Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Games 10 through 12 - Mets
We Might Be Able to Accept This from Worthy Adversaries . . . But Pirates?

Pirates 7, Mets 6
Pirates 2, Mets 1
Pirates 8, Mets 1
Record: 5-7

Once again I cast a pall over the potential for wins against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a pessimistic post; once again my prognosticating powers were proven quite potent. Instead of sweeping or even winning this series, the Mets fumbled, bumbled, and stumbled their way to handing the mighty Bucs all three games. At home. Even as I type this a day removed from the third and final insult, I am shaking my head in disbelief. I'm hopeful the Mets are shaking this debacle off and focusing on beating the 2-10 Expos over the next four days. But as long as I must recap the carnage, I can compact it into a neat, little package of hideousness.

What's the most distressing part of flagging the homestand this weekend?

1. Orber Moreno and Mike Stanton facing 5 batters during the crucal 8th inning of Game 1 and retiring none of them. Bullpen . . . weakening . . .
2. Allowing a 7-run inning just a week removed from an 11-run inning.
3. Scraping together just four hits against Oliver Perez and a cast of has-beens in Game 2.
4. Watching Jose Freakin' Mesa collect saves against the Mets in consecutive games.
5. Seeing the formerly white-hot Mike Piazza's BA dip to .267 and falling.
6. Jae "Seo Last Year" taking another beating, this time in a starting role.
7. Having the following lineup pound out 17 hits Sunday: Tike Redman, Jack Wilson, Jason Kendall, Raul Mondesi, Randall Simon, Craig Wilson, Bobby Hill, Chris Stynes. Not exactly Stargell, Parker, and the family, or even Bonds, Bonilla and the boys.
8. Having the Braves rebound and leapfrog the Mets after sweeping the Marlins.
9. Being swept by the Pirates at Shea for the first time in 10 years. (I don't like any comparisons to those Mets.)
10. That seeping, sinking feeling that we aren't that good and will be in for another grueling year.

That last one is obviously the killer, though the multiple-personality Mets have us going series to series with a swing that's mirroring the current temperature pinball on the East Coast. The cold rain / hot sun pendulum we've experienced makes people get sick, and the Mets' fluctuation between squad of stars and band of idiots is starting to have the same effect. True, the ups and downs may even out to a .500 record, which could be deemed a successful season by preseason standards, but all that up and down will surely make me ill.