In what was the foreseeable end to a dismal year, the Mets were finally mathematically eliminated from playoff contention after yesterday’s sweep of the doubleheader at the hands of the Phillies.
The nail in the coffin came in the night game, as old friend Pedro Martinez tossed a gem to the tune of eight innings, six hits and no runs. Pedro walked two and struck out seven while on the mound.
Now, as if they weren’t before, the Mets are solely playing the role of spoilers. Sure, it’d be nice to watch the Mets go around the league beating teams late in the year and making baseball all the more exciting down the stretch. Too bad they’re struggling to win any games at all and spoiling likely won’t be happened much, if at all.
2009 was a year that started with tons of promise. The team and the fans were jazzed up about what, on paper, looked like a magical year. Too bad the paper it was written on and the players on the team were more fragile than tissue paper.
The Mets were an absolute nightmare this year. The kind of nightmare that you tell your friends about because it’s so darn out there.
All in all, it was entertaining. And I don’t mean like “whee-fun-yay!” entertaining. I’m talking about the “oh-my-goodness-I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening-you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up” entertaining. Shock and awe type stuff.
I was never one to pack it all in, ditch the Mets gear until spring training type of guy. I will continue to wear my Mets hat, shirts and other assorted team apparel gladly, and maybe partially for the pity.
Keep your heads high, Mets fans. 2010 is only months away, likely filled with some high hopes of at least improving on this year.
In the baseball world, it’s tough to predict what may happen from year to year. No one was reading the tea leaves predicting this sort of Mets catastrophe. Maybe karma will pay this Mets team a visit and pay us all back for the last three years of heartache and distress.
I think we’ve earned it.