A Met fan's lament

This post is as much about politics as it is about baseball. If you don't like that, please don't read this. Let that be my content warning.

From a Met fan's perspective, the absolutely worst combination of teams to reach the World Series would be the Yankees and the Phillies. Which, of course, is exactly the two teams who played in this past Series. This put Met fans in a terrible bind: which team to root for or against? Although this was a subject of a lot of debate among Met fans, the answer was clear to me, and I'll quote myself: "I look at the Yanks-Phils World Series the way I looked at the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s." But since both teams couldn't lose, I ended up reluctantly and half-heartedly rooting for the Yankees, because even though the Phillies are an excellent team, and played with style reminiscent of the 1986 Mets, they are total jerks.

So the other day, after the tickertape parade for the Yankees was over, I finally read some articles about the World Series in the newspaper. And it hit me. The Yankees -- arrogant, cocky, tough, determined to win at all costs -- didn't care what others thought of them. It was just like the good old days: George W. Bush's America.

And then I started thinking about the Mets. What did they do?

• Spent huge sums of money, but things actually got worse than they were before.
  
  
• Often got to the middle of games, down by a run or two, and then gave up. They apparently decided that no team should try to dominate another team, and that it was probably the other guys' turn to win, anyway.
  
  
• Blamed someone else for every failure.

It came to me in a flash: The Mets are the Obama Administration! (Although to be fair to the Mets, the Mets wasted only hundreds of millions of dollars.)

Now, listen to me for a minute here, and let me flesh out this analogy. I admit it's far from perfect, and I'll point out myself some of the flaws as we go along.

1. Johan Santana stars as Barack Obama.

• He's a lefty.
  
  
• He dazzles you with his stuff.
  
  
• You're so enthralled that you don't notice till the end that you've actually lost the game, 2-1.

Flaw in analogy: Santana wasn't voted into the Hall of Fame as a rookie.

2. Luis Castillo as Joe Biden.

• Brought in for stability, to shore up a position where the rest of the team was obviously lacking.
  
  
• Just when things are going really well, he makes a major flub.
  

Flaw in analogy: In a pinch, Castillo can speak English.

3. David Wright as Hillary Clinton.

• A history of star power.
  
  
• Women are huge fans.
  
  
• Wears odd head gear.
  
  
• In new environment this year, was a major disappointment.

Flaw in analogy: Wright rarely arrives at third base in the midst of gunfire.

4. Tony Bernazard as Rahm Emanuel.

• Potty-mouthed tough guy.

Flaw in analogy: Bernazard was fired for his behavior.

5. Omar Minaya as David Axelrod.

• Interviewed by press and, with a straight face, speaks complete B.S. about everything.

Flaw in analogy: Axelrod understands what he's saying is B.S.

OK, OK, stop complaining. I've written this mostly in jest. I mean, consider how different they really are:

• The Wilpons revere the past (Citi Field is all about the Brooklyn Dodgers), while Obama is still apologizing for the past.
  
  
• The media pay almost no attention to the Mets and are critical in those rare times when they do, but they hang on Obama's every syllable and feel a thrill up their leg when he speaks.
  
  
• The Wilpons were heavily invested in a massive Ponzi scheme, and Obama would never dream of investing in a massive Ponzi scheme, let alone setting up a massive Ponzi scheme himself.

Er . . . you see what I mean?