Appreciation At The Rapture

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The 2011 season has given us many fond memories already and it’s not even Memorial Day. Since roughly 4% of certifiably batshit humans prepared for the end of the world last weekend, the rest of us should take a moment to realistically appreciate what we have: a Mets season and team that we can root for.

Fight

Let’s face it; this team began spring training with distractions and massive issues on and off the field. The truth about the Madoff/Wilpon connection had just come out…questions swirled over the legitimacy of the team’s chances after an awful year and no additions made in the off-season…Reyes and Beltran were entering contract years…Johan was rendered all but out for the season. This was a mediocre team that had every reason to flush themselves out of contention by May. But despite it all, the Mets sit at .500 after 44 games  - even with David Wright, Ike Davis, Angel Pagan, Jason Bay and Chris Young missing significant time with injuries.

The New York/Buffalo Mets

As much as we all miss Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo and Jose Valentin, it’s nice to see some players on the field that look like they actually want to be on the field. The fact that they are coming in the form of Mets’ farmhands and are actually contributing at the major league level just makes it even sweeter.

The homegrown arms have been vital this season. Pedro Beato has been lights-out. Dillon Gee and Jonathon Niese have been solid all season, Bobby Parnell was throwing bb’s before he got hurt and even Mike “LaLoosh” Pelfrey is showing signs that he might be coming around.

Guys like Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada, Josh Thole, Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Fernando Martinez have all contributed and have done admirable jobs with their roles they were forced into.

Izzy Dead?

It’s tough to expect Jason Isringhausen to continue performing at this high level given his age and injury history, but even if it ends tomorrow, we can say he had his moment of the season in game 1 against the Yankees in the Bronx. Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8^th inning, Izzy retired Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano in order.

Izzy now has pitched 15 innings during his second stint with the Mets with an ERA of 1.80, a 0.87 WHIP and 13 strikeouts through the first 44 games… and dammit, that’s not bad.

Omar Who?

The fans were sick from watching overpaid and underperforming players. This current team competes and plays every game hard – two compliments that were never even considered for the sleepwalking Minaya teams of the last 4 years.  Kudos to GM Sandy Alderson for cleaning house and removing the Omar-stank quickly and quietly.

Big Years

Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis and Francisco Rodriguez have put together fantastic starts to their seasons and have played huge roles in getting the Mets to .500.

Selig Claiming the Dodgers

You know what this means. No one has paid more attention to Selig’s jacking of Frank McCourt’s Dodgers than Fred Wilpon. The sooner MLB forces Wilpon to sell the team, the sooner a new owner can be found to hopefully provide the common sense, intelligence and integrity that is nowhere to be found under the Wilpons re.

Keith Hernandez

What? We’re talking bright spots of the Mets’ season and he’s one of them. Known for his brutal honesty and ability to fit his size 13D-wide foot in his mouth, Mex has done his ditzy-celebrity-but-on-point-baseball-mind persona perfectly this year. He’s even scaled back on his sometimes lengthy and self-indulgent monologues and recollections about his own playing days, which can be summed up in seven words: Rusty, Lou Brock, Michelob, and Rib-Eye Steaks.

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Sure, it’s only been 44 games - but the season has been strangely respectable and unusually promising… maybe it really is the end of the world.

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