Inside The Park | Mets Must Be Cursed

This one's for my good friend Michael, a die-hard Mets fan who must be feeling pretty okay about moving out of NYC just so he can stop reading about the Mets. I turned on the TV today to catch the Phillies-Mets contest this afternoon, mostly to catch a glimpse of Pedro. What a debacle for the Mets.

Oliver Perez, whom the Mets deemed worthy of signing to a hefty three-year $36M contract before the start of the season, got chased out of the game before the first inning was over after giving up six runs on two two long homers. Pedro Martinez, whom the Mets deemed not worthy of even being re-signed to a minimal contract, beat them on 6 innings of mostly strong pitching. And just when it looked like the Mets had an opening and might rally in the bottom of the ninth against shaky closer Brad Lidge, cruel and wicked Fate slammed the door shut.

The game stood at 9-6 when two fielding errors led to an unearned run and put two additional runners on board, still nobody out. Mets call a double steal on what looked like a hit-and-run scenario, and Jeff Franceour smokes a liner up the middle. But second baseman Eric Bruntlett was right on top of it because he was moving to cover second base on the steal. In the blink of an eye, he stabbed the line drive for the first out, stepped on second base for the second out, and tagged Daniel Murphy coming from first base for the final out. Unassisted triple play.

What a demoralizing way to end a rally. What a demoralizing season it's been for the Mets overall. I hate the Mets as much as I hate the Celtics and the Cowboys, but I really feel sorry for Mets fans. They're not bad people, but this season has just been the pits.

Their team has been decimated by injuries to their top players: Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and now even David Wright. That's the meat of their lineup right there, all sitting in the trainer's room. It looks like they may have to pay someone to take Billy Wagner, who has an enormous contract and has been injured, off their hands.

The most bizarre story of the season is probably the Tony Bernazard episode. Bernazard, who was a team executive, apparently went to a minor league game and was so disgusted with the play (and probably the attitudes) of the players that he got into a shouting match with the players and ripped off his shirt and challenged them all to a fist fight. What on earth is going on with the Mets?

And now the news comes out that the Mets are sticking with beleaguered and unpopular general manager Omar Minaya. Man, I would not wish this kind of misery on my worst enemies ... which I guess would be Mets fans anyway. But I wouldn't, really. They just need to euthanize this wretched season. There's no way next year could possibly be this bad or this weird.