The sun rose again this morning, and set this evening. In other news, Johan Santana will miss his next start with elbow discomfort. New Met Jeff Francoeur has quickly taken to his new team, also succumbing to injury, his a torn thumb ligament.

The Curse of Willie Mays strikes again!

In all seriousness, though, higher powers are at work here – dark powers. It’s been a strange few years for the Mets: the ’06 NLCS loss was heartwrenching, but ultimately decided by the players themselves – Molina hitting a home run, and Beltran not swinging. ’07 was double agent Glavine bleeding Brave dark blue, pounding the nail in the coffin with a tomahawk and ensuring a Met burial versus the Marlins. ’08 was eerily similar.

But ’09 has been a cat of a different color from the very beginning. Frankly, after three years of defeat at their own hands, I’m actually relieved, as a Met fan, that their non-season is not due to a lack of talent, just to a lack of healthy talent. With so many games missed to injury by the starters, I can only and safely assume that this source is not within themselves but something paranormal, man. I’ve never seen anything like it – well, nothing in real life, anyway:

Let’s take a closer look at these misfortunes (found here):

# Player, Position, Fate
——————–
1 Steve Sax, 2B – six life sentences
2 Wade Boggs, 3B – punched out by Barney
3 Darryl Strawberry, RF – pulled for pinch hitter
4 Jose Canseco, LF – saving burning house
5 Don Mattingly, 1B – kicked off team
6 Ken Griffey, Jr., CF – overdose of nerve tonic
7 Mike Scioscia, C – radiation overdose
8 Ozzie Smith, SS – lost in Mystery Spot
9 Roger Clemens, P – thinks he’s a chicken

“But that will never happen. Three misfortunes, that’s possible. Seven misfortunes, there’s an outside chance. But nine misfortunes? I’d like to see that!”

# Player, Position, Fate
——————–
1 Jose Reyes, SS – 36 GP, last played May 20th, hamstring
2 Daniel Murphy, LF – ***
3 David Wright, 3B – Hit in the head Aug 15th, concussion
4 Carlos Delgado, 1B – 26 GP, last played May 10th, hip surgery
5 Carlos Beltran, CF – 62 GP, last played Jun 21st, bone bruise (knee)
6 Ryan Church, RF – Missed 13 G in May/June, hamstring; traded
7 Brian Schneider, C – Missed 39 G, back
8 Luis Castillo, 2B – Missed 3 G in August tripping on the dugout steps (!, …)
9 Johan Santana, P – Elbow discomfort, late August

*** Daniel Murphy has actually played in all but 5 of the Mets’ games this year — good for him, but he’s only hitting .260 with only occasional power, so, just okay for the Mets. Or should I say, “MEHts”?

And — this is was just the opening day lineup! The Meht bench and bullpen were similarly decimated along the way.

Dark forces, right? John Swartzwelder’s not responsible for this.

Whom I will blame? The Wilpons. In the face.

This is what happens when your ownership sacrifices what little history your own team has in favor of celebrating the distant memory of another team entirely – from a different borough, from a different generation – and to the exclusion of another, more successful, more celebrated, more historic franchise that used to play just to your northwest.

There is no good goddamn reason for Citi Field to look like Ebbets Field — for the Dodgers, or for Jackie Robinson, to be so honored in a place the New York Mets call home. If the Wilpons and others want an exhibit honoring the man, and the team, somewhere on public display, tuck it away in centerfield. Fine. All the better — they’re a part of New York baseball history. But just as Yankee Stadium would look silly honoring Jackie Robinson at its front gate, so would, and do, and seemingly forever will, the Mets.

And if Jackie Robinson is such a symbol of equality in baseball, how dare the Wilpons not also celebrate on a similar scale the Giants, the “other” National League team? Isn’t that inequality all the same? Isn’t that unjust? Isn’t that hypocritical?

Where’s Willie Mays in all this?

I fear somewhat to type it, but not so much because I probably wouldn’t be right anyway. But if the dark forces present this year are the first evidence of yet another of baseball’s curses, let’s just speculate that the Mets will continue to lose until at the very least there’s an orange 24 perched proudly in the Jackie Robinson/Willie Mays Rotunda.