Overzealous Cubs Fans

I had the opportunity to catch all three games at Citi Field this weekend. It’s a lost season with so little to see, but I love the Mets and couldn’t resist. Turned out to be a good choice, because the Mets took two out three. Cory Sullivan hit two home runs* and Mike Pelfrey had a nice bounce back outing (and didn’t even have to take a lap around the Citi parking lot).

*Posterisk: And he stole a catch from Angel Pagan. Literally. It was a deep fly ball to left center that should’ve resulted in a routine out, but Angel didn’t call it definitively for the second time in three games. Put your arm up! It’s a disturbing trend for an otherwise capable fourth outfielder…not a good sign. But I digress…

Citi Field was thick with Cubs fans. Now, as a Mets fan, I feel like I can’t throw too many stones. It’s been a long season, and it’s been 23 years since the Mets have won the World Series. So I’m very leary of calling out a group of fans that have sufferred far longer. But it has to be said, for a group that’s waited 102 years for a championship, they are awful annoying.

I can’t tell you how many times I had to hear them screaming at routine plays, cheering for unproductive outs, and generally making an ass of themselves. I get it, they’re still technically in the playoff race and the Mets have been dead in the water for weeks. But really, Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright, and the rest of the Cardinals are walking off with that division. Please don’t come into Citi Field as if you’re just passing through on your way to the playoffs.

Really, I mean it. You’re not doing yourself any favors by “Root, root, rooting for the CUB-BIES!” at every seventh inning stretch. Yes, Derek Lee hit some monster home runs, but it was on a day when you finished 11.5 games out of first place. I’m not asking you to shut up, I’m DEMANDING that you look at the standings and get a grip on reality!

It just got to be too much. When Cory Sullivan made a nice sliding catch against the wall, and the hipster-douche Cubs fan behind me stood up and yelled that he dropped it, I waited. I paused for a moment, calmly turned around, and waited until for eye contact. I asked him, with a straight face and a loud voice, “Where’s Steve Bartman when you need him?”

I really didn’t want to go there but I couldn’t stand it anymore. And I tell you this: the look on his face was priceless. Sputtering and flustering, the embarrassment written large on his face, he started jawing about how terrible the Mets have been this year, how Citi Field isn’t “Mets-enough” (Why wouldn’t we want to honor the first African-American to break the color barrier), and how Bernie Madoff has turned the team into a joke.

My reply? “101. It’s been 101 years since your team won a World Series. Let it go, man. Let it go.” And that was that.

When it comes down to it, please know your role. I understand that you love your team, but when you’re the symbol of organizational futility, and you’re in the process of dropping two out of three to a team that’s been decimated by injuries, please don’t overstep your boundaries. Just don’t do it…because I don’t mind calling you on it. Thankfully, that’s the last we’ll hear for them for another year.

The Wright Way

“Finally!” That was my reaction upon learning that David Wright was placed on the DL today. I’m not happy to lose Wright for a prolonged period, but I’m thrilled that the Mets’ training staff bit the bullet and put him on the Disabled List. I’m no doctor, but with the season going the way it is, taking the long view is really the only way to go. Hopefully David is given as long as necessary to recover, even if that means not taking the field for the remainder of the season.

We’ve seen several mis-diagnosings this season. At the very least, the Mets have learned their lesson. There’s no need to jeopardize the career of one of the greatest position players to wear the blue and orange. Let this season go, and let Wright take as long as he needs to get healthy.

Mea Culpa, Delgado

I got a painful lesson this afternoon. The big story of the day was Omar Minaya’s contentious press conference, in which he revealed that he felt that Adam Rubin of the Daily News had an agenda in reporting his on the recently fired Tony Bernazard. I’m still struggling to come to grips with the fact that Minaya acted so unprofessionally. That doesn’t excuse the fact that I acted unprofessionally, too.

In referring to a comment made by Carlos Delgado, I interpreted it as evidence that Delgado actively contributed to last season’s firing of Willie Randolph by willfully performing poorly on the field. My first faux pas was trying to link Delgado to Bernazard, implying that Delgado was actively supporting Bernazard’s agenda. Many thanks to the tweeps that corrected me (@samtpage, @metsgrrl, and of course, @firejerrymanuel). There is a preponderance of printed evidence (some from Rubin himself) that indicates that Delgado actively dislikes Bernazard and it totally blows my half-assed theory out of the water. I wish I could take it back, however, any Google search of @Section518 will forever link me to it. I’ll just have to live with that.

More egregious was my implication that Delgado dogged it. It’s well documented that Delgado is a professional athlete who takes pride in his performance. No professional needs to hear that he’s willfully underperforming to get another professional fired. It would be one thing if I could prove it, but I can’t. I ran my mouth inappropriately.

Twitter is a great forum. It allows us to communicate on any number of things. It shouldn’t be used to denigrate others with half-assed theories and unresearched accusations. There’s no way I should have used it to run Delgado down like that, and that’s my true regret.

I’ve mentioned that I don’t get paid for this blog (and after today, why should I?). That being said, I like to think that I can hold the same standards as real journalists. There was no call for what I tweeted. I deeply regret attacking Delgado and I’m sorry for it. All I can offer is that it won’t happen again.

It’s My 10 Year Anniversary with the Mets…

An anniversary is a moment to reflect on a current or past relationship.

My love affair with the Mets had an innocent start my sophomore year in college. I watched the last few innings of a Mets/Braves game to keep me distracted while on the stair stepper. The Mets ended up losing the game and having a “collapse” during the final week of the 1998 season. However, my fascination with baseball had begun.

Enter the 1999 season where I officially labeled myself a Mets fan. The 25-man roster is scotch-taped to the concrete walls of my dorm room. I’ve purchased my first Mets hat from the mall and anxiously await the few games that are actually televised in Tennessee. My hopes are high that this is “our season” to win the World Series. The climax of the season takes place at my best friend’s house. With my neglected research papers sprawled on the living room floor in front of the big screen TV, I spend the next 5 hours and 46 minutes watching the best baseball game of my life. I don’t remember eating during the game, but I remember screaming my head off and jumping off the floor when Robin Ventura hit that grand slam single. Best…Game…Ever!

The 2000 season had us actually going to a Subway Series World Series. When I moved last month, I found a VHS tape where I had recorded the Mets playing in the World Series. We know how it ended, but at least that “other” New York team has not won a ring since then.

Fast forward a few years. Skip the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Fast forward to this season and hit pause – it’s time for the All-Star Break.

Gone are the rose colored glasses from the beginning of our relationship and in their place are my regular day-to-day Fashionista glasses. I spend more time on the “darknova” side than the “lightnova” side. I yell more at the tv and constantly fight the urge to throw something. There have been nights and weeks where my stomach is in knots and I cannot sleep. Most relationships end when one person causes another such mental stress and anguish. Yet, I continue to collect items from trips to NYC, the MLB store, and Avon (yes Avon!). I still pay to watch all the games via MLB Extra Innings. Once the bond is formed, it lasts a lifetime. You have to take the good, the bad, and the ugly.

For the record, a 10th anniversary gift should be diamond jewelry or blue sapphire studded jewelry.

Sounds like the Mets owe me a World Series ring this year.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Five Fun Facts: Jeff Francoeur

The Ryan Church-Jeff Francoeur trade was a pretty bad one. As there’s already been plenty of discussion on it, I just want to throw out a few tidbits about the Mets’ new right fielder:

1. Francoeur currently has a 68 OPS+. He’s currently tied for 7th worst among qualifiers. I’d list some of the players with a better OPS+ but why bother? Just know that Ryan Church has an 88 OPS+.

2. Francoeur won the Gold Glove in 2007. That’s nice and I’m sure it looks great in his trophy case, but it’s 2009. His Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) is currently 0.6 (via the fine folks at FanGraphs Baseball). That means he saves about a 0.6 runs per game more than a league average right fielder. Of course, Ryan Church’s UZR is 2.8.

3. In his four year career, Francoeur has played 162 games twice. He’s pretty proud of that fact, listing it second on the Career Highlights section of his blog. For the record, the other three Braves to do it are Dale Murphy, Andruw Jones, and former Met Felix Millan.

4. Francoeur has actually lowered his strike out totals in each of his last three seasons, going from 132 to 129 to 111. He’s currently on pace to finish with 96. So, we got that going for us. Which is nice.

5. Via Baseball-Reference.com, two of his most comparable players are Butch Huskey and Mark Carreon. Well then.

And so it goes. I really don’t understand this trade. The Braves had been shopping Francoeur since Spring Training with Kansas City and Florida being mentioned most prominently. With that in mind and the statistics listed above, I have to say the Braves “won” this trade. Why did the Mets decide to help a division rival? I doubt we’ll know the full answer for some time, so I have to infer that Jerry Manuel really wanted to dump Church. I’m going to put this trade in the “negatives” column of my Manuel evaluation until proven otherwise.