Today, I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday. The subject naturally went from how many candles he’s blowing out tonight to the Mets. Okay, so we beat the Nationals. The sad thing was that I was excited about it. I threw my hands in the air without looking at the bigger picture; we’re still 9.5 games out, we still have a losing record, we’re still in 4th place. And plus, the Bad News Bears could beat the Nationals with their eyes closed and one hand tied behind their back.
Billy Wagner, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, John Maine, Fernando Martinez, J.J. Putz, and now Fernando Nieve all fell to the injury bug and we don’t know when they’re coming back (my money’s on Wagner coming back first). I’m tired of hearing about all of the injuries, I’m tired of hearing Jerry Manuel say that we gotta truck along and stay in contention. I’m wondering if Jerry got the memo that we’re not in contention right now. I don’t know about the rest of the Mets blogosphere, but I’d be happy if we broke .500 with the team we’re fielding day in and day out.
As much as I hate to admit it, I am warming up to Frenchy. However, I don’t think that trading for him was The Move to light a fire under this team. And giving up the entire farm system for Roy Halladay is not The Move either. Getting somebody like Beltran back from the DL would help us tremendously. I think we should just get through the rest the season, and hope for a high enough draft pick that Omar Minaya will probably end up forfeiting to sign a Type-A free agent.
I’ve pretty much convinced myself that 2009 is not our year, unless a miracle happens. Hey, it was 40 years ago yesterday that man walked on the moon! But I don’t blame Omar, and I don’t blame Jerry. Maybe the medical staff and the strength and conditioning staff but not Omar and Jerry.
Even with this team, a part of me inside still believes. I got that from my dad. Happy birthday…and LETS GO METS!
