Category Archives: Mets 2010 Season

Ok, so there’s another loss and another shaky outing by a Met starting pitcher and yet another experience of ineptitude of Met hitters with runners in scoring position.  Its becoming repetitive at this point.

– I’m not going to be hard on Niese.  He made a few mistakes in today’s outing and for a guy throwing a cutter in that thin air (which I found out from listening to the broadcast negatively affects it), it can be tough.  His line wasn’t good but there remains an air of confidence surrounding Niese as he’s only now getting his feet under him as a pitcher in the majors.  The same can’t be said for the other 3 in the pitching staff.  Niese gave up 5 runs (all earned) on 9 hits.  Struck out two and walked only one.  Its not his control or command but its just the effectiveness of his location.  Which of course brings us to my next point:

-My only complaint is this, why is he NOT throwing his curveball?  That’s his money pitch.  Why is he throwing fastballs and change ups?  Again, to me, I believe this comes back to philosophy and how flawed Dan Warthen’s is.  I haven’t campaigned as much for Jerry Manuel’s firing as some fans as I’ve campaigned for the removal of Dan Warthen and Howard Johnson.  Yesterday as the guys were talking about John Maine’s recent struggles, it came back to him not throwing his fastball as much and him focusing more on his secondary pitches which, if I’m Warthen, I don’t let happen.  The most important thing for Maine is to get back his arm strength and he’s not going to do that by throwing sliders and off speed stuff.  Why isn’t he telling him to let it rip?  Throw as hard as he can?  Build up his arm strength and THEN from there go to the secondary stuff?  I just don’t understand.*

*= and by understand I mean, how he still has a job?  He’s been terrible.  This pitching staff has talent but under the wrong instruction they’ve been terrible.  Warthen has done NOTHING to improve it.  I go back to something I heard last year where Mike Pelfrey’s coach from Wichita St. said he used to throw from mid 90’s to high 90’s regularly.  This is in college.  Why isn’t he throwing that hard now?  With his build, he can definitely take the brunt of the force on his arm.  They are basically guiding these guys away from their strengths.  This should have been done in the minor league level NOT on the major league level.  I’m sorry but that’s unacceptable.  The college coach basically asked what happened to the hard hitting Pelfrey he used to coach?  Even he was unsure.  Sometimes coaches can get too cute and too experimental and that’s exactly what’s ailing these Mets.

– At what point is Jeff Francouer going to be moved up?  When I made the suggestion for the newer batting line up, it was more to imply that nobody’s spot is safe at this point.  No one.  Nobody’s producing and thus no one deserves the benefit of the doubt.  I like the idea of bringing up Francouer as he’s the only guy hitting.  Yesterday’s homerun was purely a guy in the zone swinging at dirt and coming up with gold.  The pitch was inside and in the dirt and he literally stepped back and dug out that ball and I swear he used a sand wedge and that ball raced out of here.  Now it could be just luck right now but you have to ride the hot hand.  Rod Barajas has sent a few missiles that have died out in deep center.  Yesterday in the 10th, Mike Jacobs sent a shot* that hit off the top of the scoreboard.  It seems that guys have been taking huge rips but literally have missed the barrel of the bat by just a little.  Its unfortunate but that’s just how small the margin of error can be and it seems that the other team just gets a better rip which again brings me to the point: what is it that other teams are doing that the Mets aren’t?  That’s the question that needs to be asked of Howard Johnson.  Why haven’t the Mets produced?  The Mets need a better approach than they’ve been showing.  Forget OBP right now (the Mets lead the league), its about getting guys who will drive those runners in.  Things like situational hitting aren’t really clicking with this team and that has to be wondered about while assessing the team.

*=  That shot was by far the most impressive hit I’ve seen.  The guy broke his bat, seemed like it came inside and yet he ALMOST sent it over the right field wall.  For a team that suffers from bad luck or bad fundamentals, I would’ve liked to see that ball travel just a few more inches back.  Who knows what that hit could’ve done for the Mets as the season goes on.  I mean it can happen in today’s game and moving forward but it sucks that it isn’t sooner.

– I read Newsday and they did a big feature about defensive mechanics making a major return and its true.  The Mariners were the best fielding team last year and they made an honest effort to improve their defense and speed according to the park just like the Rockies who have made it a point to have speedy outfielders and then you look at Citi Field and the Mets entire team and see no real strategy.  I wonder aloud sometimes about Minaya’s real brilliance.  Perhaps the Mets with their young guys will improve.

– Jose Reyes finally stole a base but it shouldn’t have counted.  The Rockies basically gave him the base as Jose alertly stole 3rd after seeing that it was going unattended.  Keith Hernandez made an interesting note when he said he felt the Mets were still babying him and its true.  Why are the Mets holding these guys back?  How will he ever return to normalcy if he’s getting his body used to a certain speed?  A guy like him needs to be pedal to the metal and its not happening because the Mets are holding these guys back.  Maybe its just my anger here but still.

– Mets need to take this final game but need Pelfrey to keep the sinker down and hope to get a victory off Jorge De La Rosa who since the mid point of last season has gone 17-3.  Yeah.  The Mets are supposed to go against Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter this weekend as well so it will only get tougher for the Mets.  Wonderful.

THE SEASON: 2-6

MY PREDICTION: 5-3

Yet, another loss for the Mets and let’s be honest, this is NOT the way I envisioned the Mets starting this road trip which six games in, is very important.  Not important in the sense for the season but for several people like Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya; two of the team’s biggest linchpins.  No matter how unreasonable it sounds to judge a team 6 games in, we knew coming into the season that Manuel and Minaya would be judged on their first month’s W-L record.  This is NOT the kind of start that the Mets or their fans envisioned.

– One of the biggest problems fans have with Jerry Manuel is he’s so even keel and relaxed despite everything going wrong around him and that worries fans who want to see fire; you know what the fans were looking for in Willie Randolph when they fired him.  It seems like his demeanor equates to him not caring which I don’t see because I’m like that as well.  I’m an optimist and very rarely do you see me get upset or angry and I dont consider myself a person who doesn’t care.  Guys like us emote in times when people can’t see us so that we can keep a brave face.*

*= I started by writing happy face but in context of Jerry its definitely brave face.  Also shoot me for comparing myself to Jerry Manuel, quite possibly the most loathsome figure on the Mets right now.

– 4th Inning an interesting question was brought up by Gary Cohen:  The Mets all off season talked about competition for the 8th inning role, 1st base and the extra bench spot and yet never did so for the pitching staff.  Maine, Pelfrey, and Ollie were all guaranteed spots in the pitching rotation and never had to worry about competition despite being out pitched by the waived Nelson Figueroa,  Hisanori Takahashi and the optioned Pat Misch.  If they continue to struggle, what do they do?  Keith Hernandez didn’t have the answer* but I thought about it and came up with this: If the Mets pitching staff struggles, its difficult to just release them and let them walk and be left with unproven rookies for the rest of the year because it tells your fan base that you don’t care.  These guys have some kind of skill but for instance:  John Maine has a tailing fastball but his location sometimes is bad.  His change up was working in spots.  Its all about consistency and hitting your spots whenever you pitch.  Its not that Maine loses his concentration its that he loses his cool and begins throwing instead of pitching.  When he does that bad things happen.  Maine’s problem has been his inability to get his fastball to go to 93-94 range that it used to be.  Is he back from surgery or not?  The Mets need to be realistic with their pitchers and not throw these guys out there hoping that they are back.

*= God bless Keith Hernandez.  He rarely goes to the deeper part of the well for answers to Gary Cohen’s questions.  He’s more of an adder-on to Ron Darling’s responses.  If its about hitting Keith can talk for hours, and he can make the occasional joke but he’s out of his comfort zone when he’s asked to lug more than he can in a conversation.

– John Maine pitched 3 innings and gave up 8 runs.  The biggest problem with Maine? 8 runs surrendered with 2 outs.  That’s just unacceptable.  The weird part was, Maine would let the first two guys on.  Get the next two guys out and seem like he was recovering then boom, the inning would go on as hitters teed off on his first pitch fastball.  Guys are clearly seeing a routine out of John and his fastball just isn’t quick enough to get it by hitters.  He has no movement and its just a straight, flat fastball that tails in on lefties right over the heart of the plate and guys will tee off.

– Maine gave up 8 runs in 3 innings but I felt like he should’ve been out there in the fourth and on.  I understand he gave up 8 runs but Jerry needs him to figure it out on the mound.  He’s not going to figure it out in the dug out with talks to Dan Warthen*, or in bullpen sessions.  He needs to work it out and Jerry should’ve sent him out there.  Right now he’s slated to pitch the final game against the Cardinals which scares me because if his confidence right now is at rock bottom**, imagine where it will be once Matt Holliday, Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick get done with him?  One bit of news that came out of twitter via Metsblog was Kevin Burkhardt’s*** tweet that his gut feeling being that Maine won’t make that start which begs the question: who will?  Well.  The Mets with the day off on Monday can move guys up in the rotation and skip Maine’s start which means they can either have him go against the Cubs at home or let a full turn go and get him against the Braves.  Who knows what that tweet meant but perhaps Kev knows something is brewing.

*= Dan Warthen looks like a friendly grandfather but he’s the first guy that should get fired once Manuel does.  Like I said, I don’t have a problem with Manuel’s personality, it would be better served if his pitching coach and hitting coach were doing a better job and they aren’t.  Those guys should be fired.  I think Manuel’s cool would be a much better fit on a better team with better surrounding coaches.  Maybe I’m over-playing this but I’ve hated Dan Warthen since he came here.  The Mets just do NOT know how to hire coaches.  I love Ho-Jo but he needs to be fired as well, the Mets just aren’t producing and maybe its philosophy and that falls on the hitting coach.

**= Is there a guy who batters himself harder than Maine?  He’s so tough on himself.  My cousin Chris usually does the Homer Simpson “ohhhhh” when he does something wrong.  Well Maine has that face too and, this is just an observation so take it how you will, but Maine walks off the mound like he has the biggest wedgie and he’s trying to pick it by walking with his legs so far apart.  He just looks like a, and I hate to say this about a Met, dweeb in the truest essence of the word.  Out of all the pitchers the Mets have, I have the least bit of confidence in Maine and honestly I don’t see much confidence in him either.  Ever.  That’s the biggest troubling part of it all.

***= Story from Saturday’s game involving Kevin Burkhardt: I saw him come to area of the stadium that I was at and I told my friend James and his girlfriend Mitali that I wanted to take a picture with him.  I went there and Kevin said after the inning he would just in case he was asked to do something mid inning.  Meanwhile he was talking to some of the older fans and very personable with them.  A few minutes later I noticed Kevin walking away and a worker there told me I had to hound him.  I looked at him like he had three heads and said to him “really?  Hound him?  He’s Kevin Burkhardt.  If this were Keith Hernandez yes, Ron Darling yes.  Darryl Strawberry? Yes.  Kevin Burkhardt is a field reporter.  Come on.  I’m not saying Kevin has a big head but that was a dumb statement by the kid working there who thought I was going to walk up to him and beg for an autograph or something.  By the way, I walked by him three more times and snubbed him, SO THERE!  No, I dont sound like a I’m upset at all.

– Fernando Nieve finally had a bad outing issuing two walks and loading the bases and seeing 3 runs score.  By the way that’s the first set of runs the Mets relief staff have given up in almost 25 innings which is a pretty good stretch.  Again, this is why Maine needed to see more innings.  Raul Valdes came in and struck out 3 in two innings and I dont want to see him overworked in the first 20 games of the season and there are a few other guys who I can see being overworked already and its not a good sign because if this team ever gets going offensively their pitching staff won’t be able to keep it going all season and that may be a problem.

– Funny moment in the 8th inning when the SNY booth decided to start taking phone calls and a caller asked whether any of the Mets considered seeing a sports psychologist because they seem tight and it just so happened that David Wright made a play and the camera was on him as the caller was making the comment.  I’ve been on Wright all season, but he’s the tighest guy on this team and he just can NOT afford to be if this team has any hope of going anywhere.  Wright seems to get his hits in garbage time and for all his .300 average got him last year I thought it was the worst .300 hitting year I’ve ever seen because he seemed to collect hits in blowout victories or blowout losses and he never did it when it counted despite what simple stats may tell you.  His K rate was up and it just seems as if when the game is decided one way or another and Wright isn’t asked to win a game with his bat he seems to come alive and not put so much pressure on himself.  He needs to think like that all the time which naturally brings up my second radical strategy of the week:

SEND DAVID WRIGHT TO A HYPNO-THERAPIST.  Get him hypnotized before each game and get him loosened up.  Sure I got this idea while watching Office Space but maybe the Mets need a bit of strange to get righted.  He seems so comfortable when there is no one on base or when there isn’t pressure that the difference is startling to me.  Think about it, on plays that Wright is expected to make and a bit of pressure to get the easy out is on him he always bobbles and overthrows the baseball to first but when a sharp liner is hit to him and the fan won’t be surprised if he misplays it, he makes.  It makes NO sense what so ever.  Just a thought David.

–  Its early and its only 7 games in a season but how long can we afford to keep saying that?  I don’t agree with Adam Rubin who wrote this morning that the Mets don’t have the players to compete in the NL East.  The Mets have the talent, its just about putting it together.  Last night was the first game the Mets got completely outplayed by the competition.  Two soft throwing pitchers have beaten the Mets now on back to back days and its a bit disconcerting to think.  I don’t think its panic time at all but if you’re Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya it certainly IS at that point but should fans start being upset? No.  But if the Mets don’t improve then don’t get me wrong changes should and will be made.

– I still have faith that this Mets team will bounce back.  Everyday can be the start of the rally back to prominence.  Let’s GO METS!

SEASON: 2-5

My Prediction: 4-3*

*= If Willie Harris drops that liner by Barajas on Saturday and the Mets come back and win that game that the Marlins bullpen was giving us, I’d be right on about this team.  I’m just saying.

Firstly, sorry for such a late post.  The next few days should be slow on the posting front but I will try my best.  Bear with me.  Here are some of the notes I took on the game:

– That’s two consecutive series losses for the Mets both homestands which don’t bode well for our beloved Metropolitans.  Both against NL East foes.  The most sobering reality of this is yesterday’s start was by our only “sure”* thing Johan Santana.  That should tell you how desperate the situation could get.  We will get into Johan’s start in a minute but let’s consider that in 2007 and 2008 when they blew their division leads it was due to games they blew against the lower rung divisional opponents.  Now the Mets have become that lower rung divisional opponent:

2007: out of a possible 28 games in the month of September the Mets played 21 against divisional foes (that’s 75%).  Their record was 9-12. (.428) (Against division all year: 35-37)

2008: out of a possible 25 games in the month of September they played 18 against divisional foes (that’s 72%).  Their record was 8-10.  (.444)  (Against division all year: 40-32)

Let’s forget 2009 as a statistical anomaly for which the mets shouldn’t be judged by,** and let’s go straight to see how many games the Mets have heading down the stretch given the Mets are still in it by that point in 2010:

2010: Out of a possible 30 games in the month of September and October they play 19 games against divisional opponents.  That is 63.3% of the final games.  Statistically that is much lower but over the final 25 games they play divisional foes 17 times which isn’t far off the last few season’s worth.
Which means that if the Mets have any hopes of being relevant this season, they had better start winning some of these games.

*= By putting sure in ” “, I’m not trying to say that Johan isn’t a sure thing but with the Mets it shouldn’t be implied or understood.  Simply put these days there is no sure thing.  Anything that can go wrong, WILL with this team.

**= I’m a nice guy but c’mon, I don’t care who you are, nobody could go through what the Mets had last season and win with that roster.  Maybe Bobby  V.  Whoa, did I just start a hire Bobby V chant in my head? You bet your bottom dollar I did.

–  I’m not stating anything Mets fans haven’t already heard with the divisional teams being the key.  I don’t care what people say, the Mets are better than the Nationals.  They may not be better than the Marlins but its darn close.  Right now they are around the third best team in the division and they are missing that one ingredient.  That one thing is what I haven’t figured out.

– The one question I’ve been asking myself is, is it too early to hit the panic button as a Met fan?  My head is telling me yes, its way too early, its 6 GAMES IN for crying out loud but my heart is telling me that I’ve seen this movie before.  Its eerily reminiscent of the putrid play we saw out of this team last year.  Not only are the line ups not hitting the pitching is no where to be found even from our best.

–  Johan was flat out awful.  His fastball was high 80’s which is unacceptable from a guy who throws low 90’s.  Johan’s never been a power pitcher, but his money pitch is a change up.  The key ingredient in a change up is the high velocity dip between the two pitches which come out of his hand the exact same way in the exact same arm angle with the exact same grip with the exact same arm speed.  If both are just 5 MPH off each other hitters can time it beautifully and sit on either and that’s what the Nationals did.  Johan’s movement and placement were terrible.  After the game he said he couldn’t locate his cutter but a cutter’s not in his repertoire of pitches which is kind of upsetting to hear considering he has really good control over his pitches.  I’m willing, as I’m sure are more Met fans, to give Johan the benefit of the doubt on this start, but this is definitely troubling.  I never made a big fuss over his Spring Training ERA since most aces don’t care about Spring ERA’s because they are usually trying out new pitches and whatever so they may hit some training bumps, but after only going 6 in his first outing, he went 5 and the Nats hit his pitches very well.

– Livan Hernandez, Oh Livan.  I’ve never had a problem with Livan.  He has moments when he’s as hittable as a softball tosser and as unhittable as a wily veteran.  Unfortunately yesterday was one of those days.  Mets hitters were swinging at his pitches like they were going 90+ on the gun.  They were running in on right handers and he pitched around the line up very well scattering 5 hits over 7 innings, something the Mets havent’ had by the way.  Did I tell you that Livan had the one and ONLY Met complete game last year?

– This of course brings us to this point: You need to get Jacobs/Gary Mathews out of the 5 hole.  Jeff Francouer is not being rewarded for his incredible start he’s been having.  He’s had a hit in every single game and he drew another walk.  That would be his 4th walk in 6 games.  If he were to keep going at this pace, which I realize is highly unlikely, he would have 108 walks for the year.  That would be more than the last 3 seasons.  Combined.  Yeah.  I may be high on him because I think he brings intangibles to this ball club that can’t be measured by statistics.  He’s clearly a bunch of fun to be around and he’s even become close to Jason Bay who seems like a very shy guy as I notice them conversing alot.  Even Wright has admitted how much of a relief it is to have a guy like Francouer around as he enjoys the press attention and is, and I am very hesitant* to say this, more media savvy than Wright.  Manuel’s job is clearly on the line and yet he refuses to let Frenchy bat as the number 5 hitter.  I understand the disadvantage of having your 3-4-5 as all righty but right now you have to put your best line up forward.  You have to get Gary Mathews and Mike Jacobs out of that spot.  They are killing you right now.  French is the best you’ve got.  Either that OR a radical idea for a line up:

Pagan

Castillo

Wright

Bay

Reyes

Francouer

Barajas

Jacobs

Pitcher

Now let me explain before you guys ridicule me for putting Reyes so low in the batting order.  Reyes needs to get his feet under him.  This is a temporary fix until Beltran gets back.  The Mets need to break up a 3-4-5 righty line up and Reyes with his ability to switch hit would do that.  He would get up in some RBI situations and while he’s getting his legs under him can give the bottom of the line up some ability to see some pitches.  It still protects French who needs to continue to see garbage pitches so he can crush them.  If Francouer starts becoming more patient at the plate, he could be a huge offensive addition to this team. The Mets need crazy right now, because conventional is not working for them.

When Beltran returns consider this line up:

Reyes

Castillo

Wright

Bay

Beltran

French

Barajas

Jacobs/Tatis

Pitcher

– One thing that really struck me was Jerry Manuel saying how the team was unprepared.  That’s not what Met fans are trying to hear.  That certainly didn’t sit well with me or any Met fan that I know and its becoming harder and harder for me to rationalize Jerry still being manager.  He seems adequate for a team full of pros and to be honest, the Mets are NOT right now there.  The hard part is he’s still managing this team.  The Mets need a coach who will come in and immediately grab the team by the horns and lead it.  They are obviously not fundamentally there and they need a voice that gets them motivated and pumped up.  When the Mets get down and need to come up in a clutch situation there’s no real rallying around one another.  When the going gets good they seem to be clowning around and having fun but when things go bad no one talks to each other and they aren’t figuring it out as a unit.  The Mets need someone to come in and remind them that they are pros.  Someone who has a voice and can get them fired up.  I realize I’m describing two guys right now and that’s Bobby V who will always hold a place in my heart as a Met fan and Wally Backman.

-Backman is an interesting choice because in Spring training* I heard him get interviewed once and from what I have read and heard about him he seems like a guy you would NOT want to mess with.  He’s a no-nonsense guy that can bring that fire and brimstone kind of ideal to a Mets team that looks like its lacking more than an offensive punch in critical situations but its lacking fight.  I think even if Bobby V isn’t lured back as Met manager we have a guy in Single A that can do the job.

*= That interview was the best because all he needed was a cigarette hanging off his bottom lip to complete the look of bad-ass.

– It goes without reason that the Mets in scoring position has been dreadful and it can be alleviated with a little switch in the line-up.  It seems as if Jerry is still playing it safe even though he needs to pull out all the stops.  He needs to pull a Knute Rockne speech out of his butt to get this team fired up in April which is disturbing.  The Mets could easily be 4-2, or better yet 3-3 thanks to Willie Harris, they aren’t, but more than that, thanks to their lack of clutchness they aren’t.  They left 58 men on base in this weekend series against the Nats which makes me sick to think of.  Just a few base hits and the Mets sweep this series.  It doesn’t take much but the line up is not conducive to producing those hits with Francouer hitting down in the line up.

– Speaking of fight, in the ninth inning an interesting situation happened.  K-Rod finally saw some action and plunked Willie Harris who set off K-Rod when he decided to mouth off.  K-Rod was effusive in declaring the strike zone as his domain and left it with the classic Drago line “if he gets hit he gets hit.”*  I love that from K-Rod and it comes from him being trained by a winning organization like the Anaheim Angels and Mike Scoscia who’s a former catcher, to not take anything from anybody and being tough.  We make a big fuss about baseball code and how its stupid but I see the validitiy of the arguments made for it.  My friend James, brought up this weekend about how soft the Mets appear sometimes when their guys get pitched high and tight.  The Mets never seem to retaliate although its baseball code to do so.  Last year when Wright got hit in the head by Matt Cain, the Giants understood that one of them would get plunked the next inning by Johan Santana.  And it happened.  No big thing, just something high and inside that wasn’t close to head hunting.  This season pitchers have constantly pitched inside to Wright because they figure why not take the chance of seeing how he is mentally after last season’s scare.  The Mets have rarely if ever responded and that just can’t be.  Is it that Manuel is telling them NOT to?

If he is, he needs to stop.  Manuel needs the Mets to show toughness and if he’s not going to instill that in them with simple baseball code, then he needs to move over and let someone else do so.  If the Mets are unwilling to go that route** then they need to find players who will show a bit more attitude and toughness.

*= If you’re complaining that I didn’t quote the line verbatim then you’re a loser.  If you don’t know who Drago is and what line i’m referring to and from what movie then you’re a loser too.  Either way do NOT disagree with me when i’m throwing a hissy fit over the Mets.

**= I realize that I’m preaching violence in baseball but let’s be honest its something kids will be taught as they get older.  No need to preach it now but make no mistake, the first day they don’t honor baseball code as a pitcher, they will get taken aside and reprimanded.  Its about team work and looking after your teammate.  Don’t tell me I’m wrong, because if you do, you’re a loser!

– Looking ahead their next 5 series to close out the month are: @ Colorado, @ St Louis, vs. Chicago, vs. Atlanta, vs. L.A. Dodgers.  That means they will face 3 teams that made the playoffs last year.  Colorado and St Louis are unanimous picks to win their divisions and the Braves have improved dramatically.  Who knows what you’ll get against the Cubs and then after the Braves they face the Phillies which should be interesting.*  Basically by the end of April we’ll know if this Met team has any fight and if Jerry Manuel will still have a job.

*= By interesting I mean painfully excruciating.

– I’m still willing to be an optimist but there needs a lot to go right for the Mets and until they begin to on a regular basis, I’ll believe it when I see it.  Make no mistake, I still believe, I just think changes need to be made now.

The Mets once again got the short end of the stick thanks in large part to a stellar bullpen arm coming out and shutting them down for multiple innings.  Here are a few more notes out of the game:

– Make that 0-2 for me at games.  Don’t expect to see me there for a while Met fans so fear not.

– John Lannan, usually a Met killer struggled with his command going only 5, walking three and giving up 3 earned.  Lannan usually has success against the Mets and has great stuff but was a little wild.*
*= Wasn’t until the end of the game that I figured that there were some of Lannan’s family members sitting a few rows behind us.  At the end of the game, his family was waving and Lannan waved back.  His dad then turned and said out loud that John didn’t pitch well.  Even his dad couldn’t lie about that.

– I know people want to harp on Oliver Perez walking 4 but he went into the sixth and wouldve gotten out but his wildness cost him.  Otherwise he was decent although Wily Taveras had some great hacks against him.  He struck out six in 5 and 2/3 which was pretty decent.  Had he not issued those walks, he would’ve went six which again, early in the season is what we want to see.  Its an early indication that Met pitchers CAN go six and keep the team in games.*
*= Let’s be honest though, the Mets have faced teams (Marlins, and Nationals) that aren’t considered elite NL teams.  Building arm strength as the season goes will be important, but for the sake of the bullpen, they need to go 7 in their second time in the rotation and moving forward.

–  Once again the bullpen went 3.1 innings of 1 hit relief keeping the Metropolitans in the game to the end.  Ryota Igarashi sported a plus fastball and used the split finger as his out pitch to get out of a sixth inning jam.  Perpetual Pedro came in and got into a bases loaded jam but got a double play comebacker that saved the Mets.

– Mejia came into the ninth and got three groundballs in his first taste of ninth inning duty which I thought was particularly interesting, considering K-Rod usually comes in here. The two camps concerning the young fireballer are either he’s a frontline starter (which most scouts agree he has the tools to develop into), or the closer of the future.
My opinion is this, and it has nothing to do with Joel Sherman’s article this morning in the Post that deals with both NY baseball teams needing to develop front line starters.  I think the Mets shouldve sent down Mejia and developed him there.  The decision to bring him up was based purely on Jerry and Omar trying to save their jobs.  He’s 20 and has a plus fastball and a developing cutter, but as I saw against the Marlins, raw pitchers will get eaten alive by major league bats.  With those two pitches he can be an effective closer but if you have a chance at a great starter, why not take that shot?  Jenrry Mejia should NOT be on the major league roster and it reeks of panic induced decision making.

– Wily Taveras had two hard hit balls off of Ollie and had all four RBI’s for the game but it was Willie Harris’ catch at the end of the game that was the deciding factor.  With the bases loaded, the big bat from last night’s game Rod Barajas came up and hit a line drive that died in Willie Harris’ glove.  This isn’t the first time Harris has done this to the Mets having decided two other games on great catches.  Add him to the list of Met tormentors.

– Fernando Nieve and Hisanori Takahashi we missed you.

– Personally I think Ollie took a big step as he usually bungles these games against the Nats and lower rung teams.  I’m still wondering how he’ll compete against the more patient teams in the NL like the Phillies who now have Placido Polanco and the Braves who have patient young Jason Heyward.  Its going to be interesting moving forward how short a leash the mets give him and how they play him based on his inability to locate pitches.  I thought at some points his fastball was riding too high.

– Tyler Clippard, former Yankee future phenom, came in and shut the Mets down with a devastating rising fastball that had great last minute movement.  Thought he set that pitch up wonderfully by attacking in and low.  Mets hitters looked foolish swinging at strike three when the pitch looked like it was at their eyes.  He struck out 7 in 3 innings of relief work.  He was the antithesis of the bad bullpen that showed up last night.  This is the second time a bullpen has looked bad against the Mets only to see one player come in and save the day the next game by pitching multiple extremely effective innings.  It happened in the Marlins series as well after the bullpen almost blew the previous game.

– The big story was the return of Jose Reyes who seemed antsy and very fidgety jumping early in pitch counts on some balls.  He needs to relax and let the game come to him.  He had a few putouts including a great double play in the 7th that preserved the lead.  He finally settled in and got a hit in the ninth to finish 1-4.  The major story however was in that inning as the team was rallying most fans, like myself, wanted to see Reyes steal a base* and the stadium finally came alive at that point trying to get Reyes to jump.  But it never happened and i have to believe it came on instruction of Jerry Manuel.  Though strategically it wouldn’t have made sense to do it with Wright up, I thought the best time to attempt a double steal would’ve been on the first pitch against Jason Bay but the Mets once again stuck to the gameplan of limiting Reyes’ movement.  I hate that they are babying him as the season goes but its the right move.  We’ve criticized the Mets for being lax on injuries and misjuding, now we’re over diagnosing it seems and its causing unrest among fans like myself who came to see Reyes be Reyes.  You know, get on base, steal a base or two and then come home on a sacrifice fly.  Something he used to ordinarily do a few years ago.  We need that Reyes to produce runs.

*= Best part of that was as soon as Reyes got on base Pudge was in full attack mode as he was prepared to throw to second and Matt Capps couldn’t concentrate with Reyes on first and couldn’t find the strike zone against Wright.  THAT is the value of Reyes right there.  The ability to stop them from concentrating on the task at hand and causing worry among catchers who might not be prepared to handle a pitching staff and worry about Reyes one of the true base stealers of the game and a guy who loves to cause a commotion at whatever base he’s on.  LOVE having Reyes back.

– Johan Santana going today against Livan Hernandez.

SEASON: 2-3

MY PREDICTION: 2-3

– By the way I have them winning today.

For the second consecutive series the Mets win the opener behind a good pitching effort but the guy’s name was NOT Johan Santana.  Incredibly Mike Pelfrey behind a very good secondary arsenal was successful against the Nationals who always tend to give them trouble.  Here are a few notes I took:

– First off the primary discussion always has to be about the pitching.  Pelfrey went 6, gave up 2ER, and threw 94 pitches.  Later on in the year as Pelfrey gets his arm going he’ll be asked to go that 7th but good pitch economy.  The first few innings Pelfrey was hitting the strike zone early, throwing first pitch strikes to the first 7 batters which is key.*  Pelfrey also had a really good hit after “the guys”** talked about him being big enough to hit a homerun.  His single was a rocket that SS Ian Desmond couldn’t handle.

*= The Guys always mention a quote from Tom Seaver that I absolutely love: “the most important pitch is strike one.”  Can’t be more true.  For a pitching staff that struggled last year with command, getting that first pitch over for a strike to get better pitcher counts is key and will be key for the rest of the season.

**= By the guys I mean Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.  Just an FYI, they are the announcers.

– I know I’m nitpicking but did Fernando Nieve HAVE to come into this game?  He’s on pace to pitch in all 162 games.  Hisanori Takahashi also pitched in the game his 3rd in the first four games.  I did however like that they brought in Jenrry Mejia, into the 9th, in a game already long decided to get him some work and build up confidence.*  I can’t fault Jerry Manuel in a way because I know that he likes to favor those who do well for him and pitchers should get rewarded for doing well but you dont want to burn these guys out early like that.

*= I was looking forward to watching Johan Santana and I thought he’d match up against the Nationals number one John Lannan but apparently that won’t be the case.  I suppose Jerry’s going to go that route and try to get Oliver Perez’s confidence up although who knows with that guy.  But wasting three pitchers in this game when you’ll probably need a long man like Nieve or Takahashi to come in for Saturday’s game might not have been too wise.  Hopefully Ollie’s performance garners confidence.

– Alex Cora played 2b in last night’s game in place of Luis Castillo who said he had injured his calf in the first game against the Marlins but played through the pain.  Last night’s game was cold so it was probably better that he didn’t play last night.  Cora made two really good plays on the field.  Cora was essentially brought in for leadership and clubhouse presence purposes but I think his versatility also helps and being out on the field he can be a teacher there and it helps when you have a 20 year old playing SS in the majors.

– The bats came alive last night with Jeff Francouer hitting two home runs and driving in 3 RBI’s and Rod Barajas had two solo shots.  This was the first time the Mets had 2 players with multi homer games since 2006 when the Carlos’  (Delgado and Beltran) did it.   David Wright also had an almost shot that the wind robbed him of.*

*= I felt bad for Wright who like I talked about yesterday seems to be hacking for homeruns.  He absolutely crushed a hanging slider which seemed to hang in the air forever before dropping on to the middle of the left center wall.  More importantly he got mercilessly hammered by his teammates and its absolutely a great sign.  Clearly the guys like each other and I can’t tell you how important I believe that is in a 162 game season that can seem to stretch on forever.  You need guys you like to help you rally around and in this clubhouse Wright doesn’t have to assume the leadership role that he was forced into the last few years and let’s be honest he failed at.  Like I said yesterday, I’m clearly tougher on Wright than any other Met but its not without reason.  He’s the best player the Mets have and thus has to assume the mantle of responsibility when he doesn’t come through on occasion.  I just think that Wright will get going and start crushing homeruns in Citi, its just about getting that first multi homerun game under his belt.

– Congrats to Ruben Tejada who got his first hit and also scored a run later in the inning.  He might be sent down once Reyes gets called up but its good to see a rookie come up and have some success.*

*= Baseball has some of the best traditions in all of sports, one of them being preserving the first hit of any rookie.  It was great to see the ball passed around by the opposing team and then given to Razor Shines who immediately tossed it to Tejada to feel and then he tossed it right back.  Later on, the guys elaborated on the tradition of giving him a scuffed up ball first and then presenting him with a shiny ball with the name of the pitcher it was off and the date and all that other stuff.  Its what makes this game special folks.

– Thanks to Metsblog.com and also fellow fan Jimmy John for pointing this out: Bookmaker.com has Jerry Manuel as the manager most likely to be fired first this season.  This win will likely keep him here a few days longer.

– Mets go with Ollie and the grand return of Jose Reyes to the line up.  They do go against another pitcher who seems to have a lot of success against the Mets: John Lannan.  Should be a fun game, and I can’t wait to go.  As always let’s go Mets!

SEASON: 2-2

MY Prediction: 2-2

The Mets finally got good pitching from one of their pitchers yet it wasn’t enough as Nate Robertson pitched good enough through 6 innings to keep the Met hitters off guard.  More importantly the Florida bullpen came in and pitched well enough to retire 12 batters out of the final 13.  That was the Marlins side of the story after one of the poorest showings a bullpen could have the night before.

The Mets once again had a few things that they showed that tend to worry me, here are some of the notes I took from this game:

– David Wright can never throw a perfect strike from 3rd to 1st when he has time to do so.  Why?  I have no clue but when he gets a bit of time its as if it gives his ADD enough time to kick in to force an errant throw.  Three times Wright made putouts where Fernando Tatis (more on him in a moment) had to make plays on just to get the out.*

*= One of the funnier moments happened when Keith Hernandez watched one of the replays of the poor throws and immediately called it HoJo-itis which was a reference to current Mets hitting coach Howard Johnson his former teammate on those 80’s Mets teams.  Its always good when former teammates are having fun at your expense.

– Fernando Tatis continues to have a roster spot on this team and I take issue with that.  He’s a right handed bat that Omar loves.  He had one good year in spot start duty but right now he’s going to see a lot of playing time since they don’t have a regular first basemen for the next month with Daniel Murphy recovering from his ankle injury.  When Minaya loves you he will always throw out reason and find a spot for you.  I dont know what it is but all you need to do is get on Omar Minaya’s soft side and you’ve got a job for life.

– Despite not having a familiarity with Nate Robertson, the Mets swung at a lot of pitches outside of the strike zone which went for outs.  I know its early on in the season but fluctuating from patient team to not so patient is worrisome.  Its as if not having Gary Mathews and Mike Jacobs* in the line up transformed this team.

*= I’m not saying Mike Jacobs is a guy who works at bats frequently but imagine being the guy up after one of Jacobs’ patented 4 pitch, strike out at-bats.  You’re probably watching it and thinking to yourself, I’m not going to go down THAT easy.  I suppose Jacobs K’s have some use on the Mets.

– Seriously what were Gary, Keith, and Ron laughing at at the beginning of the broadcast?  Keith Hernandez could barely contain himself.  Those guys are great to listen to once again calling it right down the middle, criticizing the Mets where it needed and also being positive about the Mets situation.  They continued to have fun at the expense of Chris Coghlan.  I can imagine Keith as a teammate, constantly ribbing and poking fun at teammates who made errors.  He was probably a great teammate.

– The Mets strand baserunners like its their business.  They just never had any offensive rhythm going.  The book on the Mets is pitch them inside and to the righty heavy line up thats what the Marlins did.  Offspeed outside, fastball in.  The Mets never had any rhythm though Roberston wasn’t exactly throwing strikes out there which really bailed him out.

– Niese threw first pitch strikes to a majority of the hitters he faced.  Decent pitch count of 95 through 6 innings.  Wanted him to go 7 but hey that was asking too much.

– Mets I suppose will have more offense once Beltran and Reyes get back but they need to get into an offensive rhythm overall.  According to numerous reports Reyes is going to be eligible to return Saturday which would be excellent since I’m going to that game so I can’t wait to see Reyes back.  From the videos I saw of him in the offseason he is raring to go and it must’ve sucked for him to be off those 20 days recovering from the thyroid condition.  He’s like a ball of energy and he normally probably never sits still for more than 5 seconds.  Having his bubbly energy should make the clubhouse a bit more lively.  A few years ago he was one of those players that many baseball experts said was the most exciting player in all of baseball and honestly he still is.  His overall energy and exuberance is that of a kid and he loves the game of baseball so I’ll never question that until I see him noticeably change his disposition which I don’t expect to see for a long time.

– Wright seems to be back to hacking at everything.  I like the leg kick because it does give him more power but his approach at the plate hasn’t changed.  He still looks like the guy who struck out at an extremely high rate.  Will he still have the average he had last year which seemed like an anomaly considering his strikeout numbers.  I said it last year when outsiders said Wright was an MVP candidate: He’s not.  I watched a majority of his at-bats and he had a lot of hits but it seemed to come from just a feel for the ball not from an educated approach of what the pitcher is throwing.  Great hitters pitch recognition skills are exceptional not because they have no idea but their baseball IQ allows them to understand at what situation a pitcher will throw inside or throw outside.  Four at-bats the game plan will alter but not the approach.  Even if you don’t get a hit the first two at-bats by the third you should have an understanding of what the scouting report on you is and you can figure out how to approach it from there.  Great hitters recognize that and guys who just go out there with a “let’s see what happens” approach* always tend to be streaky hitters.**

*= By the way, the reason I wrote that is because I read an article where Oliver Perez said he uses that approach in pitching.  His reasoning is sometimes his sinker is sinking more than his curveball is curving.  But isn’t that the reason you work on those secondary pitches?  To have them at your disposal at all times?  Great pitchers have confidence to throw any pitch at any time.  These are the kind of comments that worry me about Ollie.

**= I know that I tend to sound very harsh on Wright but honestly he’s our best player no matter what anyone else tells you.  He is a five tool player and can do all the things you ask of him but he’s choked in crucial situations in the last 3 years and he hasn’t relied on his skills.  He is an amazing talent and can be one of the top 5 players in the game but he’s carrying a lot of expectations on his shoulders, something he carries with him to the plate every time and thus he feels the need to prove something and goes for at least two home run hacks every at-bat.  He has to let the game come to him.  He’s afraid of failing and yet pitchers are afraid to pitch to him though that fear is leaving since its clear that he’s not the same hitter he used to be.  I know he’s trying very hard to be the leader of this team but its a title that’s given by teammates not something that should be assumed by the media who clearly have put that label on him.  I’m telling you, the Cliff Floyd affect can’t be overlooked.  I’m wondering if they can bring back Cliff as a coach on the team or something to get these two back together.  I know having Cliff around will be a welcome presence for Wright, who as a Met fan needs him to be the best he can be for the Mets to be successful.

– Tonight, Mike Pelfrey gets his first start of the season against Garrett Mock of the Nationals.  Don’t sleep on the Nationals.  They’ve got power and they’ve got this SS Ian Desmond who they are really high on.  Their pitching will get much better as the season goes on.  Pelfrey worked on a splitter which he said he was very successful at implementing so we’ll see.  I think this is Pelf’s chance at grabbing hold of the 3 spot.  They need to win this game to get back on the right track as it seems that Johan* will get the start Saturday against the Nationals against John Lannan the Nationals ace.**

*= I’m super excited about this particular fact.  I’ve never been to see a Johan start live so this is big for me personally as he’s our best pitcher.  There were three times I thought I had lined up Johan’s start up but ended up going to an Oliver Perez start.  This time it was supposed to be Oliver Perez but from what i’m hearing the Mets will have Johan starting.  Hopefully its true.  Watching Johan and the return of Jose Reyes will be awesome!

**= For now.  Make no mistake, the only reason Stephen Strassburg, he of the 100+ MPH fastball is only in the minors to delay his arbitration clock.  He’ll definitely be up in June and he’ll terrorize the NL East for a few years.  Now the Mets have Cole Hamels and Doc Halladay on the Phillies, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurjjens of the Braves, Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco on the Marlins and Stephen Strassburg and John Lannan of the Nationals who will or already have regularly owned the Mets.  While the Mets have Johan.  That’s it.  But Omar Minaya doesn’t see a problem with that and the Mets spent the least of ANY club in the majors last year on the amateur draft.  Hopefully this June the Mets will fix that error.

On a final note, I made a bet with my manager who’s a huge Yankee fan.  I simulated an entire Met season in about 5 minutes and the Mets had a 86-76 record.  Decent considering that most projections have them winning in the high 70’s which in my opinion would be a very bad season for the talent that the Mets have and surely will get Omar and Jerry fired.  So I will post what I projected as their record after every game and what their real record is.  I dont know how long I will keep this up but I hope to keep it up for the entire season.  I’m not named the lazy eye for nothing.

Season: 1-2

My projection: 1-2

The score doesn’t tell you anything about the ebbs and flows of this game.  The amount of times the Mets scored without ever putting the ball in play.

The pessimist would say that the Marlins gave the game to the Mets by walking in everyone and balking* in the tying run.  The optimist saw a team with grit and determination climb back into a game in which a pitcher flat out dominated them.**

*= Multiple replays showed the obvious, that it wasn’t a balk.  The Mets got a freebie.  The umps clearly felt the game swinging and made emotional decisions.  I love when umpires affect games.  I mean that’s what they are there for right?  I’m just saying Met fans, if it happened for our benefit tonight, it will affect us negatively too, that’s just the law of averages.

**= Ricky Nolasco has been the “breakout pitcher” candidate in fantasy baseball land for the last two years.  He was really good coming down the stretch for them last year after being sent down to the minors.  He had a really good spring training.  Of course he was dominant last night.  Threw strikes regularly and had outstanding breaking pitches that also threw for strikes.  Best of all? By the third inning he had thrown 29 pitches and allowed 1 hit and 1 run, Maine threw 54 pitches and allowed 4 hits and 1 run.  No joke.  Ok fine Maine’s pitch count isn’t accurate but it was ridiculously disproportionate.  Nolasco was kicking Maine’s butt in the pitch count department.

They finally worked his pitch count in the final two innings as Nolasco had a bit of wildness in the seventh where they got to the Marlins clear cut weakess, the bullpen.  Renyell Pinto couldn’t find the strike zone and neither could Jose Veras.

Here’s where it gets great and in my opinion the part where the game changed.  Jose Veras came in with the bases loaded to face David Wright playing the righty on righty matchup.*  Citi Field has the smallest area behind home plate in the majors which is 45 feet which enhances the fan experience.  Sure, its the rich fan experience bit experience nonetheless.  Tatis HAS to know this having played last year.  The dimensions should not be a surprise at this point.

*= Its the most insane thing to me that coaches micromanage bullpens.  As a reliever to be a lefty specialist, or righty specialist and come in for ONE batter is pointless.  If he’s cruising keep him in there.  Case in point, Joe Girardi kept Chan Ho Park in for 3 innings, riding the hot hand for as long as possible.  The rule of thumb in managing the bullpen is the same as GM’s for players: take em out sooner rather than later.  But I say, common sense should prevail here.  What do I know, I’m just a loyal fan.

David Wright is up and the first pitch Wright sees is a breaking ball that bounces in the dirt and hits the back stop.  Jose Reyes or someone with capable speed can make it to home with no problem.  But not middle age Fernando Tatis who hesitated to begin with.  The other thing is, you have your best hitter up with two outs.  There is no margin for error in that situation.  You MUST let the hitter hit and drive in the runs.  Unless its a no brainer and he wildly overthrew it but even then, you give the team the option of walking Wright and letting Mike Jacobs walk up to the plate and let’s be honest Met fans is there a more sure out in baseball?  So Tatis shouldve been instructed to stay put.  That’s what should’ve been done and if not Chip Hale the 3b coach, it should’ve been Jerry Manuel’s job to do that.

Making matters worse is Jerry’s assertion that David Wright stole second on his own accord which again, strategically doesn’t make sense since they were willing to pitch to Jason Bay.  But by leaving first base open, the Marlins were not going to take the chance and thus walked Bay. These are silly mistakes that the Mets can’t afford to make and it goes on the manager’s head to ensure that players aren’t just taking decisions upon themselves.  Last year’s most eggregious error were mental ones that just kept popping up and yet the Mets are starting off the season in much the same fashion.

All these errors considered, I think last night the Mets showed marked improvement over last year’s club in this respect: they never quit.  They didn’t allow the errors from other innings affect their psyche going forward and they learned from their earlier errors.  Case in point: bases loaded again and Jason Bay’s on third and a pop up goes to shallow left to Chris Coghlan the reigning Rookie of the Year.  Bay does the right thing by fake tagging up and forces an absolutely horrendous throw.*  Unfortunately Veras was backing it up perfectly.  Bay never went and he eventually scored a batter later.  No harm, no foul and the inning continued in which the Mets eventually tied it.  The Mets never allowed the other team to get away wtih not throwing strikes.  They allowed the Marlins to pitch them back into the game after getting Nolasco removed.  Even Francouer drew a walk** which if you saw him swing at a breaking ball that was no where near the plate from the point the pitch was released, was like watching someone morph into someone else completely.

*= Gary Keith and Ron were absolutely hilarious.  Bill Simmons the sports guy has written about this before but the three man booth only works in very few occasions and this is it.  They each know their role and each play it well.  Gary throws in the dry humor, Ron the excellent analysis and Keith playing the role of the average Joe, if the average Joe won a few Gold Gloves and was considered one of the best first basemen in the 80’s.  On that particular throw Keith immediately yelled whoaaaaa which had to be one of the funniest on-air moments and the three guys had a good laugh at that.  I usually don’t like former players bemoaning the new school for not being fundamentally sound but just watch Keith Hernandez play first base and you’ll know that this guy wasn’t lax about defense.  He was excellent so I tend to overlook the cockiness.

**= Which was another gimme for the Mets in which Keith had yet another moment when he saw a pitch that he thought should’ve been strike three and he let the viewer know it.  He didn’t hide it.  Which is yet another reason why I love these three, even when its a call that should go against the Mets they call it right down the middle and there’s no homer-ism in the booth.  As a Met fan its awesome.  At least Charles Dolan doesn’t own the team becuase then they might be fired and exiled to New Jersey to call games for a minor league affiliate or somewhere like he did to poor Marv Albert.

Last year the Mets would’ve lost this game 7-2 or 7-3, but despite losing 7-6 showed a lot of heart and character that perhaps has something to do with this team being more comfortable around each other and actually playing well together.

One thing that we do know, tonight’s  starter Jon Niese will have to go more than 6 innings and give them an excellent outing so they won’t be stretching out the bullpen much.

Almost game time.  Let’s go Mets!

Optimism is the name of the game. No fan base can totally be bummed out, yet.* Even a franchise who’s luck has taken a tumbling trip down the toilet bowl the last 4 years can still get up and cheer and believe. I mean, this IS the franchise that coined the term “Ya gotta believe.”**
*= ok fine, Pirate and Royals fans can forget this season.
**= another reason to hate the Phillies: they tried to steal that phrase when Rusty Staub went over there.

But pardon me if like most Met fans the memory of the last few seasons don’t linger. Citi Field may smell of hot dogs but there’s a lot of bologna* in the air. If anything, being a Met fan should have taught me to be patient and let a season play out before I start making bold statements.
*= has there been a more misspelled word in the english dictionary? Seriously.

Take for instance last season when Luis Castillo dropped the pop up. I was in the Dominican Republic* and me and my friends were watching the Yankee/Met game. Me and my friend Sandy, were the lone Met fans of the group of 7 we came with.** I had to deal with all the haterade coming from everyone there and I was performing admirably if I do say so myself. So when A-Rod came thru in the clutch as he used to*** and slammed his bat down I got up off my chair, threw my hands in the air and turned my back to the TV, laughing at all the foolish Yankee fans in attendance. It wasn’t unti the crowd erupted that I knew something went wrong and I turned my head around just in time to see Mark Texieira cross homeplate. Needless to say I didn’t live that moment down for the rest of the night or trip and Luis Castillo still hasn’t lived that one down.****
*= You have no idea how big baseball is till you go to South America. Kids are either soccer players or baseball players. I had a conversation with an elder gentleman who had to have known about 6 english words. Combined with my ability to say and understand about 5 spanish words you’d expect a very short convo right? We sat at the bar for a good 40 minutes talking baseball, Juan Marichal having a better rising fastball than Tom Seaver and I sat and took it all in like a sponge. I’m not gonna deny the influence that alcohol had on it but sports was the unifying trait that made it possible. Sports and liquor: bringing cultures together since forever.

**= that’s also the ratio of Met to Yankee fans in the city and with the fairweather fans we have here, its probably going to get worse.

***= Its sad that the old A-Rod is no longer with us. He was a man who gave back to everyone he encountered. I remember as an opposing fan watching him strand runners in crucial spots and bounce into inning ending double plays. There is hope though, he broke it off with his lucky charm, Kate Hudson this past offseason so ya never know.

****= I really shouldve started roiding when I was 15 and become a wrestler like I wanted to. I have the showmanship and making the crowd hate me part down to a tee. I never had a stage name picked out but definitely something that wouldve accentuated my heel-ness.

That moment alone taught me the valuable lesson of never believing the game was over until the ground crew shuts it down.

So excuse me for getting over the first game quickly. Excuse me for thinking that today is the start of the season. Tonight is the first game started by a person other than Johan Santana, the team’s only non-question mark. Starters 2-5 are the key to this season no matter what anyone tells you. Jose Reyes’, and Carlos Beltran’s return isn’t nearly as important.

John Maine starts tonight. He was slated to be the number four this season but due to Jerry Manuel’s strategy to break up Oliver Perez and Maine in the rotation*, Maine starts the season.
*= which makes sense if you consider that Maine goes 4 strong runs into trouble and doesn’t last the fifth and Perez either goes 6 or 7 strong or doesn’t go past the second. Consider they used to go back to back which put a strain on the bullpen for sure.

As a Met fan, what do I expect to see tonight? 5IP, 2-3 ER, 3-5 K’s. I would love if he went 7 didn’t give up a run and the Mets won but its not realistic given what we’ve seen. Tonight all the “I’m the healthiest I’ve been” and “I’m in the best shape of my life” talk ends.* Its time to go out there and begin the real season for Met fans. These are the games that count. These homeruns matter. These pitch counts are worrisome or excitement inducing.
*= Those statements and the like are up there with the most pointless, time wasting statements that should be ignored, yet are made on a daily basis.

Here’s where phenoms make it count. This is where everything gets reset back to 0. Everything but last year. Last year still remains in every Met fan’s memory and hopefully every Met player’s as well. Tonight is where the season begins and where all those bad memories get forgotten. Ya gotta believe!