17 Games To Go, Are They Imploding Yet?

Good grief. Everybody remembers last year when the Metsies were 7 games ahead of the Philadelphia Philatelists with 17 games to go and then lost 12 of those games to be knocked out of the playoffs. The season ending string of disasters has followed Metsies fans around for a full year. Like a very old fish wrapped in today's New York Times. If you pay attention you can feel the stench in your nostrils. And now, the Official Metsies Internet site seeks to reassure me and other fans that the implosion is just not going to happen again.

What a joke. Here's the front office's ridiculous reassurance:

They don't cross each passing day off their calendars, because the Mets know they don't have to. As long as they produce and as long as they win -- in short, as long as they do everything they didn't do last year -- the Mets will make the playoffs.

They know, of course, because they've been here before. One-hundred forty-five games have now whizzed by the Mets, with precisely 17 left to play. That's the exact split that faced them prior to last September's collapse, when they hit their final high-water mark with 17 games to go. Up seven against the Phillies in the standings, the Mets won only five more games and spoiled their chances for a postseason berth.

"I think it's been a motivating factor the entire year," manager Jerry Manuel said.

Now, though on top by only 3 1/2 games in the standings, the Mets feel every bit as secure as they did last season. They seem less complacent and they're playing accordingly. They talk and act as if they're somehow entitled.

That's awfully metaphysical. And very psychological, albeit of the pop variety. In fact, it's garbage, pure and simple.

I don't want to hear any more of this nonsensical blather. It's simple. I want the Metsies to win. I won't be happy until they have numerically eliminated the Philadelphia Philanderers. And I suspect, most Metsie fans won't be either. Management should spend its time making sure that the team wins, rather than trying to con the fans into believing that all is well. To be frank, all will not be well until the Mets have clinched a playoff birth. No excuses.