Weekly Mail Special: Requiem for the Mets

      So three weeks ago, I had said that even if the Mets didn't make the playoffs, I could live with them finishing up the season by going 10-6 in their last 16 games. That would put them 10 games over .500, closer to 90 wins than 80 and generally something to hang their hats on.

They got there. Just not the way I figured they would. Losing two games to the 100 loss Marlins and sweeping the playoff bound Braves.

The final game against the Braves last Sunday was kind of like the series finale of Seinfeld. They brought back all the characters you both loved and hated for the last episode. The Mets, well, they boiled down their season in one game. A good start, a lousy middle, a comeback, and of course a blown save. They gave up two home runs to a little weasel named Adeiny Hechavarria who bashed NY on the way out of town, only to have Dominic Smith come out of mothballs to hit a walk off home run. And to have his jersey ripped off to boot.

Incredible.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save Mickey Callaway's job, as he was $h-tcanned on Thursday, four days later. We'll get to that in a minute.

First lets wrap up the season

Once again it was a June swoon that did our boys in. Last year they had an awesome April August and September, a subpar May and July and an awful June. I remarked that the Mets were as bad as I had ever seen them in June 2018. They weren't quite as bad this time around, but they weren't good.  Had they played even .500 ball in June, they would be in the playoffs now.

The bullpen of course was the number one culprit. Jeurys Familia pitched almost every game as if it were a playoff game (that's to say he choked) and Edwin Diaz was a horror show. Again, I'm not ready to crown the players we traded to get him and Robinson Cano as first ballot hall of famers, but even had they simply traded a bag of game used balls to Seattle for those two, the Mariners still would have gotten the better of the deal. Cano was either hurt or inconsistent, and Diaz was the human arsonist.

Back in August, the Mets were swept at home by the Braves. I figured that was damaging, but you can overcome when one team has your number. The next series, they were swept by the Cubs, and I started to figure this run might have been for naught.

But it really wasn't till the following week where I officially declared the 2019 season over for our Mets. September 3, in Washington DC, first day back to school for Timmy, already one of the more depressing days of the year,  taking a 10-4 lead into the 9th inning, only to lose 11-10. Mathematically we still may have been in it, but I knew right then and there they were cooked.

Their last 16 games broke like this..Three against the NL Leading Dodgers, three against the lousy Colorado Rockies, three against the even lousier Cincinnati Reds, four against the awful Miami Marlins, and three against the Braves.  I figured they get swept by LA, take 5 out of 6 against the Rockies and Reds, sweep the Marlins and take one from the Braves. 10-6.

Like I said they got there. But not with the road map I laid out for them.

A few more points

1) Mickey Callaway's head scratching moves that occurred way to often were enough for me to justify the pink slip he got on Thursday. My issue was that he was left hanging by the Mets for four days after the season ended. Folks are telling me this isn't a big deal, suggesting that the Wilpons waited till after the end of Rosh Hashanah to make the move. Also they wanted to tell him in person, so they flew to him in Florida.
Maybe I should give Fred and Jeff the benefit of the doubt, but I won't. I just think the whole family are a bunch of creeps.

And I'm not sure if it was (Razor) Ray McGarvey or Ed (Auggie) DePuy who made the point, but as dumb as Mickey managed, the team busted it's ass for him. Think about this.. the writers in this town gave Jason Vargas all sorts of $-it for going after Newsday writer Tim Healey who had made a sarcastic remark at Callaway's expense. But in some ways that speaks to how the team felt about their manager. Someone stuck up for him. At least one guy did.

I hope whoever comes in realizes he has gamers on this team. I felt like the Willie Randolph Mets needed someone to come in and kick some a$$. These Mets don't need that. Just someone who knows how to properly fill out a lineup card.

2) I had suggested to my co-editors that Noah Syndergaard be dealt. I was furious with how he pitched against the Marlins, and before that the Rockies, even with anybody besides Wilson Ramos behind the plate.
I've cooled off and walked that back some. He still throws gas, he's still under 30 years old,  and made it clear he wants to stay a Met. I just feel that it's bad enough to request a personal catcher, even worse if you single someone out, and if you do all of that, you better back it up with solid pitching. He didn't. And it pissed me off.

3) There may come a day where the Marcus Stroman trade goes down with Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi in the annals of bad Met trades. But I hope that no matter how this trade shakes out, that people remember that it was that trade which told us Met fans that Brodie Van Wagenen wasn't throwing in the towel at the trade deadline. I'd like to think that the trade sent a message to the team that they were gonna take a shot at the playoffs. That it came up short is almost besides the point.

4) At a time where we measure our teams by championships, sometimes there is something to be said for a team that comes up short, but still captures our soul. Between Pete Alonso catching Aaron Judge, Jacob deGrom's continued excellence, Jeff McNeil's early run for the batting title, the surprising emergence of JD Davis, Wilson Ramos 26 game hitting streak, Amed Rosario's leap forward, and some of those amazing walk off wins, (I was there for the one against the Indians) this was a fun team to watch and a privilege to root for.  The Yankees could very well win the World series this year, and 2019 would then be remembered at a Yankee year in New York. But this was a pretty special year for us Met fans too. It would have been nice to see them in the playoffs. But in some crazy way, I almost think had they qualified for the play in game and lost, it wouldn't have been as special.


86-76. 3rd place, 3 games out of a playoff spot. And a lot of good memories. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but you know what, I'll take it.



Regular Weekly Mail returns tomorrow