Are you having fun?

[roger_that]

Pete Alonso says he is

I don't know about you, but this shit offends me. I am having the least fun as a Met fan today that I can remember having ever, including the early-1960s, late 70s, mid-90s, etc. This is absolutely demoralizing, misery-inducing, infuriatingly frustrating, terrible baseball--and this asshole is having fun? At least when the team sucked, when it lost 90+ games in a season, we knew how far how we had to go to rebuild. Now we're paying guys 42 M a year to pitch like Ray Daviault.



Well, maybe de Grom will toss a gem tonight, and tomorrow will be a romp, and we'll cruise into LA and sweep them, and I'll forgive Alonso for spouting this babble.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Give me a break. Pete Alonso makes a living playing a child's game with the best baseball players in the world. And he's real good at it. He's only 27 years old and soon enough he's gonna sign a contract worth more than a hundred million dollars. He can afford to live in the heart of the greatest city in the world, no doubt in extreme luxury, and among other things, he has access to food at two in the morning that's better than what most people could get and afford at eight PM. And he's eating all of that great food, too. Why shouldn't he be having fun? At least he's fucking honest.



It's a fucking crapshoot. Or do you think the Mets should beat the Padres just by willing it because they won 101 games? They played an excellent team with an ace elite pitcher. If I was in Alonso's shoes, I'd be having the time of my life every single minute even if my Mets were in last place. Why would his fun make you miserable? Hey, maybe you can demand that Edgy red light this post being that I dont agree with you on anything you just wrote. You did it before.

[Edgy MD]

The red light forum is, in fact, where ill will for other posters belongs. So if you must use this place to express it, please take it there.

[Lefty Specialist]

Of course he's having fun. He wears a custom bathrobe and gets his pancakes delivered by Mr. Met.



Didn't look like he was having fun against Darvish, though.

[Ceetar]

Look, just because his teammate calls him Jake, doesn't mean the reporter asking the question. That annoys me more than Pete being excited to play a playoff game with Jacob deGrom pitching.

[roger_that]

There's a way to express the idea of looking forward to competition in a backs-against-the-wall situation, such as they're in now, without using terms like "fun" to describe it.



Saying "This is fun baseball" is a kind of doublespeak. It isn't fun, Alonso isn't enjoying getting the shit kicked out him any more than I am watching him getting the shit kicked out of him, and this isn't a respectful way to describe the situation facing him, even with a former Cy Young winner and the current batting champion standing closest to him on the field. Challenging work, all we can do is to play our best, I believe we can still come through, etc. are all cliches he can use and not piss me off, but "fun baseball"? Fuck that noise. No one's having fun here, now, today. This is fun like Putin wants peace. Please, Pete, don't blow sunshine up my ass, ok? You're neck-deep in shit, don't make worse by denying where you are.

[whippoorwill]

I lived and died by the Mets for 30 years...and then my dad died. It was 2007, on Labor Day, and you can look it up, the Mets crashed and died too. Some of you still talk about it. The last thing I whispered in my dad's ear when they were ready to close the casket was "Pedro's pitching tonight"...but that was about the last good thing that happened that year. I don't know maybe Pedro sucked that night and that started it all.



All that being said, in 1986 I walked on air for a week, in 2000 I was in a trance for a week when they lost.



I get roger's angst. They really can get under your skin.

[Ceetar]

that type of attitude is why baseball players get reluctant to say anything but cliché. Alonso particularly, is not really a "woe is me" guy. You're mincing his words and all he's thinking is deGrom's pitching, we'll get 'em tomorrow.

[vtmet7]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Didn't look like he was having fun against Darvish, though.

He came so close to having fun vs Darvish in the first inning...



I think that is the next thing that Manfred needs to fix to add more offense to the game...move the foul poles about 5 more feet out to their left and right...too many "almost" homeruns...

[MFS62]

I think that is the next thing that Manfred needs to fix to add more offense to the game...move the foul poles about 5 more feet out to their left and right...too many "almost" homeruns...

LOL!

I still remember Murph telling us how Cliff Cook almost (in an anguished tone) hit a home run against the Pirates at Forbes Field.



Later

[roger_that]

You're mincing his words

No, I'm quoting his words.



It's an asshole thing to say. I know he's not enjoying this, you know he's not enjoying it, Pete knows he's not enjoying it. No part of this is fun for anybody.



Maybe in the long run, decades from now, we will all look back at 2022 (if it ends as horribly as I suspect it will, sometime tonight), I can look you in the eye and say that, all in all, 2022 WAS kinda fun, despite how it ended, but right now, today, this completely blows. It's the most sickening, most disappointing, most disheartening, most miserable scenario any Met fan could imagine, given the 101 wins and the playoffs appearance.



I could give Pete a pass if we'd played well last night, lost a cliffhanger, got clipped around inning 14, got a few come-from-behind runs to tie it up at some point, etc. But after playing so disgracefully last night, to say "This is fun baseball"? It's the statement of a clueless dolt who has no respect for the demoralized fan base.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Oh, please. It's fun. We have a playoff game to watch tonight.



And this is the "most sickening and disheartening" scenario imaginable? This is much better than the last few weeks of 2007. Were you not around for that?

[ashie62]

A few people woke up on the wrong side of the bed today



I do not like the obscene language that floats around here

[Ceetar]

=roger_that post_id=110415 time=1665241746 user_id=128]
=Ceetar post_id=110411 time=1665238670 user_id=102]
You're mincing his words

[Willets Point]

The "fans" who have this kind of attitude are something I can never comprehend. Baseball is fun. It's supposed to be fun, as are all spectator sports. If it causes one to feel misery and anger, then for one's own mental health, it's time to pursue another hobby.

[roger_that]

If you're enjoying this, you've got a screw loose in your head. I'm annoyed at myself for giving a damn about the Mets in the first place, and for thinking well of them. If I could get myself to root against them, then maybe I'd be having fun now.



Maybe that's the ticket. Root for the Padres, and then I can enjoy tonight's creaming of deGrom and four weak Ks from Alonso.... Will that work? We'll see.



The consensus seems to be that Scherzer's pitching through a badly damaged oblique, btw. If they somehow get past the Padres, and he fesses up to the oblique bothering him, do you keep pitching him until you get eliminated or do you give his starts to someone else?



A moot point, I know, at this late date. I'm just wondering how many blowouts, multi-HR games do you give a future HoFer who can't get anyone out but insists he's fine to keep pitching. Can you imagine if this began a few weeks earlier and the Mets hadn't gotten a playoff spot at all? Do you think they would have kept putting him out there every five days to get lit up like this? At what point would Alonso rethink calling it "fun"?



And yeah, I was here in 2007. No meltdown is ever fun.

[Edgy MD]

Roger, I assure you I don't have a screw loose.



If you're annoyed at yourself, then maybe there's something else you might enjoy tonight.

[metsmarathon]

The fuck.



The one thing you tell any player going into a pressure situation is, go out there and have fun.



Do you really, truly want him to say, ”holy shit were all worried. Literally shitting literal bricks. I'm going to go to the plat tomorrow with such a tight grip on my bat that I'll squeeze it into diamonds. We're fucked we know it and we're gonna play like it. Lfgm”



Is that the sound bite you'd prefer?

[vtmet7]

I can understand anger at how the Mets tend to fail at playoff situations since 1988 (I will never forget we blew that series vs the Dodgers...or that Benny blew up on a talk show vs the Yankees...or Willie Randolph blew it vs the Phillies)...however, looking at our roster vs some of the other playoff team rosters, I can't help but feel that we were lucky to ride the perception that we were World Champion material as long as we did...I can't blame Pete for being "happy" with being in the playoffs...

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Oh, please. It's fun. We have a playoff game to watch tonight. And this is the "most sickening and disheartening" scenario imaginable? This is much better than the last few weeks of 2007. Were you not around for that?

This. A million times. You'd think he was bitten by a deadly snake or run over by a train.

Edgy MD wrote: The red light forum is, in fact, where ill will for other posters belongs. So if you must use this place to express it, please take it there.

Oh please. Take what there? That I disagreed with him? My post was as red-lightable as Grimm's. Which is to say, not at all. What ill will? You're seeing things that you wanna see but aren't there. I'm shocked shocked shocked that you couldn't resist but to have to say something that cuts against me. I can't imagine what you'd do if I was the one who wrote that you have a screw loose.



Oh my god! Alonso's gonna make $100mill probably before he turns 30 -- when he could really enjoy all of that money -- like before he gets old and his body starts to break down all over. Sign me up for that and I'll you show you what fun is.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=roger_that post_id=110415 time=1665241746 user_id=128]




Maybe in the long run, decades from now, we will all look back at 2022 (if it ends as horribly as I suspect it will, sometime tonight)

[roger_that]

If you would kindly read this tweet and particularly these comments, you might see how common my emotions are among the NYM fanbase. No need to get personal with me, honestly. I'd bet many more Met fans are feeling like I am today, disgusted and pissed-off, than are feeling all upbeat and smiley and satisfied.

[Edgy MD]

I wouldn't look for affirmation in agreement (from Twitter, especially). Seventy-four million people voted for President Trump's re-election. They were all wrong.

[Frayed Knot]

Here's my time to chime in on how this is one of the drawbacks of expanded playoffs.



Instead of a 'winner's only' tourney [MLB from '69 thru '93 for example] where each team is considered to be on the same par generally even if not exactly, when you start to add second and third tier clubs (and, in some sports, fourth and fifth) fans of the upper clubs come to expect the early round(s) to be easy or even a given and are therefore not just upset at an ouster but resentful and even betrayed [They didn't want it enough,]



But sports, and particularly baseball, don't always work that way. So if you want the extra teams/games/dollars that expanded playoffs bring, do understand the downsides as well.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: Here's my time to chime in on how this is one of the drawbacks of expanded playoffs. Instead of a 'winner's only' tourney [MLB from '69 thru '93 for example] where each team is considered to be on the same par generally even if not exactly, when you start to add second and third tier clubs (and, in some sports, fourth and fifth) fans of the upper clubs come to expect the early round(s) to be easy or even a given and are therefore not just upset at an ouster but resentful and even betrayed [They didn't want it enough,] But sports, and particularly baseball, don't always work that way. So if you want the extra teams/games/dollars that expanded playoffs bring, do understand the downsides as well.

Yes. But even without expanded playoffs, having two baseball teams play a couple of games against each other is no way to determine which of the two teams is the better one. But yeah, baseball's the worst sport to expand playoffs. That head-scratching over-the-top post at the top of this thread is just mind-boggling. All that angst because the Mets lost one game. To a very good team, no less. You'd think the guy wants to jump off a ledge.



Anyway, the Mets aren't eliminated and tonight, they'll have baseball's undisputed best pitcher over the last five years (when healthy) starting. If the Mets win, and they're heavily favored to win, the series is tied and the Mets can advance to the next round with just another win.

[Gwreck]

Frayed Knot wrote: So if you want the extra teams/games/dollars that expanded playoffs bring, do understand the downsides as well.

I certainly didn't want these expanded playoffs and plenty others didn't want them either. And were on record about that long ago.

[Lefty Specialist]

I'd be having more fun right now if they'd won 7-1 last night, rather than lost by that score.

[The Big O]

That dude falling down = fun.

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: So if you want the extra teams/games/dollars that expanded playoffs bring, do understand the downsides as well. I certainly didn't want these expanded playoffs and plenty others didn't want them either. And were on record about that long ago.

I'm with you on this topic and for at least as long.

[kcmets]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Of course he's having fun. He wears a custom bathrobe and gets his pancakes delivered by Mr. Met.

That's pretty funny, I bet breakfasting with Mr. Met is a blast of fun.

"We're not going anywhere after this."