After Tuesday’s night’s 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies, Terry Collins was steaming mad at the effort the Mets put forth and uttered what many of us were thinking when he said the following to reporters:

“Perception is reality. And when you sit on the outside and you watch a game like tonight, perception is, ‘they’ve packed it in.’ I won’t stand for it. I believe in accountability. I believe in how you play the game right.”

With each loss (with the Mets now dropping four in a row), the angst among Mets’ fans grows. It’s been another grueling season for Mets’ fans to endure.

After opening the season without much fanfare, the Mets abundantly overachieved and were a feel-good story for most of the first half. On July 5, the Mets were 45-38 and in the thick of the playoff hunt. Then the All-Star break came. From there, all hell broke loose.

The Mets dropped their first five games out of the break and they have never recovered since. Also compounding matters was the fact that the front office sat idly as the trade deadline went by without so much of a whimper from the Mets. The Mets are a dismal 11-27 since the break and right now have the same amount of losses (67) they had at this time last year.

That’s what angers so many Mets’ fans these days; the fact that they are in no better position than last year’s squad is disheartening to say the least. This was supposed to be a year of growth and maturation-a year for hope. However, the same old malaise and disinterest is seeping into the Mets’ locker room these days.

I’m not trying to pile on here, as I would consider myself an avid optimist and one of Collins’ biggest backers. This time, though, his words have to ring true, as he had similar sentiments last year but they went for naught as the Mets still fizzled at the end en route to a disappointing 77-85 season.

At this time the Mets will have a hard time even replicating last’s season’s record.

With what Collins had to say recently, this could be make or break time for the beleaguered skipper. His job could be on the line.

Of course there are other factors to consider when taking into account the Mets’ struggles, such as-but not limited to-the injuries to Dillon Gee and Johan Santana, the constant underachieving of Jason Bay and the never ending meltdowns in the bullpen. Regardless, Collins does indeed need to reign in the horses and get back this club, because ‘perception’ is he has lost the team.

Right now the Mets’ seem to be going through the motions and just not playing with much passion and crispness. Their body language looks disjointed and disheveled. There always seem to be a lack of focus and a disregard for fundamentals.

It’s pretty sad when the Mets can’t even earn a victory against a more downtrodden and buried team in the Colorado Rockies, who came into this series 46-73. While the Mets sent out R.A. Dickey, Chris Young and Matt Harvey to the mound this week, the Rockies trotted out the likes of such luminaries as Alex White, Jhoulys Chacin (making his first start in almost four months) and Jeff Francis . Hey, but at least we got Collin McHugh to possibly salvage the series today!

The last two months have been an awful time for being a Mets’ fan, a theme (running out of gas in July) which has plagued the franchise for the better part of a decade. These next six weeks should not build character, but reveal it.

Although it may be bittersweet, if the Mets can still end on a high note and finish ahead of both the Florida Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies, it will be a nice consolation prize considering all the hoopla that surrounded both of those teams going into the season.

The Mets need to man up and show a little pride. How the Mets finish the 2012 season could certainly affect how they begin the 2013 season.

So, Collins is right, perception is reality and the perception is the Mets have thrown in the towel. So, it’s up to Collins to regain control of the clubhouse and have this team play with passion or it will be just status quo in Mets’ land. That is something none of us should tolerate.

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14 comments on “Perception meets Reality: Mets look like they have thrown in the towel

  • Brian Joura

    That’s a great soundbite on accountability.

    But you know what? Accountability starts by looking in the mirror. So, Mr. Collins, how many more times are you going to write Jason Bay’s name in the starting lineup? He’s a corner OF with an OPS of .517 – he’s putting up offensive numbers that would be unacceptable from a backup middle infielder who’s only on the roster because he’s a defensive whiz.

    Answer me that question on Bay and then you can talk about accountability from others on the team. And if there’s someone who’s not giving the effort you think – that person should be benched or banished to the end of the bullpen. You don’t have to say why, but if someone asks you can say, “I’m disappointed in Ike Davis and David Wright continually watching fastballs in the middle of the plate and then flailing hopelessly at breaking balls out of the strike zone and they won’t be starting until they get the message to swing at strikes and take balls.”

  • Chris F

    I’m in complete agreement.Right now all this accountability and saying the same crap every day is just a bunch of gum flapping. Taking ownership is more than just saying “this turd is mine.” Ownership is making the hard decisions that show you get the problem and intend to fix it. Trotting out Bay every day or in a platoon shows no respect to the dire state of the situation. Wright? Sure he’s our man, but calling him out now as a leader is real.If TC has lost this team then Wright, our field captain, cant possible accept the miserable play and hitting we are seeing, himself included (that rundown the other night at home was egregious). From my look at the picture, the team is poorly coached. I still think the rot is squarely on Warthen and Hudgens, whom TC inherited. However, his player (all this match-up crap and Bay) and bullpen management, in particular, has me thinking he has become the problem as much as anything else. I hold Sandy accountable for signing 3 losers for the pen. Toronto was happy to wave good-bye to Rauch and FF. (Rauch is the only vet in the pen worth anything as best as I can tell). In any event, like you Brian, Im livid at the fact palpable actions have not followed the words. Today’s line-up for McHugh (below) gives me little hope that today will end different. It looks like TC has three black hats with names, position, and batting order in each, and he grabs a name, then finds a position, and lastly grabs the batting position. Really, JV is leading off? Ruby in 7 hole? Bax 6? I’ll always root for the Mets because Im orange and blue birth to death, but we are in a mad state of disrepair. The fish rots from the head down….Wilpon family, Im looking right at you.

    Chris F

    Jordany Valdespin, cf
    Daniel Murphy, 2b
    David Wright, 3b
    Ike Davis, 1b
    Scott Hairston, lf
    Mike Baxter, rf
    Ruben Tejada, ss
    Josh Thole, c
    Collin McHugh, rhp

    • kjs

      Hey, Chris—I give you credit for even checking out the lineup card. I just check out the announced attendance to see how corrupt the front office is—they freelance out tickets for $5 each, give tickets away, etc., and still always come up with an attendence of about 27,000 when everyone with eyes can tell there’s 15,000 at Citi tops. They’re [the Wilpons] pathetic, corrupt, cynical, and holding our franchise hostage. And it’s unacceptable.

  • rob sahm

    the bottom line is the whole team is a mess and aldersons hands are tied he is the wilpons yes man.they are not going to spend any money on players and the bad part is we have no good players whats the sense of bringing up these stud pitching prospects when the rest of the position players cant play. besides for david wright and dickey what good position players we have on this roster. in the omar years nobody developed players thru the system that were any good it was always the quick free agent fix. and no good drafting and scouting players bernazard was a joke i am glad we got depodesta and riccardi because they can spot talent i guess what i am trying to say is if we do spend on free agents its has to be a player that is going to help the team and play good baseball and not suck. and develop our farm system when they are in a good position to help us win and develop there skills the right way if all we are going to do is bring in crap ball players for cheap because they are a bargain then we are doomed for the next 20 years

  • Metsense

    I believe it was Bill Parcells who said “You are what your record is.” On June 3rd, the Mets high water mark was 8 games over .500. Regarding the bullpen, Alderson said: “This is an area to begin to look at externally.” 6/12/12
    Nothing was done. No money spent. Is there money to spend? Are the Wilpon’s solvent enough to own this team? Even if the Mets made an investment on that day and only played .500 ball the rest of the way, they would be only 2 games out of the wildcard.
    According to Baseball Reference the 2012 cost of :Jose Reyes @ 10M, Carlos Beltran @ 13M, Chris Capuano @ 3M for a total of 26M increase and no cost of prospects. Payroll 117M. Do you think the Mets would be above .500 with these three players? Could the Mets have spent the 26M in better places? They owned these players and let them go as if the Mets were a small market team. Again, are the Wilpon’s solvent enough to own this team. If run properly the Mets should be making a large profit. If something was done in June there still would be some interest in the team in August.

    • Name

      “I believe it was Bill Parcells who said “You are what your record is.””
      -I’m sorry, but this statement is just false. You can’t just look at the end result and say that the journey does not matter. It is like saying all wins are the same, which is false because there are many ways to “arrive” at a win and you can’t possibly think at a 1-0 win is the same as a 19-0 win.

      I’m glad you were able to find a quote on Sandy about the bullpen. That date that you have is 6/12, but even MUCH earlier before that, even the most casual fan could tell that bullpen needed a lift. One prime example i would look at is Ernesto Frieri. I don’t have the exact numbers, but the Angles bullpen was really scuffling before he arrived, and then BAM, he was able to stabilize the whole pen. I feel that could have been the case with the Mets as well.

      People keep talking about how this team is losing money. But sometimes you have to spend money to make money. If the Wilpons(or Sandy) were willing to spend an extra 4-5 million dollars on the bullpen, it might have given us a few more wins in the 1st half(and A LOT in the 2nd half) and that translates into the more fans at the games(and more revenue).

      As for the free agents you mentioned, Reyes is making only 10 mil this year, but in a couple of years he is making like 20 mil so that’s not really worth it. Beltran and the Mets didn’t really have much mutual interest so there’s no one to blame for not signing him. I think Caps contract is also a bit backloaded and he didn’t perform that well last year to really warrant that kind of contract. Besides, we are had Santana,Dickey,Gee,Niese, and Pelfrey penciled into the Starting rotation at the beginning of the year so there was no room for him.

      • Brian Joura

        I like this post, Name. The only thing I would quibble with was the Beltran situation. If the Mets had offered him money, I believe he would have been interested. What he ended up signing for is pretty much what we sunk in the bullpen in the offseason. He would have been a good bat to have in the lineup versus LHP.

        • Steevy

          Against ANY pitching.

        • Name

          In hindsight, Beltran would have been a great sign. But remember, the Madoff situation didn’t end until like mid-February? to March-ish (i think) so it was already too late to sign to free agents. Plus, as we can see, they must still be having some money issues as “they” elected to do nothing this deadline.

  • Peter Hyatt

    I fear knee jerk reactions almost as much as non-reactions. If money is the issue, which it appears to be, they may do anything to quiet the fan base. Building from within takes time, patience and an element of courage. Our current roster appears laden with re-treads and journymen. Some of our young players get platooned when they should be out there full time.
    We do, in spite of the bad news, appear to have the early rumblings of another possible Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, type of starting pitching staff emerging. There are plenty of question marks but Harvey appears to be the real deal. Yesterday was a surprise from Colin M. A pleasant one at that.

    • Name

      You think firing TC is a knee jerk reaction? Personally, i have been frustrated with TC starting from early May and have really been hating him (and his bullpen usage mostly) starting from mid June-ish.
      Also, i understand that goal is building a good system that can produce years in and years out, but the reality is that is not realistic and never going to happen. Can anyone name is 1 team that has consistantly produced talent (and has been winning) from their system for the last 5 years other than maybe the Rays? I certainly can’t.
      The thing is, you can speculate and guess and try to put together a group of players who you might think can win on paper, but in reality, you really don’t know what they can do. If you find a group that can win, you should be obligated to ride them as long as you can because there is no way to accurately predict when the next chance will come.

      • Brian Joura

        I think the Braves have been doing it for quite awhile now. McCann, Freeman, Jones, Prado, Heyward, Hanson, Minor, Medlen, Kimbrel, Venters all came up through their system. Probably others, too.

        The Phillies are ending a run that was exactly what a team should do. They had a core of home-grown stars (Howard, Utley, Rollins, Hamels) that they supplemented with trades from their farm system basically selling high on prospects to get Lee and Halladay.

        To get Halladay they traded three top prospects. Michael Taylor has been a complete bust. Kyle Drabek is just about a bust. And Travis D’Arnaud gets injured every year.

        To get Lee they gave up four guys who hope to be as good as Kyle Drabek.

        This is one of the main disagreements I have with 7train. Part of developing prospects is to trade them for established players. Right now the only way Alderson is going to get more talent for the major league roster is to trade from his minor league system. He just has to make sure he holds on to the best guys. Or gets such a good player in return that it doesn’t matter who he gave up to get him.

        • Name

          Actually Brian, the Braves are actually a good example why having a good system doesn’t equate to winning. Although they have been churning out good(or some would called “overhyped”) players, they really haven’t won much since 05.

          Unfortunetly, i agree with you on the Phillies. Their model of running an organization was perfect(until these 2 years). You want a core homegrown good players and you want to surround them with a few good players outside the organization. I also most definately agree with you on the trades.
          If i remember correctly, most of the trades that occured recently have not gone well for the sellers. No one in the Santana trade worked out for the Twins. Niether did any of the people for Sabathia. Most of the players from all the Cliff Lee trades have netted nothing(although some players haven’t reached the MLB level yet).
          I mean, the only trade that i can remember in the last couple of years that have turned out to be a major coup for the selling team is the Tex to Braves deal. So sometimes giving up “potential” for a sure thing aint that bad.

          • Brian Joura

            The Braves won 266 games from 2009-2011, an average of just under 89 wins per season. They are on a pace to win 92 games this season. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

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