Mets Disappearing Without a Whimper

It's especially annoying when you make a special point of waking up just after 1 am simply to watch the Mets struggle and wriggle themselves deeper down into their hole as they did last night against the Yankees.


Two consecutive bad outings by the two starters the Mets allege to count on most...

So whilst the Yankees won their 5th straight series the Mets were busy losing their 5th straight series.

12 losses in 15 games is downright ugly and whilst the Mets are still managing to maintain a thin hold on their lead in the NL East, unless they turn things around fast, the taste of what once seemed like a very promising season could turn sour very quickly. The fruit that has been hanging from the bough like a promise is beginning to rot.

Last night it was the fault of El Duque, six runs and seven hits over less than five innings of work was hardly what you would expect out of the number two starter and whilst both he and Glavine have pitched brilliantly at times this season, they have both begun to struggle at the same time and simultaneously as the Mets themselves are dealing with what might be the lowest, most uninspirational point of the season.

Chien Ming Wang is 4-0 for June with a 2.08 ERA, the kind of stretch that most of the Mets starting rotation seemed to experience earlier this season. The kind of stretch we now sit back and salivate for, watching our batting order swing and struggle. There wasn't much of an issue of not hitting with men in scoring position because the opportunity didn't come along very often in an 8-2 pimp-shoe smacking.

And yes, after all this, turning off the telly with disgust as dawn was just creeping up over the hills of Warwickshire, a shitty Monday on the horizon with another weekend pissed away with losses and the lone highlight that semi-brilliant Friday evening far behind us.

We are, like the Mets it seems, at a loss to explain what has suddenly gone so terribly wrong. A little funk yes, you expect it here and there during the course of the season. But this isn't like a head cold or a mild case of gastroenteritis. This is a full blown outbreak of ineptitude, night after ugly night which has carried on for a little more than two weeks now.

What will halt the slide?

Perhaps nothing. Perhaps the Mets were the rabbit of this NL East race, rushing out ahead in impressive fashion only to run out of gas with a wobbling starting rotation, an injury-decimated batting order, the combination of a slumping Delgado and slumping Beltran, a bullpen whose middle relief has been sporadically disgusting and a manager who what, has run out of little miracles before we've even reached the All Star break?

Their lead in the NL East is tenuous at best, a mere game and a half of breathing space but fortunately, whilst the Mets will host the Twins the Braves will have to face the Red Sox and the Phillies will take on the Indians. With any luck, their equally inept colleagues in the NL East will continue to be almost as bad as the Mets and the eventual winner might end up being by default.

And whilst we were once the toast of the National League we are now in tatters, a mere 7 games above .500 with four teams sporting better records than us.

And no help on the way.

It will be an interesting and perhaps defining week ahead of these Mets.