Stefi Kaplan: The Tortoise And The Hare

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The Tortoise And The Hare
by Stefi Kaplan

Read Stefi's column here.

The Mets started off this season with a sweep of the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals and they did not look back. The months of April and May were filled with wins of all kinds: blowouts, character-building come from behind wins and walk-offs. It seemed early on that the Mets were picking up where they left off in 2006 and it seemed they never missed a beat.

Truer words were never spoken. And then ..... came ..... June.

Bitchin' column, Stefi, Thanks.

[MacksMets]

injuries and age... where have I heard this since before the season started?

[vtmet]

I just made the "tortoise vs hare" comparison comment on a forum a few days ago....not sure if it was here on not, but the Mets certainly fit the overconfident hare M.O.

[debmc]

Very nice, Stef, but imo, overly optimistic. There's a shock, huh? LOL

I believe that some on this team have learned NOTHING from this. If they didn't learn it last year in Game 7/NLCS, well, hell's bells, why should we expect them to learn it THIS year?????

I believe there is a contingent of players on this team who don't care, overly; who don't listen the manager; who do what they want when they want; and don't have any respect or sense of community with the other faction.

In essence, I think this team is at least two teams; at least in the clubhouse.

I think Willie lost them, and needs to go.

The only way the hare can take on some of the qualities of the tortoise is with major structural surgery.... lol.

And now is the hour......

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Very nice, Stef, but imo, overly optimistic. There's a shock, huh? LOL

I believe that some on this team have learned NOTHING from this. If they didn't learn it last year in Game 7/NLCS, well, hell's bells, why should we expect them to learn it THIS year?????

I believe there is a contingent of players on this team who don't care, overly; who don't listen the manager; who do what they want when they want; and don't have any respect or sense of community with the other faction.

In essence, I think this team is at least two teams; at least in the clubhouse.

I think Willie lost them, and needs to go.

The only way the hare can take on some of the qualities of the tortoise is with major structural surgery.... lol.

And now is the hour......

Where does this come from? I hear/read none of this stuff.

[debmc]

Where does this come from? I hear/read none of this stuff.

It's been hinted at and talked about by Gary, Keith, Ron and Kevin Burkhart all year, that there are problems in the clubhouse. It's in the comments of Lo Duca. In the comments of Wagner. In the attitude, in the level of play. In the manner of play. It's all there. They're not together.

[mookie03]

that's funny vtmet - i didn't steal your idea, i promise

deb, only time will tell i guess. I think that some on the team (JOSE JOSE JOSE JOSE) took this season too lightly and have a lot to learn. But I also think that this team as a whole learned something. Because of what just happened, the Mets as a team will NEVER EVER be comfortable, with ANY lead. That is branded on this team forever, and no matter how big of a lead they have, 2007 will be thrown in their faces.

What's more, for this particular team, they are forever linked to this collapse and I'm pretty sure that will give them something to prove. If some of these guys make it to the HOF for their achievements, 2007 will always be a blip on their records. So while i agree about the immaturity of Reyes (and maybe a few others) who did not listen to his manager, I'm not willing to say that he simply doesn't care or that he can't grow up. Sometimes horrible things need to happen to make someone grow up and maybe this is what he needs.. Maybe he needs to see how his actions and attitude directly hurt his team. Being benched for an inning when his team was in 1st was simply not enough of a lesson IMO.

I also think this is much different from game 7. It was easy to make excuses for Game 7, it was 1 game, they had a lot of injuries in the postseason, floyd killed them, green could have caught spezio's ball blah blah blah. This year, there are no excuses. This was a complete breakdown by the team and i find it hard to believe anyone will be thinking "tough luck, we'll get 'em next time." Only time will tell...this one will sting for these players though, for a lifetime...

[mookie03]

It's been hinted at and talked about by Gary, Keith, Ron and Kevin Burkhart all year, that there are problems in the clubhouse. It's in the comments of Lo Duca. In the comments of Wagner. In the attitude, in the level of play. In the manner of play. It's all there. They're not together.

I don't buy it. I think Lo Duca and Wagner don't know how to keep their mouths shut and keep things inside the clubhouse and that has created a bit of a divide between the players who value their privacy and those that air their problems in the media. But every clubhouse has different personalities like that, I dont think it has anything to do with why they lost.

I think it is the opposite - when teams are winning they all appear to be best friends but once they start losing, things leak. Frustration mounts. You only have to look as far as the braves to see that happening. And the Phils last year (and earlier this year). When teams lose, their frustrations get pinned on each other, but that's not WHY they lose. It just comes out in the media but certain people can't keep their mouths shut

[GaryG]

I think David Wright learned something. I think he learned that even at his young age, he has to step forward and be more of a leader and kick some ass.

[debmc]

that's funny vtmet - i didn't steal your idea, i promise

deb, only time will tell i guess. I think that some on the team (JOSE JOSE JOSE JOSE) took this season too lightly and have a lot to learn. But I also think that this team as a whole learned something. Because of what just happened, the Mets as a team will NEVER EVER be comfortable, with ANY lead. That is branded on this team forever, and no matter how big of a lead they have, 2007 will be thrown in their faces.

What's more, for this particular team, they are forever linked to this collapse and I'm pretty sure that will give them something to prove. If some of these guys make it to the HOF for their achievements, 2007 will always be a blip on their records. So while i agree about the immaturity of Reyes (and maybe a few others) who did not listen to his manager, I'm not willing to say that he simply doesn't care or that he can't grow up. Sometimes horrible things need to happen to make someone grow up and maybe this is what he needs.. Maybe he needs to see how his actions and attitude directly hurt his team. Being benched for an inning when his team was in 1st was simply not enough of a lesson IMO.

I also think this is much different from game 7. It was easy to make excuses for Game 7, it was 1 game, they had a lot of injuries in the postseason, floyd killed them, green could have caught spezio's ball blah blah blah. This year, there are no excuses. This was a complete breakdown by the team and i find it hard to believe anyone will be thinking "tough luck, we'll get 'em next time." Only time will tell...this one will sting for these players though, for a lifetime...

You make some good points, but my feeling is that they will never recover, in the form they are now, from this monumental failure.

I also think you make a good point about guys not being able to keep their mouths shut, but did you ever consider WHY they can't? And WHY what they said might have made such an impact? Where there's smoke, there's usually fire.

Take a look at Sheffield, for example. If ever there were a player who couldn't keep his mouth shut, it's him; yet he just tends to get ignored and swept under the rug. Probably because the teams he was on were together and understood that Sheff was just being Sheff. But I don't get the same sense with the Mets; and I don't think guys like Wags and LoDo would be shooting off their mouths, necessarily, if there weren't some good reasons.

Bottom line? Change is good lol!