Studious Metsimus "Salutes" The Yankees With A Limerick

Studious Metsimus would like to congratulate the New York Yankees with a special limerick written especially for them and their fans. We're sorry the limerick doesn't contain 27 words (one word for each championship) but we can't be as perfect as you are. Enjoy!

So the Yankees own twenty-seven rings
As Mets fans, it doesn't mean a thing
We bleed orange and blue
And we're proud of our two
'Cause we didn't have to BUY our bling!




Let's go Mets in 2010!
Let's stop the Yanks from doing it again!
Let's put together a winning team
So we don't have to relive this bad dream!

The Quest For A 71-91 Record

Well, I'll be Van Dammed! The Mets actually have a chance to make something positive come out of this otherwise dreadful season. Apparently, good things seem to happen to teams that finish with a 71-91 record. Studious Metsimus has searched far and wide to prove this fact. After extensive research (and a brief DL stint for a paper cut) we produced the following results.

The Mets have finished 71-91 three times in franchise history (1974, 1996, 2004). In each circumstance, they finished with a winning record the following season (82-80 in 1975, 88-74 in 1997, 83-79 in 2005).

In fact, since 1983, there have been thirteen other 71-91 seasons in the major leagues. In all but one instance, the team that finished 20 games under .500 in the first year improved their record the following season. The only exception was the 1993-1994 California Angels, who finished 71-91 in 1993 and 47-68 in the strike season of 1994.

Here are the thirteen teams and their records in each year:

1983 Chicago Cubs (71-91), 1984 Cubs (96-65)
1986 Minnesota Twins (71-91), 1987 Twins (85-77)
1991 New York Yankees (71-91), 1992 Yankees (76-86)
1993 California Angels (71-91), 1994 Angels (47-68)
1993 Minnesota Twins (71-91), 1994 Twins (53-60)
2000 Texas Rangers (71-91), 2001 Rangers (73-89)
2003 Baltimore Orioles (71-91), 2004 Orioles (78-84)
2003 Texas Rangers (71-91), 2004 Rangers (89-73)
2005 Detroit Tigers (71-91), 2006 Tigers (95-67)
2005 Los Angeles Dodgers (71-91), 2006 Dodgers (88-74)
2006 Washington Nationals (71-91), 2007 Nationals (73-89)
2007 Florida Marlins (71-91), 2008 Marlins (84-77)
2007 San Francisco Giants (71-91), 2008 Giants (72-90)

Please note that the 1993 Twins had a .438 winning percentage and the 1994 Twins had a .469 winning percentage in the strike-shortened season.

Four of the teams listed above qualified for the playoffs the year after their 71-91 season.

In 2006, the Dodgers won the National League wild card berth before losing to the Mets in the NLDS.

In 1984, the Cubs were National League East division champions before bowing to the Padres in the NLCS.

Also in 2006, the Tigers built upon their 71-91 season and took it all the way to World Series before losing to the Cardinals.

Finally, in 1987, the most amazing turnaround took the Twins from being 20 games under .500 to winning the World Series.

There you have it. In addition to the Mets, 13 teams since 1983 have finished with a 71-91 record. Twelve of them improved the following season. Half of those dozen teams ending up with winning records in the second season. Four of those got a taste of the playoffs. Two of them made it to the World Series and one of them won it all.

The Mets haven't done much right in 2009, but if they can somehow finish with a 71-91 record, perhaps 2010 will give the fans more reasons to be optimistic.

Phillies Happier About Mets Failures Than Their Own Successes

It's not enough for the Phillies to win a championship. They have to continue to shove it down the throats of Mets fans. I was looking for photos of Pedro Martinez in a Phillies jersey to include in a blog I was going to write about him and his great start for the city of Brotherly Hate. Instead I came across this website that sells their team merchandise. The page says that it's for Phillies World Series ring T-shirts. If you scan through the listings on the page, you'll find no such shirt, but you will find more shirts insulting the Mets and their fans than you'll find shirts praising the Phillies.

They even advertise the recent unassissted triple play turned by Eric Bruntlett against the Mets on a T-shirt, as seen on this link. They actually think a single play against a fourth-place team should be immortalized on a shirt. Do you think when they beat out the Marlins and the Braves for the division title this year, we'll be seeing shirts insulting them? No! It'll all be about the fact that they beat the Mets in the division.

If our fellow Mets fans were as classless as Phillies fans are, they would be proudly wearing T-shirts proclaiming the Phillies as the losingest team in baseball history or perhaps something featuring a design based on the photo shown here that Studious Metsimus fully approves:

I was just starting out as a baseball fan in 1980 when the Phillies won their only other championship. I don't recall any ill will or animosity towards the Mets then. The city reveled in their championship back then, as fans of any team should. The Mets won the World Series in 1986 and we celebrated our title without feeling the need to rub it in the noses of our competition.

I guess the Phillies and their fans are so accustomed to losing that even when they win, they have to be losers. The Mets and their fans will move on. We root for our team through good times and bad. The Phillies mean nothing to us.

The Phillies and their fans should stop focusing their attention on their rearview mirrors to look for the Mets and our fans. If they continue to do so, they might not notice what's on the road in front of them.

Welcome to Zombies and Comics and Bears...Oh My!

Thank you for checking out my site. Many of you might be familiar with my writing from MetsMerizedOnline. I've decided to branch out so you can read more of my work here. Obviously, the majority of my posts will probably involve the Mets in some way, but for those Mets fans who are also fans of horror movies (especially zombie movies), comic books (DC Comics in particular) and teddy bears, this is the place for you!

That's right. I'm talking to all two of you!

I don't expect everyone to find something to read here, but I'm sure at some point, I'll write something worth reading. There may even be a poem or twelve in here, as eclectic is my middle name (actually, it's Lucifer, but that's a story for a different day).

I may even have a guest blogger occasionally just to mix things up. Some may be human bloggers who write for some of my fav'rit sites; some might be furry critters. Either way, I can guarantee that what you read will be informative and fun! (...and there will be pictures. Lots and lots of pictures!)

Thanks again for visiting the site and I hope you enjoy Zombies and Comics and Bears...Oh My!

Oh, by the way, please show your support for the site by clicking on the "follow blog" thingie. I know it's somewhere on this page. All comments, whether positive or negative, are greatly appreciated, as they will foster discussion between myself and my readers. Thanks again!