Archie Bunker's Army

Before we wake up in a pile of our own sick sometime around 11 am on the first day of 2009, it might be a good time to have a quick look 'round at the Highlights and Lowlights of another miserable season, 2008. But first, a mini photo montage: The return of the rollercoaster, number one favourite photo of the season.... Jose makes the crazy, Who Me Choke? face, yet again. Hey Jose, don't look now but it's September! Remember this Jose Bonehead Brainfart Against the Phillies in July? What a minute, how about Bonehead getting picked off against the Yank-Mes in June? Need More Oxygen To Point to the Sky! Frame It! Castillo Actually Awake During a Game, Though Barely... Yup, Head Still Attached to Neck... The Hall of Fame of Mediocre Mets Managers Look familiar? Another Blown Game By Schoeneweis Don't Worry Oliver, Soon enough you'll be pitching like crap for even more money! What a relief you're gone! Mr Met Concussion, 2008 Yeessss, give Mr Mediocre More Money! ...

One of the sickly sad things immediately following the second consecutive Mets September collapse was not just the collapse itself but the gargantuan wish list many Mets fans produced as a result. I had to stop listening to the FAN after those first few games, reliving the bitterness and hearing the Mets needed to immediately sign CC , K-Rod and Manny . It did cross my mind early yesterday when reading that Mark Teixeira suitors like the Angels and the Red Sox were dropping out of the Sweepstakes that it was plenty similar to the early chase for Johan last season and how the Mets swooped in at the last minute, unexpectedly, to surprise baseball with the trade that changed the Mets' rotation. And admittedly, I did allow a little crumb of hope that Omar would do something similar this season with Teixeira; swoop in at the last minute with a double move, trading Carlos Delgado to the Angels in return for a few draft picks and simultaneously announcing the signature of Tex to a Me...

Ok, we've all had time to digest the recent flurry of moves Omar put on the rest of baseball (bar the Yankees who defied the times and threw money at anything that moved, outbidding themselves where needed just to feel secure...)and having digested we're perhaps beginning to discover a little too much time on the toilet as a result? Let's start with K-Rod himself. Have it, Phillies Wankers... It's admirable that he's out there shooting off his mouth before he's even found a home in the NYC area for his family. Sure, K-Rod represents half of the one-two punch Omar has thrown to rejuvinate the Mets rubbish bullpen but let's look at reality for just a tick here...the Phillies, after their leader proclaimed them the team to beat in the Spring of 2007 and even after the Mets team leader proclaimed the Mets the team to beat in the Spring of 2008, won the NL East both times and of course, the World Championship in '08, deservedly or not. So claiming to be th...

What's this, Omar has finally learned the auld one-two, the body blow followed by the uppercut? Bullpen worries TKO'd? One day after doing the predictable by signing K-Rod, Omar reaffirmed in part anyway, his reputation as a GM's GM by turning a crazy auld-school three-way trade to net JJ Putz , reliever Sean Green and outfielder Jeremy Reed in exchange for Aaron Heilman , Endy Chavez and Joe Smith . What this means of course is that the number one concern going into the winter meetings, namely a rubbish bullpen, has been in large part alleviated. We might even be able to start breathing again although there's still the issue of a pair of starters, a left fielder and a second baseman to consider as holes waiting to be plugged. Addition by addition AND addition by subtraction. So the bullpen worries are pretty much over. Yes, there's a little more tweaking to do but Omar has fixed the biggest problem. And who isn't happy to see Heilman go? Who was still hol...

Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question... Oh, do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit. from 'The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock' by another expat who lived in England, T.S. Eliot (editors note: the proverbial ink had barely begun to dry on the opening paragraphs of what was to be my inaugural post upon return from my annual Met sabbatical when suddenly and without warning, just as I was prepared to launch into a bitter tirade about the inactivity of the Mets front office, wham! They go and sign K-Rod. For the sake of purity of art and to symbolise the retroactive nature of offseason bile, the opening paragraphs h...