David Wright may be a player but he thinks like a fan. What fan can not appreciate Wright’s feelings about winning and losing? David had the following to say after a loss a couple of nights ago to the Braves - "It bothers me because this is what my passion is. I take a lot of pride in what I do. So it definitely bothers me. I sleep a lot easier when we win. After a game when we lose and we play poorly, you go through different situations in your mind. And it definitely bothers me and gets under my skin. There are a lot of times I take what I do on the field home with me. I guess in a way that's a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because you want to care and you want to take pride in what you do. It's a bad thing because you play so many games that sometimes that can wear on you."

Without ever having stepped on a Major League baseball field (not true, I once walked on Fenway Park’s hallowed ground) I know exactly what David feels like. Every passionate Mets fan knows exactly what David is feeling. And I agree with David, I would hope every Mets player feels exactly the same way. David lives and dies with his team. So do we. Right now David Wright is likely the only Met who would be invited to have dinner with any Mets fan. The rest of the team would have to wait outside.

When you see Jose Reyes laughing in the dugout of a game that is already lost it makes you wonder why we put out money down for tickets. You wonder where the passion is when Luis Castillo doesn’t charge a ground ball allowing a runner to reach base. You can’t believe your eyes when a Major League player the level of Carlos Beltran runs to third when the ball is hit in front of him effectively taking the Mets out of a rally. You see player after player not hustling, almost going through the motions yet the manager continues to preach staying the course and not to panic.

Maybe in the long run Willie Randolph is correct. Maybe the Mets will win a vast majority of their remaining games and we will look back on these last two weeks and wonder why we were so upset. All I know is right now the team looks pathetic, a defeated team that has no idea how to get itself motivated. And the injuries just keep on mounting. As I write this Marlon Anderson has just come up lame running out a ball to first base. Moises Alou is back on the disabled list. Pedro Martinez is understandably with his ailing father in the Dominican Republic delaying his return to the big club. Orlando Hernandez may see action by December at the rate he’s going and Ryan Church is day to day as he recovers from a mild concussion. If the Mets somehow rebound from all this and contend for a playoff spot then maybe the team does have the caring and passion that David Wright has. Time will tell as time begins to run out.