The Anti-Mets
Posted by ceetar on 8:08am, Wednesday February 17th 2010
Many Mets fans would fall into a more doom and gloom mindset than a positive one. Whether that’s because of persistent disappointment, a “younger-brother” mentality associated with the Yankees, the attitude of talk radio hosts, or something else, Mets fans tend to approach the team waiting for the other shoe to drop and the team to fail.
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As the self-proclaimed Optimistic Mets Fan, I tend not to take this approach anyway, but I’ve found that this rule is not true across the board. Oddly enough, there are two Mets players that never fail to bring out smiles and optimism; Johan Santana and Jose Reyes.
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These two Anti-Mets, more than any other player, bring out positive vibes from Mets fans. Carlos Beltran, despite being very clutch, has the cloud of his strike out against the Cardinals in the 2006 playoffs. David Wright has been considered almost un-clutch by many fans.
Even if it’s not true, when David Wright comes up with a runner on third, many are expecting a strkeout. When Oliver Perez lets up a leadoff double, most fans expect him to walk two following that. Jason Bay hasn’t even played a game yet and you just know many fans are already expecting every opposing runner to score from second on a single to left field.
Reyes is different. When Reyes gets on to lead off an inning, Mets fans give him second base like it’s a foregone conclusion. They expect him to score on any ball hit to the outfield. They expect opposing pitchers to get nervous and possibly balk in runs.
It’s similar for Johan Santana. If it’s an Oliver Perez start, fans are betting the over/under on how many walks he gives up. Or how many foul balls John Maine has. If it’s a close game in the 6th or 7th inning and Pelfrey is pitching and lets up a leadoff single, Mets fans think “Here we go again.” If Santana lets up that same leadoff single even many of the pessimistic fans are just thinking about double plays and are recalculating how many pitches it’ll now take to get the next three guys out to see if Santana can pitch another inning afterwards.
This is the true meaning of the phrase, “As Reyes goes, so do the Mets.” Mets fans expect winning results from Reyes and when they get it they feel the Mets will win. Johan is such a fierce competitor that as fans we’re surprised when the opponents’ bats don’t literally explode under his gaze. It doesn’t matter that the Mets have never pitched a no-hitter; when Johan strikes out the leadoff batter, the first thing we think of is “26 to go.”
This post also viewable at Optimistic Mets Fan.
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we on the new post every 5 minute plan today?
Nice work BTW. But I don’t know if it is really a team thing, more likely individual players, and always has been.
Besides, every team has plenty of glass half full fans (maybe not the Yankees so much, but we should just pretend they don’t exist whenever possible).
Well, I scheduled the post last night before I went to bed, so I claim first!
But if you want to continue the same Barajas discussion after the latest/same rumor, go right ahead!
I am sorry….I did not see your post if it was scheduled, and I figured the Barajas thing was potentially news.
Sorry Ceetar if this was my bad; won’t happen again.
Very nice and well-thought-out post sir!
I feel like the Mets have had ‘potentially news’ about catchers all off season.
Very true, but as this is not Heyman or Olney, it might not be exaggerated (as Heyman’s “imminent” Molina signing was), or totally fabricated (like Olney’s complete lie about Torrealba).
But still, good point!
The negativity for me is a combo of my inherent pessimism and persistent disappointment by my team. Though I should say: I don’t blame Beltran for that curveball (it was filthy).
I think the negative reactions to Ollie’s walks, Pelfrey’s implosions, and Maine’s propensity for foul balls is because those are the track records for these guys.
Though, anyone calling Wright unclutch is ignoring real evidence to the contrary.
I’m not saying it’s not warranted in some cases. I think Pelfrey’s implosions and mindset have been overdone. He strikes me as a rather gutsy guy, if a little quirky, and I like it in him. Maine’s another guy that is pretty confident when he’s out there, and I look forward to him pitching again. Sure, we can get worried if he starts getting 18 foul balls an at-bat..but, he’s actually done pretty well. Whether or not Perez is soft, the rotation is actually a bunch of pretty spunky guys. I can’t wait to see Maine bean Utley again.
Like expecting Tatis to GIDP..
but there are way too many Mets fans out there projecting doom. I’ve hung out in live-game chats and such the last couple of years, and there is just so much negativity. People proclaiming game over when Perez lets up a lead off hit after 5 innings, whenever the opposition scores.
I don’t think most people blame Beltran, but you see them around, and hear them at the park. (Also, if you read any of the comments on any of the facebook Mets feeds..*shudder*)
There’s not too many fresh Mets this year to see how people react to the newness, but I just see too much negativity and expecting the worst.
I get and largely agree with your commentary here on the pessimism. I certainly exhibit some but I feel at least subjectively that when I do it’s not insane or largely unfounded or easily disputed with facts.
When people proclaim David Wright unclutch based on small selective samples, or otherwise exhibit this uber-pessimism you’re describing I believe it goes beyond pessimism and also includes a desire for attention and a desire to “be first” as well as a desire to feel the comfort and safety of group think while creating a safety net for their own emotional well being - if they say something sucks and then it sucks, they are well prepared for it to suck, if they say something sucks and then it doesn’t they receive a pleasant surprise. They don’t have to deal with dashed hopes because they’ve pre-dashed them.
The over-the-top ridiculous unfounded pessimists are weak of conscience and simply protecting themselves from utter collapse through their ridiculousness. Their pessimism is Linus’ blanket.
Amateur psych hour is now over.
LOL, your first client should be TKFJ.
I’m more the pragmatic type of fan……What will be, will be. With that being said, I go in with optimism and stay the course until it’s proven otherwise.
I’m not one of those fans in the camp of already predicting a 3rd or 4th place finish. Haven’t even played one game yet and as we all know, predictions mean squat when it comes to baseball.
Couldn’t be happier to hear Reyes believes he’s back 100% and Johan is raring to go.
That’s sorta what I’m trying to get at. It’s okay to be skeptical, not to have confidence that these guys will figure it out, but there is no need to expect doom before it happens. It’s one thing to have doubts, quite another to go into a season almost adamantly convinced it will fail. How can you root for a team like that? But you see it in games too. Maine chokes up a 4-2 lead in the 6th and people start proclaiming the game is over.
Reading some of the regulars over on MCs blog and Amazin Ave. It amazes me why some of them proclaim themselves to be Met fans. They’ve got the season over before it even starts. Where’s the fun in that, as a fan?
I understand, conceptually, trying to hedge your bets and not getting hopes up, but too many people cross the line and actually seem to prefer Castillo fail and they be right than to see him succeed and win.
I’m sure many of them don’t mean what they write, but then they shouldn’t write it.
I don’t see it as a Mets fan thing, only. Unfortunately, most fans seem to be that way. There’s really nothing cool about being optimistic. Plus, people love to complain (Trust me, I sit next to the water cooler).
You’re spot on about Reyes and Santana. Those are two guys, I’d always pay to see them play. K-Rod to a lesser extent brings that same kind of excitement.
“There’s really nothing cool about being optimistic.”
I disagree!!
But do you optimistically disagree?
Ceetar,
Nice article, I actually enjoyed it. I’m excited to see a litte bit o’ Reyes flying around the bases. Why I say “actually” is that I’ve reached my limit of Met’s extreme-ism’s about 2 weeks ago. Besides the obvious bashing that occurs on a seemingly non-stop basis, my brain is starting to reject the equal vehemance of the positiviality as well. I’m in the cautiously optomistic camp, with a sprinkling of high hopes but tempered with a little realism. When I see the major push either way, a mind numb begins.
Now, I understand the Positiviality Parade and currently sitting on one of the floats, but can’t we just start the frickin season already so we can discuss real things!
True. That’s why I tried to keep it vague. I figured excitement about Reyes and Santana never ebbs, and it ties in well to Spring Training starting tomorrow and looking forward to baseball.
I thought about writing a generic “Spring Training is important this year, cause they can prove their health.” But decided that was kinda obvious.
I’ll just save up and concentrate on my round-robin NL East bashing posts.
I think a lot of the bashing was directed at Minaya’s failures to improve the team this off season. Now though with the off season behind us fans are concentrating on what we have and how good/bad they will be in 2010 so I think you will see less negativity with every footage that shows a healthy Reyes hitting in a batting cage.
I’m sure you are right. With every Niese or Nieve strong outing or with some strong spring showings from the Jr. Mets, the smiles will grow. Spring Fever baby!
but, the off season isn’t done.
There are still some FAs available that could fill a met need (barajas, lopez, maybe some RPs?)
Plus, there will likely (since there always are) some guys available in ST, either through trades or salary dumps/waiver claims.
Remember last year late in ST when we thought LF was set, and then Sheffield dropped on our heads?
Yeah your right but for the most part this is it.
True but just like Sheffield there are those guys out there again. Guys like Lowell, Carlos Gullien, GMJR (oh wait) and others will most likely be released or potentially dumped through trade.
OMG, could you imagine if Omar picked up Guillen too? The blogshere (and my head) might explode.
Wonder if WIllis will hit the waiver wire this year? That could be interesting.
True I think that’s what Stick was trying to say.
I agree with Stick’s thought I just feel again for the most part this is it.
for a second I thought someone on Bleacher Report had ripped your post.
Ceetar! I never knew you also wrote for Bleacher Report. I saw it come up in SportsSpyder and I thought they were just linking to yours till I saw the author name.
RSS is fun. I’m debating stopping it. Not sure it really provides me any benefit, and they edit the crap out of the articles and hate pictures.