Sub-Basement Blues

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Mets' Collapse Will Linger The team built to win now has not held up their end of the bargain. The 2007 (and for that matter, 2006, as well) New York Mets did not win a ...

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Mets' Collapse Will Linger

The team built to win now has not held up their end of the bargain. The 2007 (and for that matter, 2006, as well) New York Mets did not win a world championship. A veteran-laden team that held first place for 147 days fell apart at the seams and coughed up first place and the Wild Card all in one repulsive final three-game set against a last place opponent.

Leading the second-place Philadelphia Phillies by seven games as late as September 12, the Mets made baseball history by becoming the first team to fail to clinch a division title with that much of a cushion with 17 games left in the season. By stumbling with a 5-12 record as the Phils went 13-4, the unthinkable became a reality and the lockers at Shea Stadium are already cleaned out and Citizen's Bank Ballpark is still serving hot dogs.

The dagger was Sunday's no-show against those cellar-dwelling Florida Marlins. Needing a win to ensure themselves of at least a tie for the National League East, the Mets went out there on a sun splashed afternoon to a encouraging crowd and lost the game before the first beer was served. Tom Glavine, the former 20-game winner for the Atlanta Braves, capped off his disappointing Met tenure with an abysmal performance, surrendering seven runs while only recording one out. The veteran southpaw had only had one day in 21 years worse than this, back in 1989.

After heading into the dugout to prepare for their first at-bats, the Mets were staring at a touchdown disadvantage and never had a chance. The sellout crowd of 54,453 was taken out of the game as fast as Glavine and for all intents and purposes, the Phillies winning their game against Washington was only appropriate. Why should the Mets have had another day to live and make the trip to the City of Brotherly Love for a play-in game? They did not deserve to go back out there and looked as if they had no desire to.

Willie Randolph may have seen it all, but even he could not have expected something of this magnitude. "Any time you have an opportunity to finish the deal and don't capitalize on it, it will come back to haunt you," he said to reporters following the final game. "The bottom line is that we spit away an opportunity to win the division. It's going to be a tough winter living with that."

At least Randolph can breathe easy, knowing that he will be getting another chance next season. General manager Omar Minaya announced that the manager will return after meeting with ownership. "I do believe that Willie is going to continue to work hard and it's a challenge to all of us - to Willie, to myself, to our whole organization - to get our guys back to winning," he said in a press conference held at Shea Stadium on Tuesday.

Randolph may be returning, but Glavine's future remains in serious doubt. He holds a $13 million player option for 2008, but he may decide to ride off into the sunset wearing his old Braves number 47 jersey. When Minaya was asked about bringing him back, he responded to reporters, "We will be talking to Tom Glavine at some point in the near future." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but when it mattered most, Glavine allowed 17 earned runs and 25 hits in 10 1/3 innings over his final three starts. Those are not numbers that you expect from your ace when you need the wins the most.

There are many culprits in this debacle and no one should remain unscathed. There needs to be many changes here and this team has to get younger. Minaya has a busy winter ahead of him, and it began a few weeks sooner than he ever imagined.