An Embarrassing Loss

It has been a long time since I have seen the movie The Candidate, staring Robert Redford but yesterday’s Met loss reminded me of a scene. In the movie, Redford’s character (Bill McKay) is convinced to run for the US Senate since no one expects him to win. The party elders argue that this allows McKay to say what ever is on his mind without fear of blowing the election. McKay agrees to run.

Somewhere during the course of the campaign, one of McKay’s handlers tells him he has to rethink his position on an issue. He asks why, since he has no chance of winning, and he did not get into the race to win. McKay is told that there is a difference between losing and being embarrassed in defeat and certainly he did not want to be embarrassed.

I am not looking to discuss Barak Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, or even John Edwards. I am actually looking to discuss the Mets. I did not see any of the game on Sunday. Still, in a previous post, I indicated that I was okay with the Mets losing the last game in the three game set against the Florida Marlins, since they still would have taken two of three and they were assured of second place come the end of the series.

That was what I typed and I meant it. Still, when I heard the Mets lost 8-2, knowing nothing about the game (and I still don’t as I haven’t been inspired to research such a loss), the thought running through my head was, “I wouldn’t have minded a loss but I certainly didn’t want them to get embarrassed”. An 8-2 loss is embarrassing. Hopefully they will be able to make up for it today.

Let’s Go Mets!