Picture it: a crisp, cool night in upstate New York. Yours truly shows up on time- for once- for an 8:00 PM softball game. There is currently a game being played- coed mind you, so I know we're starting anytime soon- so I take a seat on the bottom row of the bleachers to begin changing into my cleats and other prerequisite equipment.

That's when it starts.

From behind me, people start to take notice of the blue Mets hat I have chosen to take the field with tonight. Suddenly my ears are filled with taunts and jeers like "Oh my god! How could you wear that?!" and "What place are the Mets in?"

To fans of the perennial underachievers, these comments in September are nothing new. They have come to be counted on as a sign of the end of summer, and therefore the season. They are thought of in the same spirit as the leaves turning color, the change in temperature, and the start of football.

What's worse is that when my brain invariably advanced to the stage where I would try to come up with a one-liner to end the heckling for the evening I had nothing. Not one witty retort came to mind. Upon turning around, it's probably a good thing because the hecklers were none other than my teammate's 10 year old daughter and her 7 year old brother.

What ensued was a cavalcade of how if she were to wear a Mets hat she would throw up, etc, etc etc. (The throw up comment was answered by me with: "I know the feeling", so at least I had one volley in the verbal assault)

The reason I had nothing is because there is nothing to say positive about this team. Aside from David Wright and Johan Santana, everyone should be on the block. Yes, that means Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Jason Bay.

Looking at the lineup, you'd think they were scoring runs left and right and it must be the pitching that let it down. Well, yeah of course the pitching was a let down- but this team can't hit either, and there's no excuse for it.

So Jerry Manuel can cry all he wants about Joe Torre's comments, he can't hide from the truth that every capable manager in the country would have loved to have a shot to manage a roster like the one Manuel has had.

There's no hiding from the fans, either. No matter how old they are.