“The Sky is Not Falling!!!” I repeat, “The Sky is Not Falling!!!”
Clearly yesterday’s Opening Day loss was an omen of what is to
come this season, a dreadful 90 loss campaign that will have even the
most loyal, diehard fans storming the gates of CitiField with torches
and pitchforks demanding the Wilpons’ heads on silver
platters. If you don’t agree, then surely the news this morning that
Parnell is going on the DL (and let’s face it, is probably done for the
season) is the sign of the Mets apocalypse. Repent Mets fans. The end
isn’t near, it is here, even though we’ve only just begun. Here’s SNY’s
Chris Carlin’s tweet from earlier today: Sandy wants to “change the
conversation” Day 1 – bad loss, and major injury. Same conversation.
Horrible luck. Brutal loss.
I get it. In this day and age of Twitter, 24/7 sports talk, team-owned TV stations, people like Carlin, Francesa, Michael Kay have to fill their time by often making something out of nothing. Loud Mouths on SNY isn’t much of a show
if you don’t have something to argue about. The past two years when
the Mets have won on Opening Day, I’ve driven home listening to Francesa
talk not about how the Mets won, but what a joke it was they claimed
the game was a sell out when he could see so many empty seats on TV.
You have to push people’s buttons, and what better way to do that than
point to yesterday’s loss as a portent of things to come. I, however,
would like to try and be a little more rational.
Let’s put yesterday’s loss in perspective. The Mets have the all-time best winning percentage on Opening Day. What has that gotten us in our 50+ years of existence? 23 winning seasons, 7 playoff appearances, 4 World Series appearances, and 2 WS championships. Clearly our success on Opening Day has never translated to overall success, so if winning on Opening Day hasn’t meant all that much to us as a franchise, why does losing yesterday have to mean all that much? Secondly, last time I looked, 15 teams lost (or will lose as some teams open today) on Opening Day, including Boston, Atlanta, and Texas, all teams predicted to be in the playoff hunt. The Yankees, having spent about $3 trillion this offseason, lost tonight to the Astros, a team that managed all of 51 wins last year, a team that has had 3 consecutive 100-loss seasons (move over Mets fans, we’ve got to make room on the ledge for the Yankee fans who want to join us). In “Bull Durham”, Crash Davis told Nuke LaLoosh that he had to learn his clichés, so let’s throw a few out there. One loss does not a season make (unless it’s Game 162 of the Red Sox 2011 season, but that’s an entirely different situation). The baseball season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Now isn’t the time to panic (although as I type that I hear Sherriff Woody shout, ”This is the perfect time to panic!!!”).
Look, the Mets play 27 games in March/April. If we get to April 30th and our record sits at 10-17, maybe I’ll start to sing with the chorus that began chirping the second Parnell gave up the game-tying hit yesterday. Who knows, maybe those people heading for the lifeboats are the smart ones and I’m just the idiot playing in the band on the deck of the Titanic. But rather than add my voice to the list of naysayers, I’d like to hope that yesterday’s loss, to quote Monty Python, was merely a flesh wound. Regardless, I was there yesterday to witness the game, and as always, win or lose, I was just happy to be in the park.
I get it. In this day and age of Twitter, 24/7 sports talk, team-owned TV stations, people like Carlin, Francesa, Michael Kay have to fill their time by often making something out of nothing. Loud Mouths on SNY isn’t much of a show
if you don’t have something to argue about. The past two years when
the Mets have won on Opening Day, I’ve driven home listening to Francesa
talk not about how the Mets won, but what a joke it was they claimed
the game was a sell out when he could see so many empty seats on TV.
You have to push people’s buttons, and what better way to do that than
point to yesterday’s loss as a portent of things to come. I, however,
would like to try and be a little more rational.Let’s put yesterday’s loss in perspective. The Mets have the all-time best winning percentage on Opening Day. What has that gotten us in our 50+ years of existence? 23 winning seasons, 7 playoff appearances, 4 World Series appearances, and 2 WS championships. Clearly our success on Opening Day has never translated to overall success, so if winning on Opening Day hasn’t meant all that much to us as a franchise, why does losing yesterday have to mean all that much? Secondly, last time I looked, 15 teams lost (or will lose as some teams open today) on Opening Day, including Boston, Atlanta, and Texas, all teams predicted to be in the playoff hunt. The Yankees, having spent about $3 trillion this offseason, lost tonight to the Astros, a team that managed all of 51 wins last year, a team that has had 3 consecutive 100-loss seasons (move over Mets fans, we’ve got to make room on the ledge for the Yankee fans who want to join us). In “Bull Durham”, Crash Davis told Nuke LaLoosh that he had to learn his clichés, so let’s throw a few out there. One loss does not a season make (unless it’s Game 162 of the Red Sox 2011 season, but that’s an entirely different situation). The baseball season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Now isn’t the time to panic (although as I type that I hear Sherriff Woody shout, ”This is the perfect time to panic!!!”).
Look, the Mets play 27 games in March/April. If we get to April 30th and our record sits at 10-17, maybe I’ll start to sing with the chorus that began chirping the second Parnell gave up the game-tying hit yesterday. Who knows, maybe those people heading for the lifeboats are the smart ones and I’m just the idiot playing in the band on the deck of the Titanic. But rather than add my voice to the list of naysayers, I’d like to hope that yesterday’s loss, to quote Monty Python, was merely a flesh wound. Regardless, I was there yesterday to witness the game, and as always, win or lose, I was just happy to be in the park.
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