I Am a Devastated Mets Fan, and This is My Eulogy ...
By Rob Perez
As the Royals are on TV getting ready to roam the streets of Kansas City for their championship parade, I’m finally ready to talk about the New York Mets.
As fans, where do we go from here? I’m not so worried about the state of the franchise – they’re going to be just fine; the best starting pitching staff in baseball (Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz) will not only return next year … but, will at some point welcome back Zack Wheeler to the rotation – who you can argue has the best “stuff” of anyone on the roster.
Jeremy Blevins will return to the pen, Ruben Tejada’s leg will heal, and Michael Conforto might be an all-star. The future’s bright, there’s no denying it.
Now, I need to get something off my chest: I’m a weird fan. I LOVE my teams (Mets, Knicks, Colts, UNC basketball) – but, my fandom is a little unorthodox compared to most people out there … I’m all-in emotionally until the four loves of my life win/won their first championship. I truly believe there is nothing as special as the first, and because of that – I am willing to admit that I have a sense of “well, the kids are all grown up and off to college … it’s time to retire!” feeling re: UNC/Indy after the Tar Heels defeated Illinois in 2005 and Peyton Manning hoisted the Lombardi trophy in February of 2007.
It’s hard to explain, it’s just the way I am. I still watch every game and root for them vigorously, however, nothing will ever be as good as the first – ever. I’m a dog chasing cars, I don’t know what to do when I actually catch one. It’s all about the build up to the climax, which makes me sound like a drug addict continuously pouring poison into their veins hoping the result is the euphoric sensation of their first high …
Not that I know from experience, it just feels like this every time the Heels or Colts are on – I want to be as excited as I was during the first championship run; and as time passes: my emotions get diluted by the stale product.
So, based on this philosophy: I should want the Mets to win now even more than usual – as they continue to pile up drama only to come up short when it matters most.
I don’t….
…and I’m terrified I never will again.
Let me explain: I was 13 when the 2000 Mets got their doors blown off by the Yankees in the Subway World Series. I was just old enough to grasp the magnitude of the moment while also realizing how outmatched we were. Honestly, it was an accomplishment in itself to be there in the same room as the overwhelming galactic empire that was the early 2000’s Bronx Bombers. Despite losing 4-1, I’m not gonna lie: it was fun watching every self-righteous Yankees fan squirm at the distant possibility of losing to a lineup that had Todd Zeile and Benny Agbayani batting cleanup – albeit for only a week.
What this World Series fortified was that the New York Mets, if they hadn’t been before, were officially “Little Brother.” The big, bad bully Yankees were not only the toast of the town – but the World.
I loved this.
Most fans view being called “Little Brother” as an insult, however, it just adds fuel to my fire. The more Yankees fans beat me down, the more I (and Mets fan collectively) knew that one … just one … World Series win would be worth more than any number that the Yankees had.
Fast-forward to 2006: this was it. Arguably the best team the Mets ever had: posting a 97-65 regular season record, winning the NL East division, featuring two HOMEGROWN blue-chip prospects in David Wright/Jose Reyes surrounded by free agent perennial superstars Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Cliff Floyd, and Pedro Martinez.
Ya’ll know what happened next…
In Game 7 of the NLCS, Endy Chavez made one of the greatest plays in baseball history…
only to have Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright harvest the souls of Mets fans for eternity two innings later.
I think I speak for all Mets fans when I say no matter what happened this season or any seasons in the future, that mental screenshot of Carlos Beltran frozen solid watching Adam Wainwright’s curveball break over the plate will forever be stained in the back of our minds — like the time you accidentally walked in on a family member completely naked while getting changed.
What hurt most about the 2006 NLCS is that the Mets had expectations. This wasn’t 2000 where the fans were playing with house money/just happy to be there, this time: it felt like we were the Yankees. We were the favorites. This was our time.
Well, if you haven’t heard: baseball is cruel. Our shot at the World Series was ripped out of our hands by a scrappy, over-achieving Cardinals team … and while I’m not saying New York would have beaten the Tigers as easy as the Cardinals did – I feel safe saying every baseball fan at the time held the same sentiment that the NLCS was the World Series.
100 times out of 100 I would rather watch the 2000 Mets lose 4-1 to the Yankees on repeat for the rest of eternity than endure ONCE what we had to witness in that 9th inning of the ’06 NLCS.
At the time, it felt like our window had closed. The Mets would never have a team that talented ever againHEY LOOK AT THAT THE METS ARE UP 7 GAMES WITH 17 GAMES TO PLAY IN THE 2007 REGULAR SEASON WE’RE BACK YA’LL!!!!
Rock bottom. Both literally and figuratively. It felt like Dwayne Johnson slipped his arm under our chins while we were gloating to the rest of the league and clothesline power-bombed us on to a bed of spikes that didn’t kill us – instead, we wiggled around in pain as the life dripped out of our bodies at the speed of a leaky faucet.
It was over.
The Mets blew another late division lead in 2008 (3.5 games with 17 to play) and honestly we didn’t even care. You could say that Mets fans were in the thick of a classic ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ scenario, but, the thing with ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ is that at some point: the masochist has to let the victim up for air and give a sense of hope – otherwise it’s just flat-out abuse.
Once 2008 was complete: the franchise, like a lot of their fans’ spirits – died. The roster of superstars dismantled, the Mets were back to being the joke of the league, and honestly: there was a sense of relief. Despite never achieving success, emotionally divorcing this team was a strangely-comforting feeling – the same way the genie at the end of Aladdin felt after the main character used his last wish to free him – it wasn’t a relief that it was over, more so you knew what tortured you for so long would never happen again.
Au contraire.
For the next 5 years, I kept up with the news surrounding the club – like any good fan would. I knew they stunk and would stink for some time, so, I don’t feel bad saying I didn’t watch every single regular season game like I had during the early 2000’s. That doesn’t make me any less of a fan, the same way me not wanting to be around friends and family EVERY second of the day doesn’t make me a bad person.
Years passed, my Colts and Tar Heels won championships – heck even the Knicks won a first round playoff series!
And then, in 2013, Matt Harvey spawned out of the Citi Field grass like the T-1000 in Terminator 2 after he gets shattered into a pile of ice and goo. It didn’t take long before I got that 3 AM text message from the Mets — just like your ex-girlfriend who broke up with you a mere month ago — which says: “Hey…”
You know exactly what it means.
God Damnit, I shouldn’t respond to this. If I hook up with her I’m gonna be hooked again and I can’t do that to myself. She hurt me so bad, why would she torture me like this?
I’m going to turn off the phone, I know exactly what’s going to happen if I reply back – here take this from me before I do something stupid.
Ah f**k it give it back to me I gotta see what she wants. I SAID GIVE IT BACK TO ME. I DON’T CARE WHAT I SAID I WILL KILL YOU. Was that so hard? Thanks.
And just like that, with one Matt Harvey appearance at Citi Field in the All-Star game: Mets fans officially relapsed.
We had an ace. We don’t have a whole lot around him – but we have a bonafide major league ace. He was the ace Gotham deserves, but not the one it needed [right now].
Then … 2014 started, and OMFG Jacob deGrom AND Zack Wheeler ARE FRIGGIN’ STUDS. What if … WHAT IF the Mets surrounded all this home-grown talent (Daniel Murphy, Juan Lagares, Ruben Tejada, Wilmer Flores, Lucas Duda, David Wright) with a couple legitimate veteran superstars to supplement the offense? They’d have a legitimate shot to make the World Series, right?
Well, just like every season since the Mets owners (The Wilpon Family) were implicated in Bernie Madoff’s notorious Ponzi scheme – the franchise did not spend money on free agent talent. The team was a couple pieces away, and until the 2015 trade deadline – it appeared it would stay that way … as the Mets’ anemic offense not only passed the eye test as ‘pathetic’, but, in the box score as well. At one point this July, in the thick of a NL East pennant race against the Nationals (3 games back), the Mets sent John Mayberry Jr. (.170 average) out to bat clean up and had Eric Campbell (.179 average) in the five-hole vs. Los Angeles Dodgers powerhouse lefty Clayton Kershaw.
Predictably: Kershaw had a perfect game going into the 7th inning and it was legitimately shocking that he didn’t finish the job. That’s how bad the Mets offense was – you expected pitchers to throw perfect games against these guys.
As the trade deadline approached, we Mets fans shamed ourselves for responding to the 3 AM text message that we knew would only disappoint us. I can’t believe we ever got our hopes up that this team could be World Series material under the ownership of the Wilpons. But then, out-of-the-blue: THE METS ACTUALLY TRADED FOR GOOD PLAYERS AND TOOK ON SALARY! Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe were en route from Atlanta for pennies on the dollar, and Carlos Gomez was headed back to New York! It appeared that Sandy Alderson finally … finally made the deal that could get this lineup over the hump.
Something wasn’t right though…
Wilmer Flores, despite knowing he was included in the trade, was still sent out to play shortstop in the 8th inning vs. the San Diego Padres. What on Earth? Why did Terry Collins do this? Everyone in the dugout clearly knew, why do you think he’s crying?
It was right then and there that the fans of the franchise knew the Mets were on to something special. As we witnessed Wilmer cry like anyone who’s ever gotten a small scoop of chicken in their Chipotle burrito, we couldn’t help but grow attached to him and the 2015 Mets story. It seemed like nearly everyone on this roster was brought up through the Mets farm system. We certainly didn’t support the Wilpon’s frugalness, but, these were our guys.
During the five years of Mets futility (2009-2013), we watched Daniel Murphy try to learn every damn position on the field except for pitcher. We watched Juan Lagares win a gold glove. We watched Lucas Duda mature from a doofus with a wooden stick swinging a piñata to a legitimate major league clean-up hitter. We watched Ruben Tejada dazzle us with fielding unlike anything we’d seen since Rey Ordonez. Heck, even Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit three home runs once.
This band of misfits played so awkwardly well together that you couldn’t help but love them – which made it really hurt when we saw Wilmer cry on the field after he learned he was headed to Milwaukee. He didn’t want to play anywhere else, he wanted to be a Met.
The Mets are the Mets though, which means at some point: the Mets are going to do Mets things. Within 24 hours of announcing the completed trade for Carlos Gomez, the transaction was rescinded due to a “bad physical” or something we’ll probably never know for sure.
It was great to see Wilmer back in Queens, but, the Mets’ offense was still an absolute atrocity – and no matter how much he cried or how much he was “our” shortstop, Mets fans weren’t going to show him sympathy versus the scenario of having a bat like Carlos Gomez … unless Wilmer hit.
You have to be kidding me. This can’t be real life. Just days after the failed trade, HE HITS A WALK-OFF. With one swing of the bat, Mets fans’ tears of disappointment – which had been flowing for almost a decade straight, instantly turned into tears of joy.
Eventually: Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson pulled off the trade of the year and acquired Yoenis Cespedes in exchange for a bag of puffy Cheetos. Not even crunchy Cheetos, he got Cespedes for Puffy ones.
Ya’ll know the story from there: After joining the roster, Cespedes hit .287 with a .337 OBP and .604 SLG to go along with 17 homers and 44 RBI in just 57 regular season games
The Mets were sending 3 AM text messages to the fans who had fallen off the band wagon, and everyone was responding. Within one week: this team went from ‘pathetic’ to ‘special’.
After two emotional playoff series wins vs. the LA Dodgers and Chicago Cubs with enough memorable moments to hold us over for a lifetime, the Mets came up short in the World Series vs. the Kansas City Royals — losing in 5 games. If you know anything about the Wilpons, you’ll agree with me that there is little-to-no-chance that they’ll match any large offer that our two biggest free-agents-to-be, Daniel Murphy and Yoenis Cespedes, get on the open market — the same way that they let Jose Reyes walk to the Marlins for nothing in return in 2011.
Can the Mets make the playoffs next year without these two? Yeah, probably … the starting pitching is too good – and this is exactly what I’m most afraid of…
All the hours I put in watching the games this season, all the things I sacrificed, all the emotion I exerted cheering these guys on should technically (per my fandom philosophy) accumulate and make a future Mets title win even more special than it would have been this year. This is the way I operate.
But I can’t do it…
…Not anymore.
The series vs. the Royals drained my soul to the point of apathy – which is the single-greatest defeat a die-hard sports fan can ever suffer.
I’ll never be as emotionally-attached to another Mets team as I was in 2006 and as I was with the guys this season. I fear that the if/when the Mets do win a World Series, I’m going to feel a sense of relief more so than the euphoric excitement of accomplishment – the same relief I felt when the franchise hit “Rock Bottom” in 2008. I can’t fathom how devastating it would be for me if this happens – and I’m not only clueless in re: to how im going to change it, it scares the absolute shit out of me.
Even if the Metsies pull a Royals and win the World Series in 2016 after coming in second the year before, it’s not going to feel the same.
I wanted this team … this year … with this story … to win it all. No matter how many rings the franchise accumulates over the span of my lifetime, I will always … always think: “why couldn’t this have happened in 2015…”
And before you crucify me for being a bad fan: don’t get me wrong, I’ll be watching … just like I do every Colts and Tar Heel basketball game despite having a championship in the bank, but, re: the Mets … I honestly will never be able to shake this one that got away.
So, in the end … let this be a lesson to all of you Cubs/Eagles/city of Cleveland/etc fans out there: if the day comes when you decide to officially file for divorce from your favorite team: please, PLEASE follow through with it – do NOT respond to that 3 AM text message that they … one day … will send you; because if you do…
…there’s no coming back.