It was just an embarrassing day all around for Pelfrey. But, honestly, do Mets fans expect anything different from the guy?
I wasn't going to write anything about the incident involving Pelfrey's quote in the NY Post because I thought it was, well, stupid.
If you missed it, Pelfrey told the Post, "It's unrealistic for anybody at the end of last year to come in and say, 'The Mets, this is a one-year thing, next year we're going to win it all. It's unrealistic."
It's an honest quote, and I agree with him. If you are a Mets fan and thought this team was going to win it all this year, you're delusional. Compete and make things interesting? Yes. Win the World Series? No.
By the way, I believe another Met made a comment a few months back that was similar.
"We have to find a way to be honest with ourselves about what kind of team we are. We can’t just keep telling ourselves, ‘Oh, we’re a better team than this.’ We may not be. And we’ve got to be honest about that, and identify what we’re doing wrong, and do it better. That’s the only way you have any real growth."Of course that statement was made by the one and only R.A. Dickey.
The difference between fan reaction to Dickey's statement and Pelfrey's? Dickey is a fan favorite, Pelfrey is not. When you've already irritated a majority of the fan base with your crappy pitching like Pelfrey has, that leaves you very little room to make "mistakes" such as this.
Fans have become so used to reading and/or hearing canned responses that when a player actually does make an honest statement, we don't know how to handle it.
Should Pelfrey have said what he did to a reporter in a city that blows everything out of proportion? No. He's been around long enough to know doing something like that will come back to bite him.
If there was anything in this story which should be slightly controversial, it should be the quote from the "anonymous player" who responded, "He's cutting his own throat. What's his record, six and nine? He's supposed to be the ace of the [bleeping] staff. Why don't you go and win 12 or 13 games?"
Responses like that will make things a little awkward in the clubhouse.
Pelfrey cleared the air, however, before Saturday's game. He spoke with his manager and his teammates about his quote, and how it was taken out of context. His teammates have come out to say that they have his back, and manager Terry Collins seems to understand where Pelfrey was coming from.
If the team can get past this, so should the fans.
Move. On.
At the start of the season, or backing up to the end of the previous season, why would any Mets fan think that there's no chance of winning the World Series? Eventually during the season a team gets to the point where the hopes of a miracle dwindle down to basically no chance whatso-freakin'-ever. For some teams that happens sooner than later. But why write your team off before Game 1? Strange things happen in this game. Good teams collapse and others have miracle runs to get them right back in it. No, it doesn't look likely for the pathetic Mets, in fact the chance of getting the Wildcard is about 1%, but Tug McGraw was right -- Ya Gotta Believe. (Though at some point one needs to suspend belief for the current season . . . but the belief needs to be there for next year otherwise why be a fan?)
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