I came across his wife's email address when I was doing the post about Tommy's quest for 300... I thought it would be inappropriate to post though. Now, not so much.
Feel free to e-mail Christine and Tommy your best wishes on their future endeavors.
So the Mets are once again the butt of the jokes... Familiar territory for this Mets fan unfortunately.
Anyway... here's why I don't feel this "collapse" was the worst ever:
To be a true calamity, you would think the team was just steamrolling any and all comers and fell apart at the end. This team was not rolling any steam since the summer started. The 2007 Mets record by month went as follows:
April: 15-9
May: 19-9
June: 12-15
July: 13-14
August: 15-13
September: 14-14
Check out that September record. 14-14. The horror! No. It was their second best record in the past 4 months. This team was very mediocre.
Not sure if you heard this, but the Mets lost the biggest lead with the least games to play (7 game lead with 17 games left). Wow. That fucking sucks. Doesn't sound worse to me than the 64' Phillies though. The Phillies lost a 6 1/2 game lead with 12 games left to play that year. With 13 games left, the Mets lead had already gone all the way down to 1 1/2. This collapse happened 2 weeks ago, not in the last weekend.
Once the year got rolling I never got the feeling that these guys would amount to much. Their starting pitchers were led by a 40 something El Duque who can't stay healthy when it matters most, a 42 year old Atlanta Brave reject who already reached the milestone that he cared too much about and was obviously anxious to hit the links, a former great in Pedro who unfortunately was getting into shape in the games that mattered the most, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Oliver Perez, and John Maine, who I have nothing bad to say about other than he was getting worse and worse as the year went on, but totally redeemed himself Saturday. Sprinkle in turds like Brian Lawrence, Chan Ho Park and the garbage rookies, and there's no way this team goes anywhere. Combine them with a shakey bullpen that got overworked by the end of the year and it's suprising the team went as far as they did. It wasn't going to get it done. And that's the main reason why I'm not too disappointed by this.
Here's my hope: This is just the kick in the ass these mf'ers need to play to the best of their ability. If they cruised into the playoffs and made it to the World Series, dancing their way there, and got their ass kicked by teams with not just a good lineup, but good starting pitching too, then maybe this season would have been a success. And I probably would have agreed. And then they would have played the same complacent, hot doggin' way next year. And they'd never reach their potential.
But with this... This has to humble the shit out these guys. Maybe these assholes won't do the dumb shit they've been doing (making the last out of an inning stealing 3rd base, getting picked off 2nd base, making 10 errors in 2 must win games to the Nationals, dancing and shit). They've got a lot to prove. Now they'll have the ol' chip on the shoulder. How will they react? I'm anxious to see.
(unfortunately for the Mets, Mr. Delgado was unable to carry Jeter's jock)
I'm resigned to the fact that the teams I root for don't win (and lose in ball crunching fashion). Between the Mets, Jets, and Knicks I've had my share of heartache over the 20 something years of blind faith in them. Kind of numb to the whole disappointment thing at this point. A glutton for punishment apparently. But I don't give up on them. I live here... and they play here. They're my teams. For better or worse. That's how it goes.
And when any of them finally win it... all this bitterness will make it that much sweeter. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.
As of September 27, 2007 I am no longer a fan of the Mets. That was the day I stopped watching the team. After getting the shit kicked out of them by HGH boy and the Cardinals, I knew it was over. I didn't watch a single inning or read one article about this shitty team. I have had it! This fucking team has broken my heart so many different times I can't take anymore. It all started for me...............
-In 1990 offseason when they let Strawberry go to L.A and choked to the Pirates down the stretch -1992's infamous Worst Team Money can buy. -1998's choke in the last five games against the Expos sandwiched between 10 years of misery -Trading for Armondo Benitez and Bobby Bonilla before the 1999 season -Getting the shit beat out of us every year by Atlanta from 1995-2007 -2000 WS -Brian Jordan's grand slam off of John Franco after 9/11to end the season -Benitez blowing three saves in a row to Atlanta that same week in 01' -Having John Franco as the closer for what seemed like ten years -Then Mel Rojas then Benitez then Looper then Billy Wagner -Losing 2 out of three games to the Yankees every time they play each other in interleague play -Wilpon not giving Arod what he deserved in 2000 -Wilpon then not signing Guerrero a couple of years later -Kazmir -Beltran sriking out LOOKING -Not resigning Bradford -Mota -And finally the joke that was 2007
