Mets Beat Yankees But That's Hardly Enough

So many indelible moments in life seem to occur in slow motion, sometimes both the good and bad moments. The 2010 Mets season for me has been just that, a slow motion Shakespearean tragedy. Perhaps to some a typically bad CW network soap opera. It’s your choice.

The Mets are in my opinion, just about beyond tinkering because the problems are systemic and involve the dreaded “intangibles”. Unfortunately a win here and there only clouds the minds of the fan who just wants to see their Metropolitans win. Even winning 2 out of 3 over the Yankee’s this past weekend, while emotionally gratifying, hasn’t changed the situation. It’s just given fans a welcome reprieve.

Having delusions of grandeur, thinking a trade for another team’s aging, expensive ace isn’t the answer if it’s going to cost key prospects. It’s merely fodder to deflect attention off deeper problems.

Believe me I’m not trying to rain on our parade here, the Mets had a good weekend, but this isn’t fantasy baseball or Playstation where ridiculous unbalanced trades are routine and reality plays little to no part. At this point why would any player, especially one with the veto power of a no-trade clause, really want to come to Flushing other than to dare I say, flush their careers away.

It’s harsh of me to say, I know. I get no joy out of feeling like this but we have to stay rooted in reality. As unfortunate as it may be.

You can fire Minaya, every coach and Manuel and the team will still be…the team. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. Clearly Manuel and his coaching staff have made their share of mistakes.

It certainly wouldn’t hurt the Mets to have an infusion of new blood. How much worse can it get? There is no place worse than last place that is more demoralizing.

One of the same questions that dogged the team this past off season is still relevant and is coming home to roost. Why didn’t the organization go after AT LEAST one other starting pitcher in an aggressive way?

Yes we’ve all wrangled over how the finances aren’t Monopoly money and how these decisions aren’t made lightly. However we were also told that finances weren’t affected by the Madoff scandal. I dare anyone to keep defending that postulate with a straight face.

The bottom line, the players simply have to play to their standards. Why isn’t that happening? It’s difficult to answer that without speculating and delving into a seriously dark place that every fiber of my being wants to refuse to go.

Maybe it’s the skeptic in me. Perhaps I’m just jaded. It’s the 800 lb gorilla in the room that none of us ever want to talk about. I hate that it even enters my mind but it does, as I’m sure it has yours at some point. Perhaps some standards have been skewed. I really hope not. The game has taken enough hits.

So many excuses for so long can only be accepted so much. The result, the team giving away free tickets to former season ticket holders to this year’s Subway Series.

Seriously? It’s embarrassing on so many levels and before any of you argue in favor of a poor economy or lack of interest in inter-league play causing this, which I won’t argue doesn’t play a part, the majority of the empty seats were scattered everywhere throughout the stadium. Not just the very pricey seats.

Adding insult to injury, the first Subway Series game of 2010 at Citifield had Yankee fans outnumbering the Mets fans 2 to 1, conservatively speaking. It was a shameful backdrop for the 2000 Mets World Series team that was on hand and being honored before the game.

Where do we go from here? It’s never easy with New York sports since New York teams are always expected to win and compete for a championship. Even the Yankee’s could attest to that.

Remember, last year was the first time in almost a decade that the mighty Bronx Bombers tasted from the Championship Holy Grail. It’s time for some serious soul searching and like I said a while back, and I will say it again, Fred Wilpon, it’s time to save your team. Your team sir, not your son’s. YOUR team. Albert Einstein once said,