A friend of mine has a buddy from high school who’s now a Fed Ex driver working the Queens route. Turns out he delivered a package to that office building beyond the William Shea Bridge a couple of days back – a package that was routinely x-rayed as random packages are under orders of the TSA in Washington. The package was sent via air from a small trading company located on the outskirts of Tokyo which has apparently been in business since the days of previous emporer. Well, the word around the Fed Ex depot was this: inside the package was a set of finely-honed, razor-sharp ritual hari kari knives, marked with the unmistakeable seal of the infamous Yan-Kee Dynasty. Vicious instruments of self-destruction, but they posed no security threat and Fed Ex was duty-bound to deliver them to the corporate desk between McFadden’s and the Bullpen Gate, just across the block from Tony Soprano’s Auto Parts and JFK Freight Delivery.
And someone signed for them. Name? Omar Minaya.
What, you were expecting a Wilpon? Please, those dudes still have a real estate empire. The Mets and their hired baseball executive in chief? Not so much.
And as the team heads for .500 from the wrong direction, even my 86-win over/under line seems optimistic. Yeah I know, Beltran’s jogging and Daniel Murphy – the unappreciated regular who hit 38 doubles last year, fans – is playing at 80 percent. But consider these developments:
- David Wright has become a strikeout machine, apparently not the same hitter since his hideous beaning last year. Still mildly productive, but no longer the franchise. You’re surprised when he comes through.
- Jose Reyes is a shadow of his former self – or rather, he appears to have regressed to the over-anxious and undisciplined rookie he once was. Will he ever level out that swing? Will Manuel ever bat him lead-off again where he belongs?
- My call on the Mets outfield as “potentially as good as any in the league” looks as pretty as the garbage swirling around the weird May wind-tunnel that Citi Field became. Bay is a bust. Francoeur a streak hitter who can no longer remember his last streak. Pagan, a fan favorite, is a brilliant fourth outfielder and not a reilable lead-off man.
- The once-mighty bullpen is falling apart. K-Rod is no Goose Gossage. Pedro’s not an eighth inning guy. And who can explain the love affair with Nieve.
- And, of course, the ever-fragile starters – a group that now, sadly, includes Johan Santana.
This team is Ike Davis, Rod Barajas and a bunch of under-achievers playing in a stadium with the largest attendance drop-off in the major leagues.
Of course, management predictably ignored the one big piece of positive mojo on this Mets team – the outspoken catcher’s public sentiment on Arizona’s hateful anti-immigrant law…and its effect on the team’s Latin American players. No, Fred Wilpon won’t have his team wear their “Los Mets” jerseys in Arizona as a gutsy statement that echoes the comments of Barajas that the Arizona hate law will make Hispanic players afraid to walk the streets in Phoenix. This despite the fact that Mets had 18 foreign-born players on their opening day roster this season, the most in Major League history.
In ignoring Arizona’s blatantly race-based legislation, Wilpon and his son Jeff are basically spitting on the legacy of Jackie Robinson, the man they honored with their ballpark’s handsome rotunda. No accident the Mets began to rise when Barajas – clearly the conscience of this team – spoke out.
So here comes .500. And the Mets season is swirling like the hot dog wrappers behind home plate.
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