Wins and losses mean very little these days for the Mets since being mathematically eliminated last week. That said, I was stunned by how the team responded after Chase Utley’s dirty take-out slide of Ruben Tejada last night. What ever happened to pride and respect?
Once again, the Mets shrunk in the face of adversity and took it on the chin. Once again I watched as the Mets get knocked down, thrown at, spiked and bulldozed, without any retaliation whatsoever.
Even a brushback pitch would have sufficed as Bobby Ojeda stated after the game. Something… Anything… But no, this bunch has no pride in themselves and certainly no fight in them either.
Whether it’s Utley, Victorino, Rollins or Howard, the Phillies have always pushed the Mets around and kicked sand in our faces. This ain’t the first time a Met ate some dirt and it’s certainly not the last time either. These Mets are pushovers. They wreak of fear… Fear of fighting… And fear of losing.
Bad things always happen to the Mets because they expect bad things too happen. The Mets never expect to win, they go into a game hoping they don’t lose.
Reyes and Wright had strong words after the game, but as usual did nothing during the game. They stood idly by on the sidelines and watched as their youngest and smallest teammate got runover by a freight train. They just looked on, devoid of any outward emotion… Not even a glare.
It’s easy to talk tough to a caged tiger, and our core players have mastered the ability to say the toughest things while in the safety and security of the team’s clubhouse. Their words didn’t impress me. Give me some action instead.
Dickey on the other hand, told it how it was, and this was what I wanted to hear from Wright or Reyes:
“Nobody is going to push us around. You’ve got to protect your teammates, for one. And you’ve got to show the other team you’re not going to roll over and let them step on your neck. That’s just part of the game. Any game. You don’t want to ever be a team that has the reputation you can be kicked around and you’re going to go back into the dugout at the end of the game with your tail between your legs.”
As much as I hate the Phillies, I envy the way they play the game, hard, the way it oughta be. If the Mets played that hard and aggressive, I wouldn’t even mind the other bullshit they put us through every season. There’s a big difference between going down swinging and just going down.
I want the Phillies to clinch the division either later today or tomorrow. I want them to jump and celebrate and spill champagne in front of the Mets. Maybe what this team really needs is to see how teams are rewarded for playing baseball the way the game was meant to be played.
