I know it’s the “dog days” of summer and that the Mets are playing baseball at a less-than-optimum quality, but that’s no reason to just stop watching your beloved Mets. Just in case you forgot what it means to be a real fan, here’s three reasons why the Amazins will entertain until the bitter end.
1. Matt Harvey
He might not be able to go extinct for your sins like Raptor Jesus, but Harvey still offers a message of hope and inspiration to Mets fans. Fans who suffered through the hype machines that were Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher, Paul Wilson and, to an extent, Mike Pelfrey might finally remember what it’s like for a pitching prospect to pan out. I was too young for the rise of Doc Gooden, so this experience is kind of foreign to me, but Matt Harvey’s first start was enough to convince me that the Mets might have something here. Sure, he probably won’t come close to 11 strikeouts again for the rest of the season, but at least it’s on the table. I didn’t even think it would be on the table.
2. Mike Baxter just came off the DL
Is Baxter an actual good baseball player or is his .323/.392/.523 line just a mirage? My money is on the latter, but there is some reason for non-crazy talk regarding Baxter’s prospects. First of all, he has very limited major league experience. Before coming to the Mets last season, Baxter had just nine major league plate appearances with San Diego under his belt, so it’s not like he has experience being a bad player in the majors. Second, Baxter killed triple-A pitching in 2010 (.301/.382/.517), and even though those are numbers from the notoriously hitter-friendly PCL, it’s more evidence that the guy can indeed hit a baseball. Odds are that Baxter is just a fourth outfielder, but the more he hits, the more people will call into WFAN and proclaim him the next Cleon Jones. That’s always fun, right?
3. Mets games are not on tape delay
The Olympics are on for the next 11 days, and the primetime broadcasts are sure to cut into the viewership of every MLB franchise. However, it’s important to note that when watching the baseball games, you have no idea what’s going to happen. When watching the Olympics at night, every result has been on the internet for at least five hours. Everyone knows that live sports are more fun than taped sports so why not DVR that primetime Olympic coverage and watch the Mets live? The Olympic stuff is on tape delay anyway, so you might as well watch one thing that’s actually happening as you watch it.
4. The Mets aren’t 10 games out yet
New York is only 8.5 games out of the wild card. That means that they can do nothing for one more month and still be in the same situation that the Cardinals were in last season, when St. Louis was 8.5 games out of the playoffs on August 31. I know the Cards of last season actually had more than two talented baseball players on their team, but that miracle run was supposed to teach us that anything is possible. But just like we ignored Kevin Garnett in 2008, we’re ignoring the message the Cardinals sent last season and we’re giving up with two months left. It wasn’t over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, and it’s not over now.
What? Does that mean the Mets should trade Daniel Murphy for relief help? No.
5. NFL training camp is boring
Another reason one might be tuning out of Mets games nowadays is because NFL camps have started up and everyone all of a sudden forgets that there’s still more than a month to go before real football. Right now we’re at the beginning of that two week span before people start complaining about how pointless preseason football is. That’s not to mention that the camps themselves are just an excuse for reporters to create stories out of thin air. Someone called Mark Sanchez “Tim” the other day?! That should get it’s own Outside the Lines special!
