Fear and Loathing Follows Mets to Colorado

John Maine blasted by the Rockies

The common phrase is that a picture is worth a thousand words, but every now and then words wind up painting a thousand pictures better than any artist would be capable of doing on their own. John Maine uttered some of these magic words after allowing eight runs in three innings of Tuesday's 11-3 loss to the Rockies.

"I hate it," Maine said. "I hate everything about what's going on here right now."

Got the picture? 

Mets fans certainly do. Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez kept up their tradition of taking viewer phone calls during the meaningless part of a rout and the calls could be summarized as fire Manuel, fire Minaya, hire a sports psychologist and fire Manuel and Minaya. Lots of loathing there, but plenty of fear too. The fear that this season is already lost. The two announcers tried to find a way to urge some patience and some variation on how it is still early, but it doesn't feel particularly early.

Maine getting bombed isn't the same as Johan Santana having a bad inning against Washington. He's been bad twice, was bad in Spring Training and wasn't all that good in past seasons. At some point the calender date matters less than the fact that he sounds more full of self-loathing than any three Mets fans picked at random from the street and it already matters less than the fact that he doesn't seem capable of pitching better than three guys off the street either. 

No, it's not early at all for the Mets. If they don't do something to inspire some faith in these next five games, in fact, it's going to be mighty late. Two more with the Rockies and then three in St. Louis, playoff teams both and only once do the Mets get to throw Santana into the mix to help them stop taking on water. Every doubt about the roster construction and personnel decisions is coming to fruition in short order, setting the stage for a season of pain that's all too familiar. 

John Maine isn't the only one who hates everything about what's going on here right now.  

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.

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