You’re a Mets fan, so through history you’ve learned not only to expect the other shoe to drop, but you already feel like you’re hit with the first shoe.
You’re a Mets fan, so you instinctively see the bad and expect the worst – sort of like if a tornado was forecast and you’re preparing for it to explode while carrying a typhoon.
You’re a Mets fan, so optimism on your scale is the lowest level of pessimism.
So I guess the last thing you might want right now at 0-4 is to be told that every team in the majors last year had – at minimum – at least one four-game streak consecutive defeats. Twenty-five of the 30 teams have lost at least five in a row. And the eventual World Series champion Rangers and NL champion Diamondbacks had eight and nine losing streaks, respectively, and not early in the season. Both were on the verge of collapse and had lost confidence in August, yet were playing for a title in October.
Does this do anything for you Mets fans just beyond April Fool’s Day?
No.
How about this – the last time the Mets lost four games to open a season was also the last time they lost five games to open a season. They were led by a new coach from the Yankees coaching staff. Willie Randolph’s 2005 Mets followed 0-5 with 6-0 and ultimately finished 83-79, which would have — if such a thing existed two decades ago — tied the Mets with the Marlins for the third wild card , but would have actually pushed the Mets into the tournament because they won the season series.
So can Carlos Mendoza, who considered hiring Randolph as bench coach, offer the same kind of revival in his first year without being Aaron Boone’s consigliere?
Still nothing, Mets fans?
Is it because what makes this even sourer than usual is that the Mets’ poor start coincides with the Yankees’ strong breakout season?
The Yankees were 5-0 through Monday and trying to win their first six games of a season for the first time since 1992, so long ago that it was Buck Showalter’s first year as a major league manager. By the way, these Yankees finished 10 games under .500.
So, do you see it, Mets fans? Do you know how long a season lasts? How distorting can a single week be?
I’m not here to guarantee that everything will be fine for these Mets. I have no idea based on the information provided so far. Because we have pixels, not an image.
Am I worried about Jeff McNeil and Luis Severino? Yes, because their summary debut until 2024 is a continuum of poor performances last season.
But so is the all-around growth of Francisco Alvarez, also a 2023 transfer. Sean Manaea also has an uplifting second half with the 2023 Giants in a crushing first start Monday night.
Am I worried about Kodai Senga’s health? Yes, because it’s a shoulder capsule and the history of injuries to that part of the body is particularly concerning for a pitcher and the Mets have slowed his rehab to the point of shouting what they won’t say to out loud about their level of concern. When will it return (I’d be surprised now before mid-June) and how quickly and efficiently? And the fact that the first man to replace him, Tylor Megill, is also already ill with his own shoulder ailment, doesn’t fit into the big category.
But Edwin Diaz looks like 2022 Edwin Diaz, who was the most powerful reliever in the sport. And Starling Marte looks, at the very least, like a close replica of himself in 2022, which was hard to expect after a discouraging spring.
Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo weren’t hitting, but do even those standing under a ladder holding a black Mets fan cat think they won’t? And JD Martinez can, as a general rule, be on the roster as early as this Sunday and will likely be on the roster by the following weekend at the latest when there are still 24 weeks left on the calendar.
Conversely, Jorge Lopez, Yohan Ramirez and Michael Tonkin are not Lindor and Nimmo. There’s no doubt that they just won’t be Phil Bickford, Jeff Brigham and Dominic Leone by any other name.
You can see whatever you want, Mets fans. Good. The bad. A mix of both. We can believe that the 0-4 was revealing or illusory. But it’s probably not enough to know what it is most about – as it wasn’t the case for the 1992 Yankees or the 2005 Mets. Each team will be 0-4 at one point this year – probably worse. The good will win. The bad guys won’t do it. Hell, the 1998 Yankees started 0-3 and 1-4 and does anyone remember how that ended?
I’m sure I’m not watching the 1998 Yankees in the 2024 Mets. I’m much less sure if I’m witnessing a bad start or a bad team.
New York Post
