Amazin' Mess -- Part 3

Back in the early and mid 1990s. I had a newspaper editorial cartoon tacked up to the bulletin board in my office at work someone (not a Mets fan) had given me.

It had two panels. The first had a perspective passenger asking a cab driver how he could get to Carnegie Hall. The cabbie used the old punch line: "Practice. Practice."

The second panel had the same perspective passenger asking the cabbie how he could get to Shea Stadium. This time, the cabbie answered: "Don't practice. Don't practice."

After last night's embarrassing (aren't they all these days) 11-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, I was reminded of that cartoon and at how frequently, in their still relatively brief 47-year-history, this team has gone into prolonged funks that lasted several years.

Putting aside the team's initial 7 seasons (1962-68), which ended with the glorious Miracle Mets in 1969, the team from Flushing has been virtually non-competitive for several extended periods.

The decline started with Yogi still at the helm in 1974 and continued after he was fired under Roy McMillan. Then they became absolutely awful from 1977-1983 under Joe Frazier, Joe Torre and George Bamburger and Frank Howard before enjoying resurrection and either winning or at least contending under Davey Johnson (and some talented guys named Gooden, Strawberry, Hernandez, Carter et al) from 1984-1991.

The worm turned again in 1991 at the end of the brief (not brief enough?) Bud Harrelson regime, and continued through 1996 under Jeff Torborg and Dallas Green, before Bobby Valentine arrived on the scene.

The Valentine era was another fun one, until he got the ax at the end of the 2002 season. Then there was another two-year down time under Art ("He lit up the room") Howe, before Willie Randolph's first couple of years. But the loss to the Cardinals in the 2006 playoffs, and the collapses at the end of the '07 and '08 seasons under Willie and then current manager Jerry Manual has me thinking we may be in for another long losing stretch.

Yes, there have been many major injuries this year, but don't forget this is the same crew that collapsed the past two years. The crystal ball is not looking good for this team, which I believe lost its championship window of opportunity along with Game 7 in the 2006 NLCS.

Key players are aging and rapidly declining. The minor league system is virtually barren.

Yogi is reputed to have once remarked as only he can: "It gets late early here."

I think it gets ugly early here too.

Later.