The Mets Have Officially Become the Bad News Bears

Another little league style loss on Tuesday

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 1:16 PM EST, Wed, Jul 1, 2009

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Someone at SNY should really get on the horn and try to get the music rights to Georges Bizet's "Carmen" to play as background for Mets games this season. In a perfect world Walter Matthau would replace Jerry Manuel as manager, but Buttermaker has shuffled off to the dugout in the sky so we'll have to settle for the music.

It might not even be fair to compare the Mets to the Bad News Bears, actually. The Bears got better as the season went along while the Mets continue to make the kind of mistakes that marked the opening games of the movie season. The fourth inning from Milwaukee on Tuesday was essentially a deleted scene from the movie.

Fernando Martinez fell down trying to field a ball off Corey Hart's bat but, sadly, didn't end up stripping down to his underwear and hiding in Bernie Brewer's house. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Ryan Braun drove a ball to the left field fence and Alex Cora, Johan Santana and Rudi Stein teamed up to turn a double into a four-run "Little League" homer that pretty much sealed the deal in their 6-3 loss.

That's an awful way to lose a ball game, especially when you now have to wait four games for Santana to get another shot on the hill, but as any Met fan is aware it is only the third most embarrassing loss they've suffered this season. Luis Castillo's dropped pop-up has to be number one and Ryan Church missing third base is something that even the Bears would have a tough time pulling off, but give the Mets for their continued efforts to outdo a fictional team of 12-year-olds previously banned from competing in a local little league.

How can they end the suffering? The good news about Carlos Beltran's knee gives them some hope, but he's hardly capable of having a Kelly Leak-type impact on the season. Something's gotta happen to snap the Mets back into shape, and it's gotta happen soon or David Wright's going to rethink that map to the stars homes business.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.