The Tortoise and the Hare

By Stefi Kaplan
Posted Monday, October 1, 2007

This season was unbelievable. We saw some of the worst stretches of baseball this franchise has endured in decades and we have seen some of the greatest wins imaginable. In the end, it has all come down to the most horrid collapse this franchise has ever witnessed and the entire season was reduced to a single day. The fact that the Mets and Phillies were in this position entering the last weekend of the season is nothing short of a miracle, and not of the variety on which our mystical team was founded.

We all know the age-old fable that Aesop instilled upon us, but none of us would have predicted in April that Aesop’s words would apply to the 2007 NL East pennant race. But looking back, the Mets have spent all of 2007 as the “Hare” while the Phillies have been the “Tortoise.”

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. May finished with the Mets holding a record of 34-18 and an 8.5 game lead over the third place Phillies.

Cue the injury bug. Cue the offensive breakdown. Cue interleague play. All of the sudden, the Amazins’ found themselves in a 3-week long slump that should have pushed them into second place. But while they were busy trying to hand back the division lead, the Phillies were limping along as usual, playing just a few games over .500, which was not enough to grab the division. The Mets remained in first place.

And the Mets would remain in first place until the 160th game of the season, despite playing under .500 in the entire second half. The team was just coasting to the finish line, taking several naps along the way (in the form of five-game losing streaks) but doing just enough to stave off the rising Phillies. Then, the last two weeks of September, the Mets started to realize that just like the Hare, they had overlooked their competition. They had let down just a little too much and despite the notion that April games count just as much as games in September, the Mets forgot how to win games in September and coughed up a steady seven game lead in the last two weeks of the season. Just like the Hare, they could not compensate for their oversight.

Meanwhile, the Phillies, who were 3 games under .500 in April, finished every other month just a few games over .500. They were never spectacular and they were almost always under the radar, but they kept trudging along through the dog days of summer, never trimming the lead enough and never falling too far behind. Then, while the Hare was groggy from its midseason nap, the Tortoise limped right on up to the finish line, hoping to leave the Hare in its dust.

And they limped right across the finish line on the 162nd game of the season: September 30, 2007.

But of course, that is an oversimplification of the Mets season, by a lot. The Mets fought a downpour of injuries: to starters, backups, backups to the backups and AA players that became the backups to the backups to the backups. Unreal. And although the Mets probably did not play their toughest baseball all 162 games this year, the collapse in September is more likely attributable to a complete collapse of the pitching staff than solely to a miscalculation of the competition.

But the Mets clearly entered the season with an expectation that was created by the magic of 2006 and perpetuated by another strong start in April. It seemed like the team knew it could win the division, so it took certain elements of the season for granted. But even more glaring was the difference in the fans this year. If the Mets themselves had higher expectations, the fans had an heir of entitlement to that higher level of play. Fans booed mercilessly at home, assuming that the Mets just weren’t trying hard enough if they didn’t achieve 2006-like success. Fans scoffed at the idea that the Phillies could threaten their iconic Mets and felt that the division was all but wrapped up heading into June, just like last year.

We, as fans, were too confident. The Mets underestimated the strength of their opponent. Looking at the mediocrity of the majority of the Phillies’ season, it’s hard to blame them. But in the end, the Mets found themselves in the rare position of looking up at the first place team on Saturday, a position that seemed a complete impossibility as recently as ten days earlier.

I’m not suggesting that the Mets did not give 100% into this season. In fact, at least recently, I think the Mets tried too hard at times, which led to their downfall. But the attitude emanating from the clubhouse and from the Shea faithful suggested that the Mets were expected to exceed their success of last year. And the Phillies were discounted due to their history of failure.

And in the end, the Tortoise came limping right across the finish line, leaving the Mets in their dust.
But, like all fables, the Tortoise and the Hare has a valuable moral, one I fully expect the Mets to mull over during the offseason. While it is advantageous to jump out to an early lead in the season, you still have to play hard for 162 games. Despite the stinging loss, I think the lesson has been learned through this embarrassing and historical collapse. You can never overlook the team in your rear view mirror no matter how far away it appears to be. Because in the end, if you are not careful, slow and steady wins the race.

I think the Mets have learned a lot about themselves this month. And while those lessons were not quite enough to overcome the complete breakdown the pitching has endured, I fully expect the Mets to bounce back hard in 2008. It's not the worst thing in the world for this team to be experiencing a reality check, particularly one for the fans. After all, this franchise was built on the Lovable Losers of 1962 and the team has almost never been the front runner in its history. Let another team be the Hare next year, as the Mets have always been more comfortable in the role of the Tortoise, even if it wasn't always enough to win the race.
 

Catch Stefi Kaplan at You Can't Script Baseball when she's not writing for FU.

Willie and the $17M dollar man have little to celebrate after this year. Related info: Discuss In Our Forums