Kevin Kernan of the NY Post had a sobering article for Mets fans today as he relays comments from Phillies closer Brad Lidge.
When closer Brad Lidge was asked by The Post yesterday about the Phillies’ aspirations now that Lee is No. 2 in their Phantastic Phour rotation, he said it’s win the World Series or bust.
“A lot of guys in here, we all feel like we need to win the World Series this year,” Lidge explained. “Anything short of that is not going to be what we wanted. We need to win this thing. This is a rare opportunity to have this kind of rotation in this game.
When it was mentioned to Lidge that is the Yankees’ thought process every spring, he laughed and said: “Yeah, it’s amazing how it’s changed a little bit, but I guess we have that same mentality right now. Our brass has given us every opportunity. Now we need to go out there and deliver.”
It’s ironic how the Mets must share a market with three of the perennial post season favorites in the Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies year after year.
All Mets fans can do is grin and bear it, while the Mets somehow try to rebuild a new identity and resurrect their prestige and standing under the most difficult of circumstances. It’s a daunting task.
Years of reckless spending on perhaps the wrong players is just a small part of what’s wrong with these Mets. Their problems are bone deep and borne out of decades of bad decisions and a lack of direction and focus.
The worst part has been all of the “non baseball” issues that have plagued this team year in and year out, with their latest tabloid drama being fueled by the owners themselves and played out daily on the front and back pages of all the local papers.
For decades, the Mets have always wanted to win the war for the back pages against their crosstown rivals, the Yankees. Now they have seemingly accomplished that feat, but for all the wrong reasons.
Does anyone remember the last time we went into Spring Training believing that the the GM had done everything humanly possible in the offseason, to stand up and say in all seriousness, “World Series or Bust”?
