Woe Are We

August 26, 2007 -- "MEMO to Jimmy Rollins: The best team won. Yes, it's still the dog days of August and the Mets have to travel to beautiful Philadelphia tomorrow, but the NL East race is over. Though the Yankees are fighting for their playoff souls, the Mets are merrily on their way to another October. This really wasn't much of a race. Despite all the Mets problems, despite the fact they left the door wide open in the division, the Phillies and Braves have not been able to step through the portal." - Kevin Kernan

Kudos to the RuboTron for finding this juicy newsflash from a few weeks ago, which was offered up by some schmuck who writes for the NY Post. All I can say is that this asshole follows in the great journalistic tradition of all other Rupert Murdoch enterprises, being a total blowhard who doesn't know dick. I'm guessing that after getting in trouble for writing this article he'll be transferred to write front-page stories for the Wall Street Journal, as I'm sure that Journal employees with any integrity will be thrown out the door to make way for a few more Sean Hannity-type douchemonkeys.

Back to the Mets and the misery that they have brought upon themselves and their fans. What was it about this year's team that was just so mediocre? They started off blazing hot, only to be questionable from June onward. Sure, their record was better than that of the Phillies for most of the season, but there was something missing all season, and it didn't take any sort of hindsight to realize it. Every time they showed any sort of flash of brilliance, they'd lose a few games and look totally anemic. Sure, Beltran and Delgado weren't going to be able to repeat their brilliant performances from last year, and our bullpen wasn't going to be as lights-out without Duaner Sanchez and Chad Bradford (remember him?) paving the way for Heilman and Wagner.

Although I don't have official stats on hand, I can tell you with certainty that the Mets were pretty shitty in 1-run games, and that they rarely came back when trailing. I know that until they managed to sneak out a 10-9 extra inning win against the Marlins a couple weeks ago they had lost 5 straight in extra frames.

This may be total horsecrap, but I think that Jose Reyes hurt them as much as he helped them this year. When they really needed him to produce he was getting picked off and not running out ground balls, generally looking like a jackass. If you ask me he thinks he's underpaid at roughly $6.5 million per year, and he wants to make as much as Pedro, Beltran, et al., so he feels it's OK to act like an idiot because the Mets are getting their money's worth. David Wright, who signed his contract a few days after Reyes, averages $9 mil per year (though the big paydays don't come for a few years), had a freaking stellar season, and continues to be the great white hope of NYC.

Am I totally off on Reyes here? Should he be traded? Could they make a killing off him in the trade market, or is he damaged goods around the league?

A few things I look forward to next year:
1) Lastings Milledge - he may be fucking ghetto, but he's authentic, and he showed why Minaya refused to include him in any trades. The kid can play.
2) Pedro Martinez - the guy can flat-out pitch, as he showed during his brief comeback. Whatever it is, he's got it. Every time he steps on the field you smile and watch closely for the rabbit he'll pull out of his hat.
3) Mike Pelfrey - he struggled mightily for much of the year, but he was pretty good at the end of the year when they really needed him to do so, particularly that stellar game at Atlanta where the Mets began to stage what seemed like a season-saving hot streak. He can throw the cheese, and when his sinker does what he wants it to, his stuff looks pretty nasty.
4) Oliver Perez and John Maine - 2 great young starters who are alternately painful and dominant. Great pickups last year.
5) Guillermo Mota and Scott Schoeneweis pitching for other teams. See here for further explanation.

Right now, however, it's October 1, Derek Jeter is going to make some ridiculously clutch plays and hit a few game-winning homers, the Phillies have a good chance of taking the NL, and I'm bored as fuck. Please weigh in with theories as to exactly what was wrong with this Mets team, and how we might come out of this mess for the '08 season.