I could spend the next 20 minutes writing about the Mets woes and how to fix them … but I won’t. Instead, I’d like to focus on something interesting and fun. As discussed on Wednesday’s telecast, the Mets will no longer be sporting the black “New York” jerseys. From now on, when the team wears black on the road, the uniforms will say “Mets”. The difference between the ones to be worn on the road and the ones to be worn at home, is the Citi Field patch on the home version.
Personally, when the team first started wearing the black, I thought it was great. But after a while I got tired of seeing it and missed our traditional white or gray with blue. The idea of an alternate jersey wasn’t so popular with me anymore. I felt like a piece of history was slipping away. We were losing the orange in our “blue and orange” and it was being replaced with black. Black is not even a color; it’s a shade!
Any true Mets fans knows that we got our blue from the Brooklyn Dodgers and the orange from the New York (baseball) Giants. And when I visited Citi Field for the first time last week, I noticed that our beloved blue and orange were practically non-existent there as well. So what I really want to hear is that we aren’t going to be wearing the black uniforms too much at all anymore. Here’s my perfect uniform – solid white or white with pinstripes and blue caps at home. Grey with the blue caps on the road. Black only on Sundays or only for day games – whichever they decide – if the really must.
Ok, now I will spend the next 2o minutes writing about the Mets woes … and how to fix them. Jerry Manuel needs to manage more like Tony LaRussa. LaRussa yanks his pitchers even when they are pitching well with 2 outs in the ninth up by 4 runs and nobody on. That is a man who wants to win the game (not to mention delay it!) He also uses a different lineup every game. Maybe the Mets should try that. Line-up by committee. And while we’re at it, why not a bullpen by committee too?
The starting pitching needs a swift kick in the rear. Not only is there pressure on Santana to do what he does best, but the poor guy can’t even have a bad day because the rest of the rotation does that well enough on their own. The offense – or lack thereof – is a mystery to me. Beltran is sizzlin’ and doing his part. Castillo has been consistent as well. But Wright, Delgado and Reyes are not performing up to their abilities nor their expectations. The defense is pretty much what we expect it to be – strong. I love the double play combo of Reyes and Castillo up the middle. Wright is playing his usual solid third base. And aside from Murphy’s troubles in left, the outfield has given us nothing to complain about.
What I see is the same confused team and concerned fans that I did the past two seasons. The team. The time. The same old crap. I can pull up an old blog from last September and just copy and paste it and it would still apply – Where’s the fire? Where’s the passion? Where’s the drive? Yadda yadda yadda. I could say it until my tongue falls out, but what good would it do?
So instead, I will just sit back and hope for the best … and maybe this year will be a pleasant surprise rather than a disappointment.
