Looking back on a lost season

What's worse than two consecutive embarrassing September collapses? The 2009 New York Mets season.

I was pretty heartbroken after the 2008 season ended, but at least I still had a heart for the Mets. The 2009 season was just a blur of embarrassing moments, seemingly one after the other, with very few bright spots, if any, thrown in between. They became the laughing stock of the league. The motto of the season turned out to be, "What will happen next?" What will the next embarrassing moment be?

More than the curve ball to Beltran, more than the first inning exit by Tom Glavine, my angriest moment in recent Mets history came on June 12th of this year. The infamous game against the Yankees, with Luis Castillo dropping a routine pop fly that should've ended the game in the Mets favor, but instead ended the game in the Yankees favor, as Alex Rodriguez of all people ran around in celebration just seconds after pounding his bat into the ground in frustration.

But that moment was also my release. After I got a drink and calmed down, I just started laughing. I couldn't stop laughing. That's how it would be for the rest of the season. At that point, I had lost all hope for success for the season, and just continued to laugh at each embarrassing moment afterwards, at each injury that befell the team. It was beyond bad luck, or bad karma, or bad whatever; it was just ridiculous.

I didn't attend a single game this season, and I have no problem with that. Besides the fact that I still can't acknowledge Citi Field as the Mets' home (and I have an evil laughter every time I hear about a criticism of the stadium), why would I want to watch this team? I hardly even bothered to watch the team on television for the last couple of months. I still continued to follow the team, seeing the results of the game, reading the recaps and news on the Internet. But I just couldn't bear to watch. It was too painful.

If there was one moment that made me feel good during the season after June 12th, it was the return of Billy Wagner. He is a player I always loved. I loved his attitude, his openness with reporters, his intensity on the field. I was very saddened in 2008 when he injured his pitching elbow, an injury that threatened his career, and certainly appeared that I would never see him in a Mets uniform again. But he was determined and worked very hard to come back in 2009 and pitch again. As he was nearing his return, he brought a renewed interest in the team for me. I couldn't wait to see him come back. He finally returned on August 20th, with a perfect 8th inning against the Braves that included two strikeouts. I was so happy for him.

On August 25th, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox.

*sigh*

This past Sunday, I was elated at the thought that the Mets season was finally over. What a disaster it had been. I could go on and on about all the horrible things that happened this year, but I want to finish this post before the end of the week.

And so was the 2009 Mets season. It was over in June. I wish I could just erase it from my memory, but I know it will never go away. But the great thing about sports is that the next season always starts with a clean slate. Everyone is 0-0, last season doesn't matter anymore. I will continue to follow the team's offseason moves and hope they will do something to turn the team around, although I don't have much faith anymore in Omar Minaya to do so. But we shall see.

Let's Go Mets.