It hasn’t been for a while in Mets land. The boo-birds are in season, to the point of near overpopulation in Queens .

Not that this is a piece about the eternal “boo or not to boo” chestnut that makes its way around the papers and the blogosphere. Nor am I the righteous type to condemn those that boo their own team. Boo, don’t boo, whatever. While I’m on the subject, I think its about time to put said argument into the Pete Rose in the hall of fame, Whether to pay college athletes or any other generic worn out argument that’s fodder for every Guy Sports Radio show in America .

What the hell was I talking about? Oh yeah.

I’m actually sick of watching Mets baseball right now. How bizarre is that? I am the guy who, while living in the dorms, used to bribe guys that had cable in their rooms with a case of beer on a Friday night so that I could watch the Mets-Cubs game on WGN while they went out to party and meet hot girls. I stayed up all night on opening day of 2000 to watch the Mets play the Cubs in Japan at 4:30 in the morning because I couldn’t wait for the tape delay later in the day on ESPN. I even once passed on tickets to the 1999 Texas Tech upset of Texas A&M (the Aggies were ranked in the top 10 at the time) in order to watch Rick Reed beat the Pirates just to keep the team’s season mathematically alive- and I LOVE Red Raider football. Not that anyone that’s read this site has to be convinced of my Mets addiction. The point is that its Mets Yankees weekend and my emotions have ranged from dread to merely, “eh.”

I have been trying to figure out why all day after the afternoon crime perpetrated against Mike Pelfrey. I could try and make a list but we all know the problems on the field. It’s not just a shoddy bullpen, or age taking its toll or failure to hit in key situations or bad defensive plays. I’ve lived through a lot of bad Mets baseball teams and I can’t remember ever being as indignant at my team as I am this year.

I’m not annoyed in the sense that I want to watch them lose, I just watch expecting them to lose.

Problem #1
The Bullpen is shoddy and there isn’t much Omar or the front office can do about it now, everything else is as bad or, if its even possible, worse. In baseball today, bullpens are fickle from year to year. The best case senerio is that Duaner keeps building stamina and hopefully come close to his 06 velocity and that Joe Smith can mature at a rapid pace. If and when Pedro and El Duque come back, El Duque might stabilize the pen, but I wouldn’t count on it. Heilman should figure out his demons in mop up time and I never want to see Jorge Sosa again.

Problem #2
On the other side of the coin, the offense has been very suspect. Beltran looked like he was getting hot, Wright started off the year on fire but his bat has cooled. Reyes has shown brief flashes, not much else. The Mets mediocre start would have been catastrophic if Ryan Church wasn’t in the lineup. I could assume Alou will heat up with more work, but I’ve learned a long time ago not to count on anyone over 38 in a Mets uniform. Delgado…never mind, this isn’t as cathartic as I imagined.

You know the problems, if you’re still watching. Problem #2 could actually help the staff out of this funk. If the Mets start jumping to leads early, maybe…I don’t know, some leadoff triples, and give the staff a big lead to work with, the Willie would be able to use his pen for more than an inning and rest those weary bullpen arms. Otherwise…well if you were around last August and September you know what happens.