The Mets Are Cursed

At Deadspin they write about the Mets sudden collapse and why they believe this to be happening:

We think we've found the problem, Mets' fans. The reason for your team's sudden collapse is not Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen, not a stretch of 10 errors in two games, not poor clutch hitting. It all comes down to your very own Steve Bartman. Yes, it's Matt Murphy's fault.

When Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 on Aug. 7 in San Francisco to break Hank Aaron's record, it was Murphy -- a Mets fan who was even wearing his favorite team's jersey -- who came out of a scrum with the ball. But here's our theory: That ball is cursed. The illegal steroid consumption that helped produce it also bedeviled it, like the ancient tiki idol that Bobby Brady found on the beach during his family's infamous Hawaiian vacation. It's star-crossed; and for the Mets to win the East, that ball must be returned to McCovey Cove.

Murphy of course sold the ball at auction, but the taint obviously remains; the Mets blew two three-run leads and lost again in the ninth inning, 8-7, to the Marlins on Thursday. The Phillies, 7-6 winners over the Nationals, are just 1½ games back. On Aug. 7, the Mets had a 4½-game lead over the Braves ... the Phillies weren't even on radar. Glavine had just won his 300th game, and everything was looking good in Flushing. Then Murphy found the Bonds ball, and the Mets have had nothing but bad luck since. There's only one solution. Just as Peter and Bobby did with the accursed tiki idol, someone must return the Bonds ball from whence it came. Either that, or the voting option to blast it into space; that would work also.