Mets... you BLEW it. You should have retired Carter's number

Mets, you have screwed up a lot since Beltran took a called third strike in the 2006 NLCS.

On the field the you have had epic collapses and last day eliminations.
You've had bloated payrolls that yielded losing records.
You've signed free agents that don't fit.
You turned the incredible advantage of playing in New York into a handicap.
You have empty seats in a new stadium that was designed to honor teams that left town instead your own franchise.
You have dragged the team through the Bernie Madoff scandal.

But for some reason, the most recent blunder by the Mets just seems like the worst of them all.

You did not retire Gary Carter's number while he was alive.
Why not?

Seriously.
What POSSIBLE explanation can there be for this? What justification can you vomit up to make me say "Oh, that makes sense"?

Not enough time?
He was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.
That's 11 seasons where you could have found the time to have a day for the lone Hall of Famer on the Mets' second World Series title... one that was saved by Gary Carter's single that started one of the greatest World Series rallies in history.

Were you upset that he had an Expos cap on his Hall of Fame plaque?

You do know that he WANTED to have a Mets cap but the Hall of Fame decides such matters after the whole Dave Winfield situation.

Did you think "Hey, he had his number retired with the Expos and we don't retire numbers that other teams have honored"?

Then explain why Casey Stengel's number is retired.

I am going to go out on a limb and say the 1986 Mets were a better team than the 1962 Mets.

Were you mad that Carter publicly lobbied for the job of Mets manager?

Well maybe he thought, as a Hall of Fame catcher with a great knowledge of the game and connection to the organization, that he was qualified.

It's not like Art Howe was the second coming of John McGraw while in New York!

What, was your schedule too busy last year to plan a day for him?

We found out that Carter was dying LAST SPRING!

The minute you found out, you should have said "Let's have a day." Some time in August. Get all the Mets together, rent a stage and get someone to make a big ass #8.

Have Ron Darling, Darryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson and everyone else there.

And you should have given Carter the chance to wave to the fans and CitiField to give him a standing ovation.

What was last year too jam packed with events? The team was sub .500 and the attendance was in the lower half of the National League.

You barely outdrew the Padres last year! Just for cynical dollars and cents and paying back the Madoff debt, you have Gary Carter Day so Met fans could see an ACTUAL MET PLAYOFF TEAM ON THE FIELD!

But no.
You didn't.

And now he's dead.
You screwed up.

Say what you want about the Yankees, they know how to honor their stars.

Lou Gehrig is dying? They gave him the greatest ceremony of all time.

Babe Ruth slipping away? They have a day for him.

When Mickey Mantle was dying in the 1990s and Bobby Murcer was dying in the 2000s, they had ceremonies where the fans could give them a standing ovation.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination.

It doesn't take a lot of planning.

It doesn't take a lot of brains.

It doesn't take a lot of heart.

And you, the New York Mets, evidently have none of the four.

This is not second guessing. People have been saying this since last year!

Not just bloggers... the New York Post did as well.

And now you can't. Even if you do now, it will posthumous.

It will be a sad day instead of a joyous one.

I ranted last year about how stupid it was that the Reds waited for Sparky Anderson's death to retire his number.

This is even worse.

You screwed up Mets.

Is there ANYTHING you can do right?