This Converted One Seconds That, Jason Fry.

"I no longer remember the exact circumstances, but years ago there was a newspaper story featuring a Yankee fan who didn’t understand why any franchise would adopt “Ya Gotta Believe” (or one of its non-spontaneous, corporate-approved descendants) as a rallying cry. Terrible slogan, she snorted dismissively: “Believe? That’s lame. We know.”

That always struck me as a perfect way to describe the two New York fanbases, because strip away the condescension and that long-ago fan got it right.

Yankee fans expect dollars to flow and moves to be made to ensure a full calendar in October and a ticker-tape parade a month later; anything less than that is a failure, for which there will be consequences.

Mets fans? We love ticker tape as much as the next guy and gal, and we’ll take a wire-to-wire regular-season cruise that doesn’t require too much heavy breathing. But dismissing anything less than a World Series trophy as a failure? We don’t get that — it’s entitled hubris that sounds deeply and dreadfully boring.

Knowing? Where’s the fun in that? Give us wild hope and a stubborn belief that refuses to be extinguished, no matter what obstacles the baseball gods throw in our way. (Tug’s call to arms was as much battered defiance as it was optimism.) Those are the things that power our baseball dreams."

-Jason Fry, Faith And Fear In Flushing

It's remarkable to think, that come September, these two New York franchise's will most likely be playing each other during each's respective pennant races, capable of putting a thorn into the other's playoff plans. That's remarkable, it's unprecedented, and could be a preview for more interleague Subway Series games a few weeks later...

If you think I just jinxed it, I've decided to throw all caring of superstitions away. I DID say "COULD be" because that's all I know. WILL be won't be discussed here. That's where you're tempting the fates...

But who KNOWS what those FATES have in store, because after the last week, week and a half, after the last few years and the last 10 years since I joined the Metsian River midstream, I couldn't have seen ANY of that rollercoaster we just experienced coming, and none of you saw it either. The full payoff hasn't been reached yet, but it felt GREAT to finally get to THIS point after so long.

Believing is beautiful, and it's what I lost in the Yankees. I stopped believing in them once I became an adult. I saw that childlike joy lost in me as I settled into Yankee Fandom semi-adulthood, then full-fledged adulthood, or at least as what's determined by puberty and the American Law. I accepted my baseball identity at the age of 20, realizing it had been there the entire time. I am of the New York National League faith.

I wasn't able to go to any games this weekend, because I work at night, and the "stooges of ESPN" as Howie referred to them moved the game to national last night. BUT I appreciate that the Mets were able to sweep the nationals on the national stage. We're patriotic here in New York, but we aren't Nationals. We're METROPOLITANS.

Speaking of ESPN, though, they do a TERRIBLE job with their production and direction. It's always interesting to hear what the national broadcasters think of the Mets, like Curt Shilling, Aaron Boone, and what not, but the main guy isn't that good at calling, and the camera work and cut-to's are horrendous. Where was the foul pole look at Duda's home run? Why are you cutting to Bryce looking up? Don't you get access to all of SNY's good looks? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!

It's nights like that you really appreciate how great of a job SNY does with these games. At least Howie and Josh got to call the craziness of the 3rd inning, but definitely missed what Gary, Keith and Ron would have done with 3 home runs in 5 pitches.

So, first, it was the Wilmer Flores Appreciation Night on Friday.


Then it was All the Du-da Night.

Last night, the whole thing was an ENTIRE METSIAN effort. Curtis, Noah, Murph, Cespedes, Duda, Clippard, etc...


Greg Prince, of Faith and Fear in Flushing as well, might have thought he was Born Again back during the 11-game hitting streak, but it seems the entire Metropolitan fanbase was born again this weekend, and Citi Field would appear to be FINALLY christened.

That's as far as the regular season is concerned...

There's still a lot more work to do to keep the christenings coming.

THAT STARTS TONIGHT.

KEEP. ON. PUSHIN'.

LET'S. GO. METS.

The Violent Metsian Pendulum

I fell off my bike this morning.

I was biking down 8th Avenue, heading home from work. Well, I first wanted to stop by the Apple Store at 59th and 5th, because for the longest time, I have been listening to Mets games and talking to people with only the right ear in, as I had lost my left rubber ear bud. Someone please immediately start a band called My Left Rubber Ear Bud.

Anyway, I was kind of amped up.

I wonder why.

On top of it being a fantastic night at Two Boots Hell's Kitchen (44th and 9th, stop by) the Mets finished the July end of the season with a ridiculous back and forth swing of the emotional Metsian pendulum, one which swung more violently in one 7-10 day span than I can ever remember in my 10 years of full-fledged Mets fandom, my 25-27 year awareness of the Mets, or my 20 years living in New York City. 

They sent us off into August on an unbelievable high, 2 games back in the division heading into the last 2 months of the season with another new and exciting player on his way into town to reinforce a roster who has hung on tight but desperately needs the help.

And there I was, ready to get home after the long night, write about it and the way I experienced the moment Wilmer Flores hit that home run.

And then I lost my footing on the pedals crossing 48th.

I tried to recover, but it was too late, and I skidded to the ground in front of a couple going home, or where ever they may have been going.

I hopped up immediately, the folks certainly concerned and immediately coming to my aid. My right forearm, on the bone side, was bleeding, and modestly. I asked the folks if they had any napkins, at which point a man pulling a hot dog cart across the street offered me napkins and squeezed hand sanitizer into my wound, which I would later find out is deeper than I thought (probably a couple centimeters.) It burned, but I enjoyed it. I felt alive, and already on the way to recovery while shaking my head at the turn of events.

I love this town.

"You can get band-aids there," the man said, pointing to Duane Reade on the northwest corner of 48th and 8th, a perfect place to crash if you can take care of everything yourself without an ambulance involved. I parked the bike, after thanking the folks who stopped to help, went into the place and bought big band-aids, Bacitracin and a spray-bottle of hydrogen peroxide. And a bottle of water. I grabbed some napkins, went back outside, took care of business and got back on my bike after sealing the wound.

Apple was kind enough to give me replacement rubber ear bud covers for free, after which I kept biking on 59th Street over the bridge and onto the Long Island that houses Queens and Brooklyn. I biked home to Carroll between Franklin and Washington, around the corner from where some Bums used to play baseball.

As the narrative of this post changed in my head as I was immediately thrusted into wound-healing operations, I thought to myself that what I am going through, and anything I have gone through in my life, pales in comparison to what Yoenis Cespedes has gone through in his life, especially just to play Major League Baseball in America...or what Wilmer Flores has gone through over the last 72 hours alone. Or what the Mets franchise and its fans have gone through. 

They, and we, have gotten through that shit. 

I'll be fine.


As I basked in the glory that is the final trade we made for such a potential 2015 game-changer, I went through the Cuban man's short career, including every home run he hit in the Derby at Citi in 2013. Then I watched his throw from left in Anaheim when he was with the Athletics. 

Already, seeing him in those other uniforms looks weird. Watching him in the Orange and Blue, which we were afforded 2 years ago, looks just right. They are the colors he was meant to wear. And I can't wait for him to get started.

I LOVE THIS TOWN.

2 months left. 2 games back. And a MONSTER about to enter the lineup.

A pennant race beckons.

What fun this will be.

A Cespedes for the Mets of Us.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Round it Out With Reyes

It literally came out of nowhere. Completely from the blue.

There, in front of me, as I walked towards the Brooklyn Bridge after the MTA sucked again, and right before I got on the air with the Rising Apple Report (which you can scroll down to listen to once you're done with this post...)

BUT there I was with plenty of tweets that appeared to confirm that Troy Tulowitzki, the shortstop from the Rockies Region, had been traded to the Canadian Region, and the Blue Jays were going to have to pay a hefty sum of prospects and...

JOSE REYES?!?!?!
That guy? Who has been traded TWICE now since signing a non-no-trade-clause contract with the team you should NEVER do that with? Is going to man shortstop in the high-mile air of the Purple Mountains Majesty??

Something's not right here...there must be more than meets the eye...

Now, since it's only source-driven until teams announce it, we will see plenty of more details in the coming hours...

But that hasn't stopped #MetsTwitter from erupting in a frenzy. Compared to a normal early-Tuesday morning on Twitter. Plenty of people just can't sleep because they are dreaming of the #BringBackReyes possibilities...


Most people think Reyes is going to get flipped by Colorado, and I firmly believe that to be true. They want more pitching, because they've never really had it.

It was never supposed to be this way. He was supposed to be here forever. So now it's time to bring him home.

Get Michael Fulmer and/or Rafael Montero together...and Jon Niese if you must. Or whatever they seem to value in your system that seems to have a dearth of pitching they've drafted and cultivated, that have now accounted for two trades that created a MUCH better vibe than what was left on this blog last week and plenty of others who were just absolutely fed up with the Wilpons and Inaction.

But that has erupted as this push to the deadline continues.

First, news of Michael Conforto, and their Social Media accounts of his whereabouts that had me complaining about the contradictory and circus-like nature of the Wilpons and the way they could potentially be #WorseThanOMalley, on my Facebook page about Bedford & Sullivan (ShamelessPlug,AnHBOStyleTVSeriesAboutBrooklyn AndIt'sDodgers...)

THEN, secondly, almost right after I lambasted the owners, news broke out that the Mets had traded for Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson. The Mets lost 7-2, Conforto looked comfortable with his first RBI, but all eyes were immediately on the next day.

And the moves immediately took form.

After Kelly Johnson's heroic homering in the 15-2 romp, and Juan Uribe's heroics in the 3-2 10th inning win, along with Michael Conforto really showin' us somethin' over the weekend, the Mets went out and solidified their bullpen with Tyler Clippard's arrival via trade.

They got one more bat to go. Some, and I obviously wouldn't whine, want to see the Mets get one more slugger, which in reality they do need. And I would LOVE to see what Cepedes could do in a Mets uniform.

But the Mets need a leadoff hitter. AND a shortstop. Though Grandy HAS been admirable, hitting very well of late and being one of my favorite Mets on the field...what a move to bring Reyes home. It would be an ASTOUNDING PR Move and, as Howard Medgal says:

Trade makes Mets immediately better at their position of greatest need. Reyes rejuvenated. And part of the next probable Mets playoff team.

— Howard Megdal (@howardmegdal) July 28, 2015

This makes so much sense for so many reasons since it makes a ton of sense that the Rockies, who are going into rebuild mode, would flip Reyes to someone who needs a shortstop.

Sure, he's in decline...and he's lost a step in decline...but he should have been in decline with US. Properly. In our WILDEST Metsian dreams.

Seems like a no-brainer, if you ask me.

Not that you were.

But I'm just sayin'.

Maybe I need to put it in the past...

Maybe it was another time....

Or maybe it's JUST what THIS TIME NEEDS.

#BRINGBACKREYES

LET'S. GO. METS.

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The Miracles

Once upon a time, there was a team called the Miracle Mets, and they shocked EVERYBODY with their meteoric rise to the top of the baseball world, especially their fans. Sure...they had seen progress happening slowly over time, but nobody expected THAT that quickly.

The Mets... 

The Moon...

1969. 

It all made sense.

"Oh, I just can't beLIEVE it. It's been a year of Miracles, and it's marvelous. Really, really marvelous."

--Joan Hodges 

This franchise is built on Miracles, and won their next World Series with the MIRACLE of baseball Miracles, one could argue (though a stupid RED team tried to 1-up our Metsies...) 

The time when Marty MetFly raced for the lightening unsure whether he'd make it in time...

It's a Miracle when certain things happen. 

And last night was a Miracle.

It was a Miracle this offense came back after being down 2-1 somewhere in the last 3 innings. On the Road.

It was a Miracle when Eric Campbell, in his 8th Pinch Hit At Bat of the year, got his 1st Pinch Hit to put the Mets ahead 3-2.

It's a Miracle when anybody BUT the Mets make errors, and it's a Miracle when the Mets capitalize on it.

It was a Miracle this happened in the 9th inning, and it was a Miracle Kevin Plawecki got all the way to 3rd on the play.

And it was an ABSOLUTE MIRACLE this offense could muster up the strength to tack on not 1, not 2, not 3 but FOUR insurance runs.

Yes you could say that Washington's ranks weren't necessarily at top order on the mound throughout the night, but we know this offense can easily let Miracles happen on the other side of things.

That's the stuff of Miracles, and that's the stuff of this team.

It's their brand. And the Wilpons own it.

It's a Miracle we're even this close this far into the season with those clowns involved.

So, even if these Miracles play into the Wilpons' team's brand...It's up to THEM to give the Miracles better chances of happening.

Come on, dudes. Get it done.

Make Miracles happen.

LET'S. GO. METS.

The Difference Between 2012

Back in 2012, when I wrote about my hope for the 2nd Half, I used a photo of Jordany Valdespin after he scored the winning run against the Phillies in the Jonathan Papelbon game, July 5.

After losing 2 of 3 to the Cubbies going into the break, the Mets went out of the break on a 1-11 run.

The fact Jordany Valdespin is no longer on the team is not the ONLY difference between 2012, but it does interestingly offer a fitting symbol between the difference of this year, and the last year the Mets crashed and burned in July.

2013 and 2014 were miserable first halves with 2nd halves to build on. 2012 was the last time the Mets were in a position to contend, but they fell apart, and too quickly to even think about making a deal to support them.

Like 2010...

And kinda 2009, but that was the culmination of the mess of post-2006.

When you look at 2012, however, you remind yourselves of where the Mets were.

Johan Santana completely broke down.

Lucas Duda, still in the outfield, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis stopped hitting and were sent back to AAA.

The completely unsustainable rampage of 2-out hits predictably dried up.

And Frank Francisco was the closer.

It's crazy to think of how bad the offense currently is, but when you look at the lineup, even without Wright or d'Arnaud in there, it should be much better. Is how historically bad they've been really sustainable?

The pitching is world's and world's above where it was in the 2nd half of 2012, when Johan Santana, a great 1st half, was a non-factor, Matt Harvey was getting his feet wet, Dillon Gee was an anchor and R.A. Dickey was the only true ace. And Jeremy Hefner was getting innings.

Plus, now, there is Jeurys Familia, arguably the best closer in baseball currently.

The Mets are in a MUCH better position to continue to contend heading into these final games of the year.

It's up to Sandy Alderson and the Wilpons, however, if they want to make 2015 it's own special thing...

Or they want to have another 2012.

LET'S. GO. BASEBALL.

LET'S. GO. METS.

40-40

This usually comes with prestige...this usually comes with champagne bottles....

Not that I've ever been, but apparently it is an elite club in the Flatiron District owned by Hova, Jay-Z, Shawn, whatever you want to call him today...

It's also an "elite" club that only 4 players belong to in baseball, though all but one have been accused or proven of taking steroids.

But all of that is irrelevant, because the image of 40 and 40 together is the only thing those have in common with THIS.

Through 80 games, the Mets have been their entire history all at once. You can either take solace in the fact you've seen this before and know it could get better, it could add resilience, it could be 1973...or better.

Then there is the 1978 in you, the 2009, the 2012...

It's almost as if the Wilpons don't give two shits because, well, we've seen this before. This actually PUSHES our brand, keeps that hope alive, that Ya Gotta Believe that is the core of this franchise and its fanbase.

But I guarantee there will be a coup d'etat the likes of which you could never imagine if you keep going on this way, Mr. Wilpon and Jr.

Figure out a plan that doesn't just involve you in a holding pattern, while you more and more have to let go of these prized prospects because you can't afford them over the long haul...

Something's gotta give, you guys. HOW can you even STAND this? I mean, I will say, Mr. Wilpon, that you did seem more like a fan in that controversial New Yorker article, and I appreciated that. BUT HOW, as a fan, one that has roots in one of the greatest fanbases of all time, can you keep this up just so you don't have to say, "Passing it down to my son isn't going to work"?

And why, as a businessman, haven't you cashed out? All of your problems would be solved, THEN some. You got swindled, it sucks, but now you have a chance to make something close to $2 billion, if not more. The Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion after being valued at less, and apparently, because of your SNY stake, you are valued at $2.05 billion. And that was in 2013.

What's wrong with you?! CASH OUT! LET SOMEONE DO A BETTER JOB! HOW CAN YOU EVALUATE YOUR PERFORMANCE OVER THE LAST 15 YEARS AS APPROPRIATE?! BUT SOMEONE'S STILL GONNA GIVE YOU A $2 BILLION DOLLAR BONUS?! DO IT!

It doesn't matter what happens in the next 82 games. Until this franchise is run differently from the top down, no matter how good the farm system continues to be, they will be hampered by The Wilpon family.

You are holding us hostage. Release us from the abyss.

.............................................

HAPPY 4TH EVERYBODY!!

LET'S. GO. 'MERICA.

LET'S. GO. METS.

My First #FireTerry of the Year

This is where I enter those easily flipable, fickle feelings regarding our favorite baseball team. There are probably so many other factors at hand that have led us to 20-14 record after a 13-3 start, but as far as I'm concerned, Terry Collins and his poor in-game managing is magnified even more so in this supposed hopeful new era. I don't care about the injuries, I don't care about any of that. No matter the level of talent, this man has never, in any of his years here, put the Mets in the best position to succeed. And he's only gotten worse, as far as I'm concerned.

MANDATORY CREDIT: Jake Roth, USA TODAY sports

I didn't get a chance to watch the whole game, but it did dawn on me by the 4th that the game may be on Wednesday Night Baseball on my ESPN app, and it was. So, "Thankfully" I was able to see everything fall apart at the end while helping customers claim the Two Boots slices they wanted. I immediately turned the app off before the bootleg announcers could tell me what I saw.

I will say this: 15 seconds later, the Rangers won 2-1 in overtime of the 7th game against a team I hate exclusively because they have the word "Washington" somewhere there. The Rangers provided an example of a payoff after having your backs against the wall. Honestly, and this, I guess, is just how I feel about baseball and the Mets, there's always some kind of payoff every year, whether or not you think THE payoff is the only thing that matters.

The Mets backs are not yet against the wall...

But it does feel they're slowly walking backwards towards the Grand Canyon...

Can we have some Major League Wallyball already? And don't give me that "Wally's not Sandy's type of guy," stuff. I don't believe it. And neither do some other people.

I hope that percentage has eroded some more, Sandy...

#FireTerry

LET'S. GO. METS.

Kick it Off

Truth be told, the title sounds like I am about to write about the start of the American Football season, but that's not seriously arriving for another month and a half (and I am much less excited for that than I am for baseball to gear back up.) When I thought of my first words to describe my feelings for the "2nd half" of the season to begin, I thought, "kick. It. Off."

There is a validity to us Mets fans' optimism that hadn't been there the other times these last few years we've been cautiously optimistic, and part of that certainly has to do with having a roster void of Rod Barajases and the Jeff Francouers. The team's offense looks to have started clicking with every single person that can play daily contributing with the kind of situational hitting we haven't seen in these here parts in a long time. The players who DON'T play everyday? Well...they have been great from the get-go, and that young bullpen we dreamed about in the offseason is finally starting to round into form.

So, i dont feel dread about this upcoming 2nd half. I feel if this team and their young roster continues their development and continues to click, there is no reason they can't finish over point five hundred.

Gear it up, boys.

And kick it off.

ROUND. IN. TO. FORM.

LET'S. GO. METS.

The Game

I arrived to my 2nd training shift at the Hell's Kitchen Two Boots just before 5 o' clock yesterday afternoon, and I must say, my timing for monitoring this game was impeccable.

Between the minutes of 7:10 and 7:20, I checked on the game during a calmer moment. No sooner after seeing on the main page that EricYoung, Jr. was on 1st base and Daniel Murphy was up to the plate did it say in the gameday play-by-play that Daniel Murphy had grounded into a double play. I rolled my eyes and put my phone back in my pocket. With many different slices to choose from (including The Newman, Cleopatra Jones, Grandma Bess, Bayou Beast, The Larry Tate, The Night Tripper, Mr. Pink, Tony Clifton, The Bird, The Earth Mother, and V for Vegan) a man decided, not knowing his Mr. Pink was on its way out of the oven, to change his order to The Newman. Instead of Creole Chicken, plum tomatoes, fresh garlic & mozzarella, he decided on sopressata & sweet italian sausage on a white pie. With no one else claiming a Mr. Pink in the moment, I decided to get the slice for dinner and stole away for a hot second to the back outside.

I arrived there with the slice in my hand and my phone in the other, ready to get my MLB gameday on with the sounds of the crowd in the backyard of Rudy's Bar & Grill hopping. Gameday catches you up quickly on the pitches in the AB you're arriving to, and with David Wright up, it showed me the 4 pitches I had missed. Then, after a pause, clearly having caught up to the gameday's pace, the 5th pitch said "In play, run(s)" which could only mean one thing with no one on. With the words, "David Wright homers on a fly ball to center field," I knew it must have been a bomb, and couldn't wait to see the highlight when it got loaded. I finished up my slice and headed inside to do my job.

I checked in periodically, including watching the home run on my way home to my apartment a block and an avenue over for my actual roughly half-hour break. It was usually the end of an inning I would catch, giving me a quick update that hardly wasted any time compared  to following it pitch-by-pitch. As it got later into the evening, it was a surprise but refreshing to see the Mets with a 1-0 lead still intact, the game moving briskly along with Wheeler apparently dealing and the Major League debuter Andrew Heaney dealing as well after the Marlins-home-run-structure-moon-shot by David. On a whim, with a slow moment in the store, I checked just in time for a live look-in with 2 out in the 9th, and Reed Johnson up. The phone sat right under the register so I could keep an eye on everything else my eyes needed to be on. The thorn that is Reed gave us more to worry about with a great AB that finished with a clean single past a diving Ruben Tejada, then Rafael Furcal scared the BeJesus out of all of us with a lacer to center that was right at Chris Young. With a 1969 New York Mets poster hanging on my left, the 2014 New York Mets had wrapped up one of the best games of the year.  I could turn off the live-look-in.

So, Zack Wheeler, after all his struggles this year, pitched the ballgame of his life so far with a 3-hit shutout. It almost felt like Gary was calling a no-hitter at the end when I watched the highlights, with so much meaning behind Zack completing it. It meant a lot to the Mets and to Zack Wheeler's career. It couldn't have been scripted any better with the recently slumping captain of our ballclub winning it with a solo shot in the 1st inning. Wright gave Wheeler the run he would need and he ran with it.

Here's what Keith Hernandez had to say with 1 out in the 9th:

“There’s no reason why these young kids...young MEN…and I’m speaking of Wheeler going 9 innings- I know they’re not conditioned to, but I am so hopeful that it gets back to a starter, in a close game- let HIM win or lose it. Don’t have someone come in and lose it FOR him.”

Amen.

Zack Wheeler was able to do what Bartolo Colon was not allowed to do yesterday, and it was immensely impressive. This is when the naysayers who were calling for Wheeler to get sent down as he continued to struggle get proven wrong. This team will win or lose with Wheeler, and it's all part of the evolution of this ballclub, which has been a hard thing to pick up on lately.

This is the kind of game when everything else doesn't matter anymore. The baseball is the only thing that does.

When I see Josh Thole say that "the hardest thing in the baseball world is to play in New York for the Mets....EVERYTHING is a story there,” and then I see this game, it kind of makes me think that’s the EXACT reason we traded him, other than being R.A. Dickey’s personal catcher (and THAT GUY seemed to do alright in this town, bro.) I've met Josh Thole and he's a really nice dude, but a quote like that just screams incorrect to me. No matter how much we criticize Sandy with where the Major League club currently stands under his tenure, one thing I think is more of a strength than a weakness of his is that he really doesn't care about ANY of that noise. And it would seem he really doesn't. That's something that is extremely valuable in this town. 

Enough worrying about everything we, the fans, are worried about, or about the fact that we keep asking questions about the things we are worried about. 

Just play baseball. You’ll probably do it pretty well.

Wayta pitch, Zack.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. For more from myself and others on the Mets, head over to Rising Apple. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, follow on Twitter here, and listen to the research process here.

A Time to Put a Smile on Your Face

While I haven't been posting, the Mets have gone ahead and lost a series to the Good Brew Crew, won a series to the Bad Dad Crew, and now dropped another series to the Great Red Crew, continuing to keep that RISP number at a loser's level. With myself, my aunt, uncle, cousin and lil sis on hand for Father's Day at a rather full, actually, Citi Field, I was happy to see Curtis provide a spark at the top of that lineup with an awesome Pepsi Porch leadoff home run. I have been settling into the family of Mets fans that is Two Boots that the poor sight of the Mets in San Louis has not generally been in mine. Though I did not work Monday Night, I do not have cable, nor plan to anytime soon on my budget, so my sight generally does not take in the Mets live, rather listening to Howie and Josh describe the sight that's in their eyes.

Photo Credit: Bluenatic

It's clear, however, that we all need to just smile. Unless we take some serious political protest stance in some fashion or another, which would be interesting to see but I'll tell ya right now that I won't be the leader of the revolution, this team will most likely fail to be properly managed all the way from the top down. The Wilpons do not know how to run a ballclub, let alone know what it means to run the New York Metropolitan National League Baseball Club. I have very little faith, no matter what happens- no matter whether they have a winning season over the next couple of years- that the Mets can have sustained success with the Wilpons at the helm.

So, when I think about what I want to write on this blog at this particular moment, all I can think of is playing the song below, because every time I listen to it, it puts a huge smile on my face. Don't read into any of the lyrics, though I'm sure many of you may do so. That was not my intention, no matter how poignant it may seem at this particular Metsian intersection. I just want to smile, and tonight, when I got home from Two Boots and settled down, the song came on, and I just smiled. So, screw it, man. Let's just listen to Bob Marley.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. For more from myself and others on the Mets, head over to Rising Apple. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, follow on Twitter here, and listen to the research process here.