"There's a sucker born every minute..."

Written by Nikki DeMaio | 31 August 2010

And apparently, most of them  grow up to be Mets fans.  I don't really know what I was expecting to get in Atlanta last night, but it wasn't a 9-3 loss.  I'm not sure why, given that the Braves are in first place for a reason, we have an anemic offense, and Pat Misch was starting.  I wasn't holding out delusions for a sweep, like Keith Hernandez keeps telling us we needed, but I was at least looking for some competitive spark from my team.  And this is what I mean about being a sucker.

Why should I expect the Mets to show up and fight?  In the past two months, that kind of gritty, smart baseball they were playing in June has disappeared.  The interesting thing there is that their record has suffered as well.  Now, I'm a psychology person - I know that just because two things are related, it does not necessarily mean that there is a cause and effect situation at work - but I think it's worth pointing out for all the people who think intangibles are a stupid way to evaluate players.  The difference in the way the Mets and Braves play baseball is startling.  The Mets have taken on this kind of listless, world-weary approach to the season - and that's not going to win any games.  Even Jerry Manuel gave up on last night's game, calling on Oliver Perez to pitch the 8th inning - the first action Perez has seen since August 1st.  At least that kind of tricked people into believing we've been playing with a full roster (thankfully, that issue will be moot starting tomorrow when the rosters expand).  It's amazing how a team can look competitive on paper and then just not be able to translate that talent into winning.  And the thing that's so hard to grasp (for me at least) is the fact that the Mets had a fighting chance just a few weeks ago.  How is that even possible??

Bobby Ojeda said last night that the team should be embarassed.  I agree with him.  They are a better team than the one that showed up for the series opener in Atlanta.  I didn't think that I could be disappointed in the Mets this year after last season's fiasco.  I told myself going into Opening Day that this was an 82-85 win team at best - and that that was probably not good enough for a playoff run.  But I still got sucked into the hype and that impressive June.  Since then, the team I was starting to believe in has completely disappeared.  If they weren't going to make the playoffs, I wanted them to go down swinging.  Instead, they're just taking the punches and collapsing.