Yes, they're not Mets, they're a mess.
It's no secret that my favorite National League team is the New York Mets. My family is full of Mets fans, born and raised, and of course, living in the New York broadcast market, I got to follow the Mets more as a kid than I could the Red Sox (before Extra Innings and MLB.tv packages and what not). Last season, the Red Sox won the world series, and that was fantastic, but it was still difficult to watch the Mets lose in the way they did. I came into this season with similar expectations I had from last season; the possibility of a repeat of the 1986 World Series. The Mets blew it last year, and this year, they aquired one of the best pitchers in baseball to boost their staff. But what has it got them?
Right now, they're a .500 team. They have been since late last season. Old tendencies are coming back and this team is hurt internally and externally. Basically, from what I'm watching right now, they're awful. How can a .500 team who is under 5 games out of first place that awful, in May none the less. Well, there's plenty of reasons, and I'll touch on quite a few.
To me, this doesn't look anything like the team that came out in 2006 and dominated from the start, despite a lot of players being the same. This team looks more like the team that would have a 4 game win streak, and then a 3 game losing streak. The team that let the New York Media get to some of them. The team that struggled mightily with inconsistencies, disappointments, and did not win in the end.
This team looks like the 2005 Mets.
Now, the 2005 Mets should not be disappointed with what they accomplished. They were a building team that was moving the Mets out of a few very bad seasons, and under Willie Randolph's first year as manager, they finished 83-79, good enough for 3rd place in the NL East.
Think about it. The 2005 Mets had a big time superstar patroling centerfield, and despite his reputation for good power numbers, he hit .260 with 16 homers in the entire season. It was Carlos Beltran, and he definitely had a hard time adjusting to the NY media spotlight. In 2008, he declared the Mets the team to beat in Spring, trying to rile up his team and reclaim the NL East crown. Right now, he's batting .253 with 3 homers, on pace for an eerily similar season.
The 05 Mets had a lefty outfielder who had decent numbers through his career pretty much have a career year, at least in terms of power numbers, his name was Cliff Floyd. This year, Ryan Church is looking pretty similar to that.
The 05 Mets had 2 singles hitting second basemen who didn't walk enough playing for them, Kazuo Matsui and Miguel Cairo, and now, they have Luis Castillo.
Both teams have an outfielder who missed a lot of time to injury, but was solid when he actually managed to be on the field. Mike Cameron and Moises Alou.
That's just the offense. The pitching has it's similarities too.
Both teams had 2 very good front starters; Pedro Martinez (2.82 ERA) and Tom Glavine (3.53 ERA) against Johan Santana and John Maine currently. Both teams had 2 okay starters who were inconsistent but could put in decent outings; Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano, both had ERA's slightly above 4, and now, Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfry (I am placing Pelfry here because hi