MEDIC!
I’ve been a Mets fan for as long as I can remember. I started watching them back in the mid-80′s when young guys like Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry were just starting their careers. Then came the magical season of 1986 when the Mets beat Boston in 7 games (with the help of some magic). 1987 saw the Mets as the favorites early on but injuries ruined any chances that team had of being competitive. 1988 saw them as the major favorite to win it all again, only to lose to my Dad’s Dodgers in the play-offs.
After that, it was all down hill. They started getting rid of some of my favorite players – Gooden, Strawberry, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Wally Backman – and replaced them with free agents and young kids out of their farm league. Guys like Gregg Jeffries and Keith Miller were going to be the face of the future, while Kevin McReynolds and Frank Viola were supposed to bring a veteran’s experience and knowledge to the team. Well, it didn’t work. The early to mid 90′s sucked big time if you were a Mets fan. Not until 1999 did they improve to the point where I thought they would actually do something.
The new century brought new hope, as they made it to a World Series (and lost to the fucking Yankees), and were starting to show signs of being contenders every year. Up-and-coming stars like SS Jose Reyes and 3B David Wright quickly became the faces of the team, and free agent pick-ups SP Pedro Martinez, CF Carlos Beltran, and 1B Carlos Delgado brought leadership and a ton of talent to the team. They made the play-offs & should have won it all in 2006. Then something happened in 2007. Their luck ran out. They faltered at the end of the season to miss the play-offs. All-Star and Cy Young award winning SP Johan Santana was acquired in the off-season, but it wasn’t enough. They faltered again at the end of last season. This season has been a complete disaster.
With injuries keeping Delgado, Reyes, Beltran, SP John Maine, former All-Star RP JJ Putz all on the disabled list for most of the season, there wasn’t a whole lot to be happy about in Queens. Then reserve IF Alex Cora, who was no star, but a fine and dependable player, had to have surgery on his thumb and went on the DL. Then David Wright was hit in the head by a 94 mph fastball and he went on the DL. The final nail in the coffin for this season for me came today when I heard Santana will be out for the season because he needs surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow. Throw in the fact that newly acquired RF Jeff Francoeur is now suffering from the same injury that sidelined Cora, but is refusing to have surgery right now, and the entire team is a M*A*S*H unit. Here’s a list of the guys on the DL for the Mets as of this post:
- Source – Yahoo! Sports
- Johan Santana SP – Bone chips, left elbow – out for season
- David Wright 3B – Post-concussion symptoms
- Alex Cora SS/2B – Thumb ligament surgery – out for season
- Johnathan Niese SP – Torn right hamstring – out for season
- Fernando Nieve SP – Torn right quadriceps – out 6-8 weeks
- Felix Martinez LF/CF – Right knee inflammation
- Carlos Beltrán CF – Bone bruise, right knee
- John Maine SP – Right shoulder fatigue
- J.J. Putz RP – Right elbow surgery – out 8-10 weeks
- Ramon Martínez SS/2B – Fractured left pinkie finger
- Jose Reyes SS – Right calf tendinitis
- Carlos Delgado 1B – Right hip impingement
That’s not mentioning former All-Star closer Billy Wagner, who missed most of this season after Tommy John surgery. (Update – Wagner has been traded to the Red Sox for 2 players to be named.) These last few years have been hell for me as a fan. I can only hope 2010 is a better, healthier year. Hopefully the football season will be kinder to me. Let’s go Giants!
Related posts:
- David Wright says hello to a 94 mph fastball
- Head Games?
- Foot in mouth?
- Murphy’s Law
- Dwight Gooden in trouble again
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