Every sport has its own quirks, rituals and cliches. For many professional athletes, these quirks include being superstitious. Some players put their uniforms on in a specific way, others have certain meal preferences before the big game. And sometimes, the whole team will get involved in the superstition.
The New York Mets have had their fair share of rituals, from elaborate handshakes following home runs, to the high-fives after victories. We've seen numerous players shave their heads at the same time in years past. The latest trend has been facial hair.
In a superstitious approach to winning games, several members of the Mets have agreed not to shave until the team reaches .500. They seemed to be on their way to breaking out the razors last week, taking three out of four from the Colorado Rockies over the course of a five game winning streak, their longest since they won seven straight in early May. But all the good that the Mets did last week- the winning streak, getting within 3 games of .500, gaining two games on the wildcard leading Rockies- was negated Monday night, following a 6-5 loss to Arizona.
Nelson Figueroa was just awful tonight, allowing more runs than outs recorded. In just his second start of the season and first since April 19th, Figueroa surrendered three home runs, two to Mark Reynolds en route to 6 earned runs over an inning and two-thirds. The Mets staged a comeback in the fifth inning, Alex Cora and Omir Santos logging base hits before Angel Pagan drew a walk two batters later to load the bases with one out. Back-to-back singles by Luis Castillo and David Wright plated all three before Gary Sheffield grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat at 6-4.New York cut Arizona's lead in half in the sixth on a leadoff home run by Daniel Murphy. That would prove to be the end of the Mets offense on the night, however, as they recorded just one hit the rest of the game. The loss was their fourth in five games, as the Diamondbacks took three of four from the Mets.
The Mets had drawn within 5 1/2 games of the wildcard lead as of last Tuesday, but did not make a trade before Friday's non-waiver deadline. Despite last week's five game winning streak, they are now 50-55, and 8 games out of the wildcard, having actually fallen farther behind in the wildcard race than they were just eight days ago, when they were 7 1/2 out.
Although they have gained a half game on the first place Phillies, the glimmer of hope that was peeking through last week has again faded. The best thing that can be drawn from the Arizona series is that the Mets showed resilliency, staging comebacks in Saturday's 9-6 win, highlighted by Angel Pagan's grand slam, as well as tonight's loss.
The Mets will cap off their 10 game homestand with a two game series against St. Louis, before heading to the west coast for seven games against San Diego and Arizona. On the bright side, Johan Santana will take the mound on Tuesday. What does not bode well for the Mets, however, is that Santana faces Joel Pineiro, who held the Mets to just two hits back on June 23rd, and could very well offset the benefit of a Santana start. Beyond the St. Louis series, the Mets hit the road for a week, where are just 21-31 on the this season. With Santana going tomorrow, he is scheduled to start just one game on the upcoming road trip.
Working in the Mets' favor is that the Padres are without their best starters, having just dealt Jake Peavy to the White Sox, and with Chris Young still on the disabled list with a bad shoulder. San Diego's current starting rotation has a combined 11-21 record, consisting of Kevin Correia, Mat Latos, Chad Gaudin, Tim Stauffer, and Clayton Richard, who came over in the Peavy trade. The Mets are in line to face Richard- who pitched well in a no decision in his first start as a member of the Padres- (Correia (7-9, 4.73 ERA), Latos (2-1, 2.70 ERA in 16.2 IP) and Stauffer (1-2, 2.57 ERA in 21 IP).
Assuming the Mets can manage at least a split with the Cardinals and Padres, they will have an opportunity to work their way back towards that .500 mark if they can take the series in Arizona. What it comes down to, though, is that the Mets need to survive their next 9 games, and by that I mean they need to go at least 5-4 over that span. If they can do so, they would return to Citi Field at 55-59, and would begin an eleven game homestand that could very well be their last opportunity to claw back into the fringe of any October conversation.
During the homestand they will host the Giants, who are currently 7 1/2 ahead of the Mets and 1/2 game behind Colorado for the wildcard lead, the Braves, whom they trail by 3, and the Phillies for four games.Granted, this is all a little ways off, but the significance of these next 9 games is that by then, the Mets may have at least one major piece back in their lineup. Carlos Beltran took batting practice on Saturday, and on Monday was on the field shagging fly balls. While he is still experiencing pain in his right knee, Beltran may be back in a couple of weeks, possibly in time for the majority of the Mets' 11 game homestand. Carlos Delgado has also taken batting practice, but when he will return is less clear.
What is clear is that at 5 games under .500, it looks like the beards aren't going anywhere for a while. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against facial hair, and I've been known to grow some
myself. But when the beards are essentially the embodiment of the Mets' 2009 struggles, I'll be the first to say that I hope they are short lived.Here's some food for thought: The farther the Mets fall below .500, the less likely they will be to climb above it, even with Beltran, Delgado, and Reyes, if they even come back that is. I would assume that if they keep losing, they may consider ditching the beards, but these pro athletes are a strange breed. I'm not sure how set they are on sticking to their hairy pact, but if they don't break their .500-or-scruff vow, we could be looking at a very disappointing, grizzly group of Mets at the end of September. Maybe then, Tim Redding will finally fit in.
