was right all along. It's a win-win for everyone. Let's drink!

No Way, Jose

I do have to say that the Mets have dodged a bullet, or several for that matter, in the last four or so years, injury-wise. The worst was Pedro Martinez, but he was old and falling apart, and we all knew he wouldn't last a full season, ever (except for 2005, of course).

But now...The worst has happened, ladies and gangstas.

Jose Reyes is out for an extended period of time.

I may have christened Carlos Delgado as a curse. And I still stand by that claim since (besides Duaner Sanchez's cab accident) we can relate everything bad that has happened to the team to him - he's like the swine flu source.

See, LadyMet has called out Mets fans for not having "leadership" or an "edge." Well, I tend to have an edge when I drink. But right now, I am claiming leadership of the Mets and Mets fandom. And I am saying Don't Panic. The worst has happened. Time to go forward and move ahead, like Devo would say.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. By getting ahead, I mean pulling a Steve Phillips circa 2000 when Rey Ordonez went down with an injury and he traded fan fave Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick.

We can source everything bad that happened to that team in the post-season to that deal.

And not to mention, Melvin Mora has sort of a cult-following in Baltimore now, and Mike Bordick all but fell off the face of the earth after the 2000 season.

The lesson learned, Ladies and Gangstas: Don't trade (what's left of) the farm for a momentary fix.

If (and when) Jose Reyes returns this season, it doesn't matter if it's September 20. Carlos Delgado is gone and I don't think we'll see him in a Mets uniform again, and we need to fill his hole with a Carlos Lee-type (who is so undervalued it's ridiculous).

Here's a novel idea: why not work with the new guy Valdez at SS and have Cora spell him for his brain farts? Why not have the team learn from this experience? They seemed to have no learned from collapsing two years in a row, perhaps Beltran and Wright band together with Johan and take this team by the fleshy paunch that used to be their, um, tummies. Yeah that's it.

And by team I also mean Omar Minaya, for refusing to believe that the Mets actually needed a big bat this offseason and just getting overpriced/overworked guys for the bullpen, and the Wilpons, for continuing to be penny-wise and pound-foolish, not a good recipe for a recession.

Otherwise, I think the Mets are wise to just rebuild. Poor Carlos Beltran. He's doing his MVP run with no one else to back him up.

The Triathlon That Wasn't

Hello Ladies and Gangstas,

You may know me as the extremely good looking character over at OH MURPH! (shameless plug)

Coop and I have been asked by the very lovely Lady Met to contribute a little bit... and a little bit is what I plan on contributing.

As we all know by now that SNY hosted a viewing of the Mets game last night (rained out) at the Village Pour House. A written agreement was made between Coop and Myself to participate in a Triathlon involving:

• Beer Chugging
• Pie Eating
• Arm Wrestling

Only one problem.... Coop was a no show! I guess she's scared of a little rain.. I don't blame her.. after all, she's just a girl.

Anyway, please look forward to our Triathlon in the very near future as you will all be invited to the venue where it goes down.

-O.M.

Ladies on the Bus...Ladies on the Bus

Allow myself to introduce....myself.  

Hey all (:waves:).  Coop here.  

You may recognize my name from many endeavors, such as being an online personality on Divas and Dykstraw, my BPPOW column (that is over a month due) on DebMc's Good, Bad and Ugly Mets, my comments on such Mets fan forums as Brooklyn Met Fan, and my own site, My Summer Family, which chronicles the love of a baseball team by a perpetual fan child.  

Hot Blogatrix LadyMet asked me if I wouldn't mind contributing to LOTF, GOTB on a regular basis.  And I need to get my ass back into this blogging world since suffering from what I have coined Post-Traumatic Mets Disorder ("PTMD").  I figure writing about the Mets would help me heal.

It hasn't.  But what's another blog amongst Mets friends.

So while I posted tonight basically blaming all that's wrong on the Mets on Carlos Delgado over at my main site, I wanted to talk about something lighter.  And that's the upcoming Mets road trip to D.C. this weekend.

And I'm going.  On a bus.  Leaving from NYC on Saturday with another Diva named Zoe.  But we are also meeting CoreyNYC from Metsie, the Dykstraw part of D&D, and some other folks from the blogosphere.

How does the Internet handle us all?  I often wonder.

So I am hoping to get out of this PTMD funk and go on a successful road trip.

Cause dammit, somebody has to.

I'll be sure to post a ReCoop on here once I am back in town!