Sunday, August 21, 2011

A Culture of Losing

You could call Saturday's loss devastating, but it would seem repetitive. The Mets have defined devestating losses over the last 3 seasons. Time after time they find ways to disappoint. It might be the BLOWpen. It might be starting pitching. It might be an inability to execute. Whatever it is the Mets are creating a culture of losing.

Don't believe me? Visit any Mets blog and look at the tone of the daily posts. Disappointment abounds. Now that's just the fan base, but the culture is evident in the performance on the field. Every team has a culture. You know when you play for the New York Giants that it's a defensive, run-first grind it out type of play. When you're on the St. Louis Cardinals you're going to play a fundementals first style.

When you're on the Mets, you're going to play disappointing baseball. There's a need for a change.

Sandy Alderson might be the answer. He might not. You may argue that calling 3 losing seasons a culture of losing is being overly dramatic. It was only 3 years ago that the Mets contended for the NL East. True but the absence of consistent playoff appearances has put the Mets in the same company of many a bottom dweller in both leagues. There's no long an expectation of winning.

There's a desire to win. There's a fire in the fan base to win. But the product on the field doesn't win.

You say the Mets were a winning team just last month. That's just the thing. It only lasts for a month. I don't have the answer for what to do to change the culture. It might be personnel. It might be the managing staff. It might be some new trainers for all I know.

But one thing is for certain. This Mets culture needs to change.

updated Sunday at 3:26 pm
Now having watched most of Sunday's game it's becoming more evident to me about this culture of losing. There are teams that get bad breaks or have a string of bad luck and then there's the Mets. If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Tie the game with late inning home runs? Let's give up not just one run, but multiple runs in the very next inning. Have a runner on 2nd and no outs? Let's fumble our way thru the inning and find new ways not to score. Double play ground ball gives you a chance to get out of serious damage? How about an error to extend the torture?

Sure this weekend is just an awful series to use as an example, but it's not like this same dissertation couldn't have been written in countless series over the past three years. We all know it and it's becoming commonplace. That has to change or the Mets will soon find themselves in the company of the Pirates and Royals in postseason apathy.

1 comment:

NJMetFan said...

Pedro Beato is the only accurate pitcher in the Mets bulpen.