Take a Breath

By Tom "Mr. Star" Starita
Posted Thursday, June 21, 2007

If this was a video game, the reset button would have been smashed. If this was stickball in the school yard, mercy would have been declared and sides would be chosen up again. Hell, if this was checkers against your brother someone would have flipped the board over.

Unfortunately for Mets fans, none of the above scenarios apply to the current state of the Metropolitans. (To channel Steve Sommers for a second) Instead, all we can do is have patience and hope a hot streak begins tonight.

In the meantime, the past two and a half weeks have begun to test the patience of some of the fan base. Columnists such as Joel Sherman, Bill Madden and Filip Bondy are beginning to question the makeup of the team or the moves Omar Minaya made in the off-season. Even the clubhouse chemistry is now potentially a problem, if you listened to Mike and the Mad Dog on Tuesday. Right now we’ve gone from BTO – Takin Care of Business to

Oh brother I can't, I can't get through
I've been trying hard to reach you, cause I don't know what to do
Oh brother I can't believe it's true
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you
You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?

Coldplay – Talk

I want you to take a deep breath and visualize all of the frustrating moments of this month. It started on a Sunday when Oliver Perez went from a potential no hitter to losing the rubber game against Arizona. After that, the bullpen failures in getting swept by Philadelphia. Followed immediately by the starting pitching collapsing on Saturday and Sunday in Detroit. Rolling into a sweep in LA, then another Saturday and Sunday where the starting rotation couldn’t get outs against the Yankees. The pinnacle of such abominable play was Tuesday night against Johan and the Twins. Every out we made was either right at someone or on the warning track. Conversely, they singled us to death, combined with our own atrocious play in the field equals a 9-0 embarrassment.

Perhaps you’re wondering why I felt the need to type the above paragraph? Do we need any more reminders of how ugly the month of June has been? I say yes, yes you do. You need to understand how we have only won four games this month, a stretch reminding us of the September road trip of 2005 or the August home stand of hell in 2002. You need to appreciate the offense not hitting, the Carloses going MIA, the bullpen collapsing, the starting rotation checking in and out depending on the day or the lineup. Most of all, you need to remember the standings on May 31, 2007.

New York.....34-18
Atlanta........30-23.....4.5
Phillies.........26-27.....8.5

Now look at the standings on June 20, 2007

New York.....38-31
Atlanta........38-34.....1.5
Phillies.........37-34.....2.0

In a month where the Mets have only won four times, we are still in first place. Our arch rival, the team everyone fears, the Atlanta Braves, gained three games. As for the Phillies, sure they got hot, but hot is a relative term. For them hot means one game under 500 to three games over and gaining 6.5 games in the standings.

More good news…

We are almost finished with the hardest stretch in Mets team history. After tonight we have three with Oakland and four with St. Louis at home, before traveling to Philadelphia for a four game series (doubleheader on Saturday). The first half concludes with four in Colorado and three in Houston. After that, there is no real back breaking stretch on the schedule. The longest road trip comes at the end of August, four in Philadelphia, three in Atlanta and three in Cincinnati.

What this team has to do is make it to the All Star break in first place. A half game lead, a five game lead, whatever the number is, as long as the word, “lead” follows directly behind.

In the meantime, there is one positive to come from the month of June. Actually, positive doesn’t do him justice. Breakthrough might wind up being the more appropriate word. While Moises Alou and Endy Chavez rest up, Carlos Gomez is quickly becoming a major league ball player. The 'at bat' which, if he does wind up being something special, signaled it in my mind was last Saturday against Mariano Rivera. Down two strikes, two outs and down five runs everyone figured the game was over. But the kid battled, got the count even and hit one back up the box to drive in a run and temporarily keep the game going.

The theme for the next couple of weeks is survival. Survive the poor play, the injuries and the negativity starting to gather in the media. In many ways this reminds me of the Braves back in the late nineties and early part of the century, where around this time they always looked vulnerable. If the Mets could only get hot they could finally pass them. Unfortunately, the Mets always let the window close and the Braves wound up pulling away. If I’m a Phillies or Braves fan you have to be kind of nervous. First place is sitting right there, waiting to be taken over and yet neither team can get over the hill. Pretty soon, the Mets will straighten the ship (hopefully starting tonight with Oliver), Omar will import an arm or a bat or both (goodbye Lastings) and most importantly the MAN comes back.

This is the part in the 2007 DVD where the sad music is being played over a montage of injured faces, frustrated fans and mistakes in the field. Then Gary’s voice will perk up, signaling that the stretch was not a permanent one. For although right now the lyrics of “Talk” might apply, these lyrics are even more appropriate.

When you're down is where you know yourself
That if you're drown there's nothing else
When you're lost you need to find yourself
Then you'll find out that there's no-one else

Take a breath
Take a deep breath now

David Gilmour – Take a Breath

* * *

All Tom’s been doing for the past three weeks is breathing and muttering the occasional curse word. But as long as Art Howe doesn’t show up he feels confident that the team will right the ship. If you want to thank him for lifting your spirits or make the “you know how I know your gay” joke from 40 year old Virgin email him at MrStarita@yahoo.com. As always chime in with your two cents in the FU forums.