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Keidel: Three Blind Mets

It seems the Mets' bottom line has trap doors. It is a writer's job to arrange context, but some things are almost beyond words.

According to the New York Post, three members of the New York Metropolitans refused to join their team on a trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Tuesday. The purpose of the trip was to bring cheer to the gallant men and women of our military who bring cheer to us.

This stretches the already chasmal gap between celebrity and civilian, between those who fly in corporate jets around the world and those who live in it.

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The triumvirate is almost as predictable as it is sad.

Oliver Perez, who has the work ethic of pregnant cattle, said he only discusses baseball matters while he hasn't mattered to baseball in two years. "I don't answer anything about outside the stadium," said Perez when asked why he didn't attend.

Perez, the breathing straight-line with no curveball, will be grazing on a Mexican buffet the moment the Mets release him. Perez, more than anyone in any sport, reinforces the notion of the check-cashing leech who got big money on spec. God gave him a heavenly left arm and he did nothing with it beyond signing the obscene, $36 million contract the Mets myopically offered.

Luis Castillo, renowned for dropping balls then wondering why he doesn't play, had this gem: "Sometimes you see people with no legs, no arms. I don't like to see that."

You have no brain, Luis, yet the Mets still pay you. The fans don't like to see you, either, advocating for years that you to be traded or terminated. Though not as egregious as Perez, Castillo is emblematic of the timid team the Mets have become. Castillo does not have a language barrier; he has a logic barrier, aloof to the chore. You don't wish him harm. You merely wish him gone.

Carlos Beltran, a divine talent who has put up sublime seasons, comes closest to exoneration. Beltran cited a clashing schedule while he apparently attended a meeting about a school he was funding in Puerto Rico. Very noble, Carlos, but reschedule.

Beltran, beyond his age and slipping skills seems to play with exponential apathy. We can understand an older player failing to reach a fly ball. We can't understand failing to try. That's where Mr. Beltran is headed – after he inhales the nearly $20 million the Mets owe him next year.

Countless thousands of Americans died for their right to play ball, for me to write about it, for you to watch it. These players fast-tracked from stupidity to disrespect and beyond. It reminds you of another Carlos (Delgado), who refused to stand from his shaded perch in the dugout during "God Bless America." But Delgado swallowed his sense of rebellion just long enough to deposit those American checks.

If these three men are Mets next year, there will be a mushrooming fury from their fans that will be felt beyond the provincial failure the Mets call their baseball team.

No doubt we can all do more with our arms and legs to help those who have neither. But it is unimaginable for a band of millionaires, who can't see the world above their wallets, to flip a symbolic bird at the bald eagle.

Feel free to email me: Jakster1@mac.com

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