Luck Of The Irish Isn't With Mets

Today is St. Patrick's Day. It is a day in our country to wish good fortune and celebrate. For most people, it is another reason to drink and party, but in Ireland, it is a reverent holiday. It is much like what Easter is for millions of Americans, it is a day to worship, pray and be with loved ones.

This day celebrates a man who used his intelligence and skills to rid Ireland of an epidemic, snakes, as legend has it. By leading the snakes away from the country side with his instrument, he used both skill and a little luck. This is where some scholars say the phrase 'the luck of the Irish' comes from.

As a Mets fan, this day means one thing to me. Green Mets Jerseys. Every year, on this day, the New York Mets sport a green alternate jersey in the hope, perhaps of not only remembering and honoring the holiday, but to summon some of that luck as well. It certainly hasn't been working lately. From hamstring tears and thyroids to flu symptoms and everything in between.

This franchise has seemed almost cursed from the moment that Carlos Beltran struck out looking in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Some of the misfortune has certainly been by their own hand.One could argue that the show boating and arrogance on the field led to the 2007 debacle. However, is there anyone else to blame for last season besides the baseball gods? I can't see how there is.

This season is merely looking like an extension of last season thus far, concerning injuries. But if this organization is indeed cursed, right now, from where did this curse originate? Where exactly has this misfortune spawned from? It is my firmly held belief, that it's karma. In other words, you get what you give.

This franchise for years has been known as the 'bad guys who won'. As a result of that karma, perhaps, it could be said that the current state of the franchise is the 'not too bad guys that can't stay healthy enough to win'. That's a big difference. How then can that be changed?

I propose a radical idea, not too much unlike Pedro Cerrano wanting to sacrifice a live chicken and settling for KFC in Major League. I think it starts at the top. The Wilpons, Minaya, the 'baseball people' and all the rest, need to stop spending so foolheartily, and actually use their money wisely. Don't spend money on pitchers that have 'weak arms'.

Don't spend money on backup players to backups. Don't even spend it another pitcher that played in Washington or Atlanta. Instead, why not use the resources you currently have, to properly evaluate players and find the best all around options, not the bargain store knockoff options.

Use the staff you currently have to actually perform a physical or diagnose an illness properly, instead of sending a contagious player back to camp. Utilize the people you have to do their jobs correctly and hold them accountable for mistakes. If in the real world, the doctors made the mistakes in a hospital that they made on K-Rod, they'd been sued for malpractice a long time ago.

However, it's okay to do it in Queens and Florida, because it's the Mets and after all, no one is ever held accountable until the seats are empty, then the managers get fired. The new slogan in the club house should be "accountability plus teamwork equals success". Luck is nothing more than a byproduct of hard work. There is a fine line between luck and preparation. That line for the Mets gets wider every day. Happy St Patrick's Day.