Mike: How did you get over it? I mean, how long did it take?

Rob: Sometimes it still hurts. You know how it is man, it’s like you wake up everyday and it hurts a little bit less, and you wake up one day and it doesn’t hurt at all. And the funny thing is that, this is kinda weird, but it’s like, it’s like, you almost miss that pain.

Mike: You miss the pain?

Rob: Yea, for the same reason you miss (them). Because you lived with it for so long.

I think we are all coming back to earth over the way the season ended. I feel alot like Mike in Swingers, sitting around my appartment, drinking orange juice and feeling sorry for myself. When I can get my mind off of the Mets one of the worst things about the season ending so quickly and unexpectedly is the sudden loss of what we are used to, and what most of us expected.

Now that it has been ripped away, one of the most depressing aftershocks is your mind, out of force of habit, planning your night around a game that isn’t scheduled. It’s almost eerie. The “oh yeah, there is no game tonight” feeling.

Now that we have the whole Willie thing out of the way, there are all those crazy trade rumors. First off, I can say with confidence that Jose Reyes isn’t going anywhere. Not for Santana, not for A-Rod, whatever. I am confident our boy stays put. Reyes did have a terrible second half, no doubt. Why on earth would you trade him when his value is down? Regardless of what talk radio thinks, Omar isn’t an idiot.

I’ve been pondering over the last few days about what went wrong. As much as I would love to blame Mota for the whole thing, I can’t. A few thoughts:

 

One of the keys to our demise in September was Reyes’ lack of production. I write this not to place the blame on Reyes, rather to illustrate how vital he is to the Mets offense. It’s been said that Reyes is the spark plug of the Mets, and in September the Mets clearly stalled. It’s been said before that as goes Reyes, so go the Mets. Well take a look at Jose’s second half numbers and pretend you don’t know what happened in the latter part of 2007. That statement could never be more true.

 

I don’t know what cause the slump, whether depression, home issues, partial insanity caused by constantly hearing the name “Rickey Henderson” or just a plain old prolonged slump. Make no mistake, Reyes will be back.

 

I think the second thing that was key to the Mets collapse was the absence of Steve Trachsel. I won’t argue with anyone who didn’t want to resign Steve in Queens after his heartless NLCS but before that happened, think how consistent Trax was. Granted he was consistently mediocre, but at least he was consistent. I think his absence clearly taxed the pen, a taxation that bankrupted them by the last 25 games. The Mets need to look for an innings chewer in 2008, especially if Perez continues his erratic starts, and Pedro will likely never stay in a game past 100 pitches. Yes, I am actually typing this; the Mets need a Trachsel like player in 2008. It’s not sexy, but we can’t tax the pen so much in 08.

 

I can’t believe that about Schoeneweis, pathetic…