Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

Yankees-Dodgers.

Some of the best players in the game.

Extra Innings.

A Walk-Off Grand Slam 10th inning lead change.

 

Well, for baseball, that’s the script.  We’ll see how much Baseball Is Back after that one, but this is the shot in the arm the sport actually needs.

I’m not sure baseball has solved its problem of late starts and games too long – I understand the game went to extras, but I actually fell asleep 3x after the 7th inning (woken up by Joe Davis) and even fell asleep in the 10th inning.  Fortunately I woke up to see the bases were loaded and there were 2 outs, so I did catch the grand slam and Joe’s meh call.  (Better than Gary Cohen doing his John Sterling impression, nowhere near as good as Jack Buck’s Kirk Gibson call.)

Also, can someone explain Ken Rosenthal to me?  I’m sure he’s lovely and The Baseball Mafia seems to love him, but I don’t get him as a TV personality.

Anyway, baseball was back for 4 hours – tonight should be fun.

 

Look, there’s only one The Franchise, and he has a statue. Let’s not start getting nutty here.

NJ.com reports:  There is a petition circulating the internet calling for the Mets to put up a statue of former catcher Mike Piazza in front of Citi Field around the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and his home run.

Some users on Reddit don’t agree with the proposal.

“No,” one person wrote. “It was a great HR but I don’t want to think about 9/11 every time I go to a game. It was traumatic enough when it happened.”

“Not appropriate and kind of insulting to people who died or lost family members that day,” wrote another. “And I say that as a huge Piazza fan. It was a special moment but it doesn’t deserve a statue. Let’s not make 9/11 about the Mets.”

I personally have the very unpopular opinion that the home run is the most overrated home run in the history of baseball.  I watched that game that night and felt nothing.   I wasn’t over the shock.  If it meant something to you, that’s fine, but I think it was just another home run.  What if Mark Johnson or Desi Relaford had hit it?

On the statue front, let’s not get crazy.  We put a Piazza statue then we will start looking for excuses for a David Wright statue (of what?) and we’ll have an Endy Chavez and one of Matt Harvey with a bloody nose and we’ll have watered the entire thing down – kinda like Al Leiter being in the Mets Hall of Fame for some reason.

Now, if you guys wanna make a state of THIS, I would be on board.  Fans could be reminded that the SS doesn’t like them as they enter the stadium.

By the way, first of frequent reminders that Steve Cohen is now in Year 5 of the 3 to 5 Year Plan to win the World Series.

At Steve Cohen’s introductory press conference he said:

“I’m not in this for a short-term fix.  I don’t want to be good one year and bad three. I want to be good every year. That’s the goal, and the team I want to build.

“If we don’t win [a World Series] in the next three to five years, I’d consider that slightly disappointing.”

Slightly?  Steve, I will consider this MAJORLY disappointing.  We could have kept the Wilpons around to not sign Ohtani and to win the third Wild Card.

Let’s all go back in time to when the fans through out the Uncle Steve nickname.  If I told you then that on January 1, 2026 the Mets would have won ZERO rings, you would be surprised, wouldn’t you?  If I told you Ohtani hit free agency and supposedly Steve didn’t even pick up the phone to try and sign the guy (Can that possibly be true???)

So no more excuses.   We’re in Year 5 of the 3 to 5 year mission.  It’s Ring Or Bust.   Steve can be Slightly Disappointed if the 2025 Mets don’t win it all, but it’s a massive waste of potential.

 

This season was a failure.

(OK calm the hell down and notice the title of this article and go read this one and then come back.)

If you look at it, the failure begins with Steve Cohen’s seeming unwillingness to call Ohtani’s agent.  What kind of WannaBeGeorgeSteinbrenner doesn’t even TRY to get Ohtani.  Well, Ohtani is in the World Series and the Mets aren’t.

The Mets won the THIRD Wild Card.   What are you going to do, hang a “NLDS Championship” banner at Citi Field?   That’s kind of lame.  Just let it be a nice unexpected summer, but it doesn’t deserve to make the wall.

How do I define success?  Win the World Series (while nicely dressed.)

It took me about an hour last night to remember what happened between the Braves doubleheader and the Phillies series.  Oh yeah, a three game series against the Brewers.  The one in which Pete Alonso got jammed but he’s such a giant that the ball happened to barely make it to the smallest part of the park and a legend was made.   It wasn’t exactly Carlton Fisk.

I believe it was Anthony S (@RealMetman) on twitter who last week used the word “gimmick.”  The 2024 Mets were a gimmick team.   Sure we made weiner jokes, and the Grimace was fun, and I’m not sure anyone who isn’t on the Mets actually gave a hoot about OMG but whatever.

It seemed like after August 1st every other team decided to be inept.  No matter who the Mets played, the opponent was unable to play 9 innings of baseball (see the Braves weekend and the Brewers and Phillies series for  good examples).   So the Gimmicks somehow kept going, scaring by on tape and glue and luck, inept opponent bullpens, and Pete Alonso getting jammed.

Then the Mets ran into Ohtani and the Dodgers.

The whole point of having Steve Cohen was to sign the premier Free Agents, wasn’t it?   We weren’t supposed to play Moneyball while David Stearns looks smug.

Did the Mets win the World Series?  No.   It’s another failed season.    This list is getting long.

1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994*, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.

Oh, and just to kick you in the shins Steve –  Brand Y across town, they are in the World Series.

 

Somewhere along the way, everyone forgot that this year was part of The Secret Rebuild.   Second Choice Manager Carlos Mendoza who looked like he might not make it to May 1st, might as well be named Manager For Life now (players like him, and he can handle the media, and the results were there.).

While I have made it no secret that I did not like some of the humans who were the 2024 Mets, I am happy for those of you who had a great summer.  These are definitely not MY Mets, but they are somebody’s Mets, and I really hope you enjoyed the ride.  You got to enjoy three weeks of October baseball, which even in the era of 40% of teams making the playoffs is kinda rare here in Queens.

Take it in, enjoy the moment.  Celebrate the great unexpected ride you got to take.   I have preached to my children (really) to always enjoy the good moments, as you never know what life will bring.

(You won’t like my next post.)