I May Be Bitter and Jaded, But….

I’ve always been a Mets fan.  Well, since around 1970 or so…that’s as far back as I can remember.  So even though many of you have read my work on there the last six-eight months about how frustrated and annoyed I am with the way the team has played and the direction they have gone in with personnel, a new season is upon us and optimism reigns supreme.

Let’s face it, every baseball fan loves opening day, not just because it’s a prelude to summer, but because every team is on a level playing field in the standings and anything can happen.  Well, anything can happen within reason. As Mets fans, we’ve seen bad baseball over the years.  Remember when the team was so bad that they needed to fabricate a slogan, “The Magic is Back?”  It was laughable, but at one point that team (I think it was in 1980?) reeled off like 10 or 12 wins in a row, and the players started to believe that slogan even though they were woefully over-matched on the field.

The 2010 team is very much like the 2009 team, but hopefully without all the injuries.  Still, there are a few holes—most of the starting rotation, parts of the bullpen, second base, catcher and first base are question marks.  But really, if someone offered you Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and K-Rod to start a team, you’d do that in a heartbeat, right?  We have to hope everyone stays healthy and plays to their potential–big ifs, but there could be big payoffs too.

Stranger things have surely happened, and I’m just glad spring is here and we’re talking real baseball again.  Now let’s do our best to strike some fear in the Phillies and the rest of the division.