It never gets any less painful

This is a piece I wrote for our Shea Faithful Myspace page which consists of almot 500 Mets fans and counting,all devastated. It's just a game my ass! I feel like shit.

After attending 60 Mets games, I'm left wanting so much more.


The one win that never came...

Hi everyone.

This past week of games I've attended have been some of the darkest days I've seen at Shea. A lot of people have been comparing it to a slow death. It's hard to disagree. I always had faith that they would get that one timely hit. Or make that one big pitch. In all likely hood, that's all it would have taken for us to make post season plans. Instead, everything went against us. And I mean everything. Was it fate? To witness this 'epic collapse'? Maybe. But I don't want to get into that aspect. This is baseball. We needed to step up and we didn't. We needed to show some moxy and sadly, we didn't. So now, we're returning playoff tickets and reversing plans we made to watch them. How tragic.

Who is to blame for this? I think everyone shares that burden. The bullpen, the starters, the lineup, the front office. They all combined to hand the division to the Phillies. And that's what this division was, HANDED OVER. And that's the most disappointing way to go. I must admit, going back to that town, which I don't like to begin with, is going to be difficult to say the least. Who am I kidding? They'll be thinking about off-season Eagles news by then anyway.

You see, if a valiant effort fell short, we'd all be sad, but we'd also hold our heads up high as fans. But with the lead we had and the chances that we squandered (we'll be thinking about every one of them this winter, one at a time) it's impossible to feel at all fondly of such a heartbreaking ending.

I wrote a similar goodbye bulletin after last year's game 7 and was devastated while doing it. Now, I feel a different kind of sickness. I can't really describe it. It's a little bit of disbelief blended with the feeling of a worst fear coming to fruition.

I mean I was sitting there today, motionless with a few thousand other fans, in utter shock that this would be our last ballgame we'd attend for 6 long months.
Coldplay was blasting through the speakers. "No one ever said it was easy' were some of the lyrics. Ya think? Is it ever easy being a Mets fan. No. Nor will it ever be. Which is why we're the greatest fans in all of MLB. Sure some of them are too tough on their players, but they care more than anyone. Yes, anyone. Northeast baseball fans matter most. Where the game has ALWAYS been. And we suffer, but keep coming back.

So no more scoreboard watching. I hated that aspect, especially seeing that the Phillies beat the basement teams we couldn't. No more checking scenarios. A lot of people blame this on heart and chemistry in the clubhouse and while I'm still very hesitant to point that as a reason (pitching...) you can certainly make a better argument now that the Mets will have an early vacation.

A 7 run first inning...Unbelievable!

None of us here are front runners or fair weather fans. Just a bunch of loyal, foolish and devastated die hards. So take in that pain. Embrace the pit in your stomach. Avoid the playoffs or sports talk radio if you choose to. Change the channel when you see Steve phillips on Baseball Tonight. Make up your own solutions and reasons for the Mets demise and rest up.
God willing, next year will come before you know it and we'll do it all over again. This time, with better results.

Our season didn't come. But all we can do as a fan is hope for better days.
I'm so sad that after so many games that I've attended and watched on television, it all comes to a close. What to do till then? i suppose I'll dwell on that one more win that never came.

We love you guys. And we'll always be around, getting ready for 08. This time, with an even bigger chip on our shoulders.

Jaime