Wake Up, Check The West Coast Scores, Nats Lose Again. Christmas Morning For The 3rd Time This Week

Every morning this week I’ve woken up, wiped the sleep out of my eyes, stretched out, and realized I get to participate in my favorite pastime – reveling in others failure. Waking up each morning to see the Nats lost late night yet again has been almost as satisfying as every Mets win this week. Both games the Mets shutout the Rockies, the Nats were shut out by the Dodgers. While the Mets were able to survive their West Coast swing early in July (Right after the Cubs sweep, we’ll look back on that as one of many turning points this season) and go 4-2 against the Dodgers and Giants, the Nats have scored 1 run in 3 games thus far against those two teams. And obviously when the Mets and Nats squared off to start the month the Mets busted out brooms and hammers. Right now these teams are complete opposites. Everything about these two clubs is trending in opposite directions. The 4.5 game lead in the NL East. Only the Cardinals have a bigger division lead with 6 over the Bucs. (I dont count the Royals in the AL Central. Just not fair) And the best part of all for the Mets? The schedule. 33 of the remaining 47 games are against teams under .500. And the 14 games against good teams, 9 of them are at Citi Field where they thrive. Oh and didnt I mention that they will be getting Steven Matz back to bolster either the rotation or the pen? And who knows – I am not expecting anything from David Wright but maybe a little Willis Reed action galvanizes this team even more.

So here’s where I’m at –  a lifetime of heartbreak and embarrassment has me waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even when they had good teams in my life time, it was worst case scenario for me (Ball 4 Kenny Rogers, Losing to the Yankees in the WS, 07 collapse, 08 collapse) From an emotional stand point, theres really no reason to get my hopes up. This has “inevitable letdown” written all over it. Its been a roller coaster of a season and there’s at least one more downswing and if history is any indicator, it will be a tragic plummet.

But in my head, its a different story. This rotation is too good to allow a deadly prolonged losing streak. This offense is good enough to pick their pitchers up in the times when they aren’t flawless. They seem to have that X Factor as far as off the field intangibles go with the quirky story lines. They somehow seem to have landed on the right mix of players and if you buy into team chemistry, all reports seem to be that they have it in spades. So I’ve decided I’m going to turn the page. I’m going to ditch the cautious optimism and the realistic pessimism. I’m going all in on this team. I’m like a battered wife getting into a new relationship who’s always been guarded around other guys but never fully opened up or fully given them my heart. But this team now fully has my heart. If you believe in mushes, I was destined to mush this team anyway. Whether I write about them or tweet about them doesnt matter. The Sports Gods know the Mush is in my heart. If thats real, then so be it. But I say to myself, whats the worst that can happen? The Mets completely blow it and dont make the playoffs? Guess what? I’m fucking used to that. Its been the vast majority of my life. If the Mets are a laughing stock again and the butt of everyone’s jokes I’m right back where I always am. So you might as well get cocky and confident and enjoy this ride while it lasts. Because if they can make the playoffs they are as dangerous as any team ever could be.

So this is it. This is the new me. Just going to throw out the past 50 years of what history tells me is probably going to happen and I’m going to just take the plunge. I’m all in. This team is destined to do big things. I encourage other Mets fans to join me. With our cheap owners this window wont be open for very long. Just put the blindfold on and enjoy this while its happening because these rare opportunities to enjoy the Mets are few and far between.