Why can’t we just all get along? I’m talking about the fans and the players. The fervor over Carlos Delgado not giving a curtain call continues. Surprisingly most in the media are siding with Delgado. I side with him too. Not because it was a statement to the fans. Because it is a ridiculous thing to still be discussing for two days. Really, who cares? I’m just glad he hit two homeruns and the Mets won the game.
Why are Mets fans booing so much is the question. The answer is a simple one. The fans are still stung by what happened last year. And if anyone doesn’t understand that then here’s a history lesson. There have been two times in baseball history the Mets owned the city baseball wise. In the late 1960s to early 1970s and from the mid to late 80s, the Mets were king. Those were the only years in which Mets fans could proudly walk down any street in the metropolitan area wearing their Mets gear without fear of ridicule. In the time between and currently the Yankees rule. While the Mets have won 2 World Series since 1962, the Yankees have won 7. While the Mets made the post season 7 times and the World Series 4 times, the Yankees have been in the post season a staggering 21 times since ’62 and have appeared in 11 World Series. So in a city Mets fans must share with Yankee fans, their arch enemy’s team is a post season machine.
The last 13 years have been the worst. There has not been a season since 1993 (no post season in ’94) that did not feature the Yankees in October. Even when the Mets made the playoffs in 1999 and 2000, they took a back seat to the Yankees. The only year Mets fans could make the claim their team was better than the Yankees was in 2006. Both clubs won their divisions with identical 97-65 records. But the Mets actually went further into the playoffs than the Yankees who were defeated in the first round. That’s it.
Then to add insult to injury, the Mets poised to win back to back division titles for the first time in team history did the impossible. They blew a 7 game lead with 17 games left to play. My hands tremble even as I type this staggering fact. I consider myself a very level headed fan and yet I still feel a pit in my stomach when I think about last season. And mind you when I am at Shea I do not boo the home team.
Being a fan of a team probably involves some tribal trait that is still held in our genes. Rooting is nothing new. It is just manifested differently in modern times. There are two things that make a good baseball fan, love of a team and knowledge of the game. In
Perhaps players can say that fans need to walk a mile in their shoes but maybe the players need to walk a mile in ours. We, the fans of the New York Mets, have suffered mightily over the years. True not as much as other fans but never the less we have suffered. The Mets have not won the World Series since 1986. Like 1969, we thought this would become a common occurrence. It didn’t. There have been 14 other teams to win the World Series since the Mets did it last. Four of those teams did it multiple times and of course the Yanks won 4 times. While there are fans of 8 teams who have waited longer and fans of 8 other teams who have never experienced it, it’s hard to fathom that a franchise with the revenue of the Mets have not been more successful. But what can you do? Rooting for a team involves risk. All you can do is root for your team. There is no guarantee they will succeed.
Personally I think booing solves nothing. It only makes it harder for the players you root for to succeed. They are only human you know, even if they possess tremendous skill and make unimaginable money. Booing should be reserved for the player that is obviously dogging it. But when players try and fail, they should be cheered for their effort. That will only have a positive result. So while I understand the need for Mets fans to boo right now, I don’t agree with it. Booing is not going to help your team attain the goal you so want them to reach.
One more thing, baseball is not football. The Mets have played only 24 games so far. They have played in bad weather. They have lost Pedro Martinez and Moises Alou to injuries. Brian Schneider has yet to play consistently because of various maladies. Ramon Castro is still out with a hamstring injury and who knows if we will ever see Orlando Hernandez again. Their top hitters including Reyes, Wright, and Beltran have been struggling and yet the Mets are still a couple of games over .500 and only a game and half out of first place. The way Mets fans have been carrying on, you would think the Mets were in last place by 10 games. We need to be patient. Right now the class of the National League is
Update - I had to add this. The following quote is from an article from MLB.COM today in regards to the Red Sox 400 plus straight sellouts -
"It (the fans) helps you win ballgames," said closer Jonathan Papelbon. "It helps you when you're dragging late in the ballgame. When the intensity of the fans comes up, it helps you win games, no doubt. It shows you that they're committed, so we have to be committed. We feed right off of our fans, there's no doubt."
There's a lesson for us boo-birds, don't you think?
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