Where do you begin? How did a season that started out with so much hope and enthusiasm spiral out of control as quickly as it did?
How do you start the season 13-3 and then go 23-34 over the next 57 games spanning just over two months of the season? It would be incomprehensible if it weren’t true.
The Mets are 8-14 so far in June and if you think the worst might be over, think again.
After this disastrous road trip the Mets come home for a three game series against the Cincinnati Reds, and then it’s the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the San Francisco Giants. Three tough teams all battling hard for their divisions and all over .500.
Getting Daniel Murphy back in time for that critical stretch should help and provide some relief. But it won’t make much of a difference if Lucas Duda keeps batting .189 for the month, or if Michael Cuddyer doesn’t improve on his .223 glut.
There’s just so many things that needs fixing now that it has gone beyond just trading for one player who could help. That might have done the trick a month ago, but now so much has transpired and none of it good.
Asked last night if he thought the front office should have done more to help, Terry Collins refrained from pointing fingers.
“I don’t blame anybody,” Collins said. “I have never done that and never will. I’m not going to point any fingers. These are the guys that are here. They have been major league players and we’ve got to play better.”
And while Collins passed on the opportunity to share some of the blame with Sandy Alderson and Co., the media has certainly begun to fire shots.
“Dead, deader, deadest,” Mike Puma of the New York Post writes.
“In any order, there you have the Mets, their offense and maybe the collective pulse rate within the front office as a once-promising season sinks toward the bottom of Lake Michigan.”
Sandy and the front office are getting blasted daily on MLB Network, ESPN and WFAN for essentially letting everything slip away as it has. And Mets ownership has deservedly gotten a lot heat as well. Things are getting real ugly now.
And as I wrote after last night’s loss on Twitter, unless the front office does something to shake this team up, the next moment of silence at Citi Field, will be for this once promising Mets season.
The front office was reaping plenty of praise in the Spring and on through April when things were looking brighter, so any criticism now is well-deserved and mostly warranted.
But I still place the bulk of the blame on a Mets ownership that continues to have financial restrictions in place, making it difficult to add another solid piece because that requires money.
Reportedly ticket sales are drastically higher, concession sales are soaring, and SNY’s TV and Blog Network are enjoying record earnings. But apparently, Sandy Alderson has only $5-6 million to spend for any in-season improvements.
It’s a sad situation and a loyal and patient fan base deserves better.
