Last week Danny Krieger posted a blog about Yankee pitcher A.J. Burnett and his habit of shaving cream pies after a big win, if you like you can read that post here.
Danny mentions how A.J. has brought fun back to the Bronx and how that fun translated into the Yankees winning season and perhaps winning a 27th World Series title. It got me thinking to the 2006 Mets. The 2006 team had a lot of fun while playing the game. They were always smiling, always joking with each other. Everyone remembers the handshakes that Jose Reyes would do whenever someone hit a homerun out of the park or the bubble gum hats we saw that year.
There was a lot of criticism towards the Mets, specifially the never ending smiling Jose Reyes. Opposing teams hated the handshakes and dancing in the dugouts. It made them want to beat us even more. Teams would hate to play us knowing that you couldn’t erase that smile off of Jose Reyes’ face. The opposing team knew whether Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright and any other Met hit a homer in 2005 that there was going to be a fun handshake and celebration in the dugout. Reyes even had a different handshake and dance with every Met on the roster.
The press and the radio shows, especially that blowhard Mike Francesa seemed to always get on Reyes and the Mets for the celebrations. That seemed to be the start of the end of the fun in Flushing. We all know even if this year there were a lot of bad media moments the Mets front office don’t like any negative press about their players. They expect their players to be smiling, polite gentleman. There were reports going around that Willie Randolph told Jose Reyes to cut out the celebrations after the homers. Management was said to see the reactions to Reyes’ behavior and decided that the press was right, the Mets needed to be more like the Yankees, not smiling, not having fun, showing up and being businessmen.
If you look at 2007 the fun stopped. The fun disappeared long before the Mets collapsed that year. They were no longer smiling or easy going like they were in 2006. It looked like they wanted to have fun but were holding back and as 2007 was coming to an end that attitude took it’s toll.
2008 was no better. Carlos Beltran tried to get Reyes to have fun, telling him to be himself but the entire team was on edge having to answer questions about Willie Randolph’s job security plus the press reminding them everyday about 2007 collapse. They were even more on edge then the year before. Unfortunately the same result happened. The Mets failed to make the playoffs yet again on the last day of the regular season. No fun was had during the season and no fun would have fun in October of 2008 either.
2009 seemed to be a little different as far the Mets demeanor heading into Spring Training. While they were not dancing in the dugouts they looked like they were having fun again, trying to get passed the last 2 seasons. We all saw opening day the 24 different handshakes Johan Santana had with his teammates. The team looked to be having fun for the first few weeks until all the injuries took place. Gone was the fun, in came the dread of another bad season. We all know how 2009 ended up.
In conclusion teams that have fun seemed to win a little more. Obviously you need talent and the Mets do have talent. I hate to use the Phillies and Yankees as examples but both teams had fun playing the game this past season, they obviously have talented players and they are both in the World Series. It’s time to stop worrying about what writers and idiot radio guys like Francesa think, go and have fun. If Jose Reyes wants to celebrate with a handshake and groove a little with his teammates let him. Lets see the smiling Jose Reyes of 2006. 2006 was a great season for him and the Mets. Lets see David Wright take the pressure off himself to hit more homers and just have fun. The fans enjoyed watching the games and going to them in 2006. Part of the fun was not just seeing the Mets win but seeing them enjoy the game, seeing what new handshakes and dance moves they would come up with. 2006 the Mets had fun and just missed going to the World Series. In 2010 lets have some fun and get to the World Series!
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
firstly, im not sure if you meant to write 2006 in the third paragraph but u wrote 2005.
Yea, when they went downhill, they were all so tense and no one as really hitting. many of us want to see reyes have fun, but there are those who just say that hes immature and needs to grow up. ITS A DAMN GAME!!!! im pretty sure if anyones played baseball in their life, they dont feel restricted to acting professional. whether its high school, little league, or just playing ball with the guys, its a game and you need to enjoy it. these guys have a god given talent and they work very hard. you want to see them have fun as they go out there and give everyone a good show.
are we as fans demanding too much from a team? Trying to control how they act and determining whats right from wrong, as we just sit there. Yes, its a business as well, but that has nothing to do w/ anything once the games start and you are watching these guys out there.
This is the reason the Phillies are good. they play good ball but they have confidence and have fun. Thats what you need to do. Just have fun and enjoy it, its a game for heaven’s sake.
For the billionth time, winning brings about fun, not the other way around.
Amen.
That 2006 smile was wiped clean off their face in Game 7 of the LCS that year. They were just not constructed to overcome that knockout punch…
Having fun and being loose is great. The Mets need not only that, but they also need their entire swagger back. They need an identity. We don’t even know what the team will even look like come ST. There are so many questions. I think that the 2006-2008 thing has run its course. Whatever was going to happen with that gorup has happened.
Also, this may be a subject for another thread, but they should also look at bringing the fences in at Cit -err- Jackie Robinson Field a little bit. Don’t think a lot of power guys who are free agents don’t look at that. They do.
You have fun when you win. Getting smoked isn’t any fun, and if it is, as a fan I don’t want a guy who enjoys losing on the team.
Fun would be consistent playoff appearances and a couple or three or five World Series championships. That would be FUN! Not waiting 20 plus years for a Championship team…or choking like dogs down the stretch to miss the playoffs…or being basically ‘toast’ in June…NOT FUN.
its not fun, TO YOU! we are not talking about you, nor any fan. when your team is down and out due to injury and its july, do u expect the team to give in and thats it. no its still a game. you know ur not winning a championship that year, but what stops u from having fun. towards the end of the season it was good to see people still smiling because they still love the game regardless and when Figgy threw the complete game and won, it was a good thing. whether hes there or not next year the team will and you still need to find bright spots even when things are going bad.
James K said it right and I”ll quote him,
“Winning brings fun not the other way round” This blog has it all backwards.
The Phillies have fun winning becuase they play the game HARD. They play the game the right way. Shane Victorino hustles out infield pop outs and rounds 1B while doing it. Jimmy Rollins? Like him or not, he’s the definition of hustle! He’s the definition of “Forcing the issue”
In this day and age of not hustling, if you’re a fan of baseball like I am, you have to give the Phillies credit for probably being the team that hustle the most like in the old days. That’s what creates winning, not dancing.
David Wright and other Mets jog to 1B on infield ground outs. Nobody jobs slower approaching home plate on a hit than David Wright.You can’t expect to win doing that. Not hustling is not fun, hustling is fun.
Nothing wrong with a little dancing after a big hit but here’s a quick little story about that stuff.
There’s a guy who works out at the gym I go to who is a vendor at Yankee stadium. He also used to live in Philly and worked there as well. He used to be a Mets fan but he told me of the day he stopped being a Mets fan.
It was before a Mets/Phillies game in Philadelphia sometime right before the collapse of September 2007. He was down by the Mets dugout and said some of the Spanish players were dancing and fooling around in the duguout during practice, the music was loud and that all this was led by Jose Reyes. This was BEFORE the game mind you! He noticed Tom Glavine, David Wright, Willie Randolph, & Jeff Conine were standing far away and noticed in their body language that they wanted nothing to do with this.
This guy told me he was completely disgusted. This is no way professional ball players should behave right before a big game, this is not how you prepare for a big series…. and I agreed. This gave you a window into the disconnect in the clubhouse between Willie Randolph and his players that we used to read about in those days.
Needless to say the Mets went on to get swept in that late August series.
That was the day he stopped being a Mets fan.
I basically agree with you “winning brings fun”. But there are exceptions. Teams like the Yankees of the ’70’s won while hating each other. The Yankees of the late ’90’s were so stoic and workmanlike in winning.
How do you get rid of the anxiety and tension that is seen so clearly every time the Mets take the field? I think they’ve lost confidence in themselves and each other. Reyes is the key – but only when he plays well. Otherwise he sulks and brings the team down with him.
It’s more than just throwing a pie in someones face. It’s the intangible chemistry that is difficult to measure.
I know the Yankees of the 70s won while hating each other, so did the Oakland A’s of the 70s. But they WON….and poured champagne. Once the celebration is over you can go back to hating each other.
You’re missing the point and splitting hairs now.
I don’t believe you need chemistry to win. Just be a professional and play good, solid baseball between the lines.
My babe ruth team hated me and I hated them…we almost won the championship while missing 2 of my stars.
Just play baseball and hustle hard for 9 innings. After that you do what you want.
I also agree that winning brings fun, but I have to call BS on the rest of your post. First of all, anybody who says that they “stopped being a Met fan” was never a Mets fan in the first place. Part of being a Mets fan is suffering through years of agony for the one year of bliss. The Mets have had much worse characters on the team than this. Coleman, Bonilla, Saberhagen, just to nane a few, and there are MANY more. Also, you are giving the impression that it’s the latin players on the Mets that are the problem. Many other teams have latin players, that do the same things. Sheesh, Manny actually shows up a pitcher EVERYTIME he hits a homerun. When he was with the Sox, the whole team did it and nobody said anything. Perhaps it is part of the Latin culture to dance and play music before games. Ever think of that? I like that about them. You want some fun? Go to a baseball game anywhere in Latin America. What, do you expect them to act like stodgy white guys? That is not their way. Also, Pedro M. was part of that crowd too for many games. But, I guess it’s OK now that he pitches for the Phillies? Also, it was Glavine, Wright, and Randolph to a certain extent that were some of the main choke artists in the Mets downfalls in ‘07 and ‘08.
Been a Met fan since 1969, and they are making it pretty hard to stay one now, and I was a Fan in the late 70s!! Nino Espinosa, Frank Taveras, Doug Flynn-Good God they were bad
This is not nearly as bad as the 80’s is just freshest in everyone’s minds.
I meant 70’s, but the early 80’s were horrific too.
Rollins definitely does not hustle all the time. He certainly does not run every ball out. He dogs it plenty, and got in trouble last yr for not even bothering to show up to a Mets/Phils game on time. Yeah, thats a model citizen right there. And Victorino is not as bad, but he doesn’t run every ball out either. Phillies fans actually complained quite a bit about him when it came to that stuff early last yr. Than he started hitting, so they didn’t really care anymore.
The Phillies win b/c they have a great team. Not because the run harder than other teams. They have a great lineup, and their guys have produced in crunch time.
And LOL at your friend’s story about what made him stop being a Mets fan. What do they need to all hold hands and sing before a game?? In the middle of the WS, Myers and Hamels are fighting…guess that means the Phillies are in shambles as well.
BMF – I was not really disagreeing with you. It’s just a very fine line as to what it takes to win. Certainly #1 is talent. But there are those other intangibles that are not measurable. You can’t predict it and you can’t trade for it or sign free agents.
I think Nick Swisher and AJ Burnett had an incredible positive influence on this team. Did the Yankees sign Burnett and trade for Swisher for this?
The problem with our team is that they seem to have internalized that they are losers in every sense. When stuff starts going downhill, our downtrodden fans just groan and the team does absolutely nothing to prove us wrong. How many late comebacks have we seen in the last few years. One, maybe two? Once it goes into the late innings and we’re down by a couple of runs how many fans honestly believe in their hearts that we can pull one out? David Wright sure doesnt. Our garbage lineup sure doesnt. Our pitchers certainly dont either. Add to the fact that we are clearly cursed. How else do you explain everything that has happened?
Off the top of my head I can think of so many bizarre things that have happened to this team. Dirty Sanchez’s promising career ending because of a taxi ride, sending our bullpen into three year swoon. Tom Glavine absolutely imploding in one of the most important starts of his career. This entire abortion of a season is proof of it as well.
To sum it all up the reason there was no fun this year is because everybody got injured.
Sorry Greg, but I couldnt care less if they were having fun. First and foremost I want hardened fundamentally skilled players. Secondly, I expect these players to conduct themselves professionally on the field and bust it 100% of the time. Finally, it’s for us the fans to have fun, not the players. Their job is to give us wins.
I’d rather have the players on the mets spend more time watching film, working out, and practicing the fundamentals they clearly lack, rather than figuring out 25 different handshakes. What a joke, what the hell is wrong with a fist bump or two and a pat on the butt?
Winning creates fun, lets try to win something and the fun will take care of itself
Boy there sure a lot of stuffy supposed Met fans out there. Do you prefer professional, quiet behavior while losing? It always comes back to Jose doesn’t it? This season showed how much a 100% Jose meant at bat and in the field to the Mets. I wish all those Jose and latin bashers would stop it already. Baseball is a game played by kids and adults and I don’t see anyone telling youngsters to be serious before a game. Come on. Everyone prepares in his own way. Some pitchers will not talk to anyone on the day of game, all have some kind of ritual to prepare, Jose’s and some others is to listen to music, dance, etc in order to get loose. If you don’t relieve the tension before big games for some then the tension is taken to the field, mound or plate. Let them have fun within the clubhouse allowances, later for Francesa and the media.
I think the issue about Jose’ is not whether he’ll be playing with fun next year, but rather, will he be playing with ability? If he returns with his talents restored, fun will follow; if not, then all bets are off! Foremost, let’s play attention to the quality of his return performance.