MetsTalk.com

In a Mets season that included an 8-game winning streak and numerous wins at home, but also K-Rod’s blown saves on the road, and whatever this mess of losses can be called in the last 2 weeks, this season has already had its share of ups and downs.

Welcome to the Mets Rollercoaster Ride! Hold onto your hats, Mets fans!

Welcome to the Mets Rollercoaster Ride!

I don’t know about you, but this year’s ride is just starting to make me sick. Come on guys, let’s try some consistency!

Ike Davis continues to contribute, winning it in walk-off fashion with a homerun in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Padres today. PADRES WHO?

Guess Jerry Manuel didn’t have to wonder about who his set-up man and closer were today, huh?

Jose Reyes' replay-reviewed homerun tied the game and then Ike Davis' homerun won it for the Mets.

The Mets have agreed to sign All-Star outfielder Jason Bay to a four-year, $66 million contract, pending a physical, improving their chances of making the playoffs in 2010.

Now while I could go into the next moves the team needs to make to get back to World Series shape, I’d much rather share something I found in the comments section of MLB.com… a poem from a Mets fan (different, right?):

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE METS’ NEXT SEASON

Twas the night before new years / and all through the town / a slight smile was forming / from an uncomfortable frown /

The Mets and J Bay have come come up with a deal / hopefully jumpstarting the teams offseason wheel /

But there is still “quite” an opening / on the teams starting rotation / With an emphasis on quite / which i have in quotation /

There is plenty of room / for the arm of Piniero / But his agent and him / want too much dinero /

We don’t need an ace / we need an arm with no cuts / a starter with heart / some brains and some guts /

How about Brett Myers from Philly / his teams lookin full / maybe Bedard, Smoltz or Pedro / one or two would be cool /

So on David, on Carlos, on Jose, and John Maine / On Luis, and on Frenchy / I’m not tryin to complain /

You guys need some help / and some Vitamin C / To contend in the East / with the team from Philly /

So rest up this winter / and get ready for Spring /

And keep your fingers crossed / for a World Series Ring

[Originally written and posted on MLB.com by user hudge36. I added the title and formatting for better readability.]

While I definitely don’t agree that John Smoltz or Pedro Martinez are viable options for the Mets future, I do like the effort put into that Mets poetry.

Hopefully the Mets will make the necessary moves and the 2010 season will flow just as smoothly as the above prose, getting our Metsies to the playoffs.

Wrigley Field

I’m a diehard lifelong Mets fan. However, I’ve always been partial to the Chicago Cubs.

Allow me to explain.

When you think about it, the Cubs are similar to the Mets in a number of ways.

As I watch the Mets play the Cubs at Wrigley Field, I am watching two teams that came into the 2009 season with great expectations, but which are both now far out of playoff contention.

The fans in Chicago are definitely upset with how the team has performed, but they’re still there in the stands. Mets fans are the same way, even if this year’s arrival of Citi Field means Blue Smoke ribs and Shake Shackburgers as an extra bonus for filling the seats.

And both teams are traditionally viewed as underdogs in a big city setting. As a New Yorker, I could see myself living a similar lifestyle in Chicago, purchasing a partial ticket plan as I have at Citi Field to watch the Cubs play at Wrigley.

Citi Field

And they are both underdog teams, which means that as a fan it becomes a super-exciting event when our teams make it to the playoffs. Unlike other teams that seemingly make it to the playoffs year after year where it is just part of the routine, I’d like to point out.

Both Cubs and Mets fans are shameless in expressing their dissatisfaction with underperforming players. Cubs fans today are booing their own outfielder Milton Bradley who has been very outspoken in letting everyone know he wants out of Chicago, despite having two years left on his contract. Then he commited the additonal sin of dropping a routine fly ball in rightfield. Fans in Chicago booed him just as loudly as us fans booed Luis Castillo’s dropped pop up that cost us the game against the Yankees earlier in the season. I could see myself continuing the booing in Chicago. Well, at least until the players get the team to the playoffs.

There’s just the same amount of cheering in both stadiums, as there should be. But the unapologetic booing is really what sets Cubs and Mets fans apart.

Mets were Amazin' in 1985

And then there’s the team colors. The Cubs have a very familiar shade of blue… called Cubbie Blue in Chicago. But I’m pretty sure its Mets blue in disguise. It looks very much like the blue I’ve been rooting on my whole life. And while its true that the Cubs other color isn’t orange, red happens to be my favorite color.

And I guess history has something to do with it too. The very first Mets game I attended back in 1985 when I was just a little kid was way up in the red seats at Shea Stadium against the Chicago Cubs. I watched Darryl Strawberry and Keith Hernandez play Chicago that day. Mets won, by the way.

So I’m partial to the Cubbies. And that doesn’t mean I don’t love my Metsies any less. It just means that as a Mets fan, I also follow what’s going on in Wrigleyville, whereas I really have no idea what’s going on in, say, Houston or Pittsburgh these days.

But then again, who really does?