This Picture, Man

Gaze on it.  Drink it in.  You don't need context.  All you need to do is see the symmetry, see the balance and understand; this is the picture that defines the 2011 Mets. 

In all things, balance.  For every 5-game winning streak, a five-game slide of such awfulness, such ineptitude, must come that it can only be termed "a colossal butt."  For every month where Jose Reyes has looked like the best player in the game by a wide margin, a month where he sits.  For every replacement player that has turned out to be a pleasant surprise (Justin Turner, Miguel Tejada, Scott Hairston, Lucas Duda) a player that has been injured or traded, in turn necessitating the replacement (Daniel Murphy, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran).  For every Mike Pelfrey start where he looks like the Brandon Webb clone he seemed destined to be, five starts where he looks like a scared shitless cat, frantically licking at his paws after watching another long-gone dinger.  But it's ok, they were never meant to contend anyway, where they, Pelf?

At the end of April, the Mets swept the Diamondbacks in a three-game series at Citi, in the midst of a six-game winning streak.  Now, the debt has been repaid, and balance has been restored.  Before the year is out, another five-game streak will come, and when all is said and done, the Mets will finish 81-81, no better or worse from where they embarked in early April.  It is the way of all things in this, the fairest of seasons.  


Maybe Pelfrey was right.  The Mets knew that they were out of the race from the start, with the Phillies as loaded as they are, and the Braves exploding out of the gate.  Is it possible that they vowed early on, that if they were destined to be a .500 team, that they would be damn near the most entertaining .500 team to play the game?  

Hat tip to Bill for pointing this image out to me, and to SBNation for hosting it.