Are We There Yet?

3-4 against two last place teams. We can't keep writing the same shit on this blog game after game. There is a stink to this team. They are thoroughly unenjoyable to watch. They have been for more than a year. It is only our love of baseball, and of the Mets, that keeps us watching, hoping for a turnaround that never seems to come. Although our manager offers up cliche after cliche about "battling" and "fighting" when we never see him do any of that.

If you sift through the sea of Mets blogs you will still see many a fan hanging on to the idea that things will magically revert to 2006 form.

They won't.

Ever.

It isn't the Mets who make magic plays anymore. It's the teams that play the Mets that look magical at times. It was the Nationals' Christian Guzman who raced to third and tagged out Jose Reyes today. The type of high I.Q. baseball play the Mets rarely make. Too often its the Mets on the wrong side of great play these days. Back in 2006 it was different. But it hasn't been that way in a long time.

It was the Mets on the opposite end of Willie Harris jumps and dives this week. It used to be Endy Chavez and Carlos Beltran leaping around the outfield breaking the backs of teams with flashy defense at the most clutch moments in games. That doesn't happen anymore.

Now we all watch a team that is as frustrating as can be. Good enough to keep you interested, but bad enough to turn your stomach. Inning after inning we watch double plays and strikeouts kill would-be rallies while an allegedly aggressive manager waits for the second coming before managing aggressively (Hit and runs kill Willie, dead).

The past couple of weeks there was a semi-civil war going on in blogdom of whether Mets fans should be booing or more supportive of this team. There seemed to be a moratorium on booing when the team returned from the west coast. Then Aaron Heilman continued to do his best impression of Guillermo Mota and the boos are back.

There are serious problems with this team. Whether people want to admit it or not. Biily Wagner's latest comments show the type of rift that exists in the clubhouse. The Mets tried to cover-up and sugar coat Paul Lo Duca's comments last year about the Mets clubhouse, but there is obviously something going on.

This ship isn't turning around. Not in any substantial way. Sure, we'll get a couple wins here and there, followed by a couple of losses here and there. You know what you have then? The Texas Rangers.

It's time to stop deluding ourselves. There are at least 15 teams in baseball right now who are more exciting to watch than the Mets(have you seen Cleveland, or Kansas City?). They play aggressively. They hit in the clutch. They look like they give a shit when they lose.

I'm sure these Mets care too. But how much longer do we go on with this nonsense? Art Howe used to talk about "battling" and "fighting" and how the team "caught a tough break." Art Howe got fired.

Why should Willie Randolph be any different?