I am not a big fan of predictions probably because they never come true. Why waste your time guessing how the team will do?  It’s hard enough to hear all the so-called “experts” around baseball tell you that the Mets will be horrible this year. They don’t even mention that the Mets are even in the NL East – that really gets me mad!

So, instead of predictions, let’s look at what we hope for. I hope for our young pitchers to gain the experience necessary to make them credible pitchers in the near future, like in 2014. I am looking forward to watching Matt Harvey, Dillon Gee and eventually Zack Wheeler pitch, knowing that we can say we saw them when they first started. They all have great potential so let’s see what they can do.

I hope for our outfield situation to work itself out. Everyone is in love with Collin Cowgill after his Opening Day slam and I  think he played well this spring. Let’s see what he can do. I know that Lucas Duda and Marlon Byrd are starting for now and we’ll have to see what happens, especially in Duda’s case. We all know he’s not the greatest of fielders and hopefully his bat can make up for the defensive hole that he causes.

I hope that Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy keep improving and working on their defensive craft. We all know Murph can hit and we will have to see if Tejada can improve on last year’s totals. Tejada played shortstop well last year – yes, we still miss Jose – but Tejada did an acceptable job.

I hope that Ike and David will continue to be the cornerstones of this franchise. We all know what David means to this team and the fans and Ike is turning into a fine defensive first baseman. Now let’s hope that he doesn’t suffer through a miserable first half like last year.

And how about the bullpen? Can Bobby Parnell turn into the closer we need? He has the stuff to do it; does he have the mentality?  Scott Rice is a great story and I loved what Josh Edgin did last year. Could LaTroy Hawkins be a surprise coming out of the bullpen?

Yes, there are many questions that need to be answered but I refuse to believe that we can’t improve on our 74 win season in 2012. I just don’t think we are that bad. If we do the hard work this year, 2014 and 2015 can be very special seasons for the Mets. I have seen many bad seasons over my 45 years of following the Mets but this year can be the start of a promising run.

Mets fans are a hearty bunch – we are loyal and in it for the long haul. I will be watching every game and looking to see a brighter future for our ballclub. My one prediction for 2013 – the Mets will be competitive and fun to watch. I’ll say we finish at 80-82.

Have hope, fellow Mets fans and look at 2013 as  the year when all the future pieces start to fall into place. Watch out in 2014!

Let’s Go Mets!!

“Positive thinking breeds positive results.” ~ Tug McGraw

So, my kids surprised me last night with a really early Mother’s Day gift – tickets to Banner Day!

After ESPN’s decision to schedule the original May 26th date for Sunday Night Baseball, the Mets held a fan vote to allow fans to choose when Banner Day should be held and ended up moving the date to Saturday, May 11. I’ll be there.

You have to understand – Banner Day was always my favorite day on the calendar. For those who are not familiar with the concept, Banner Day was a chance for the fans to express their loyalty and love for the Mets using homemade banners. The center field wall at Shea would open and fans would stream in with banners showing the world that they bled orange and blue. This would happen between games of a doubleheader ( back in the day when doubleheaders were played all the time on the regular schedule).

I would be watching on TV, glued to the screen, to see not only the banners, but the celebrity judges who would ultimately decide which banner was the winner. The judges were former Mets, New York City celebs and sometimes broadcasters. They would sit at a table set up in the infield as hundreds paraded by them and hammed it up for a chance to be declared the winner.

I love Banner Day. I don’t know if any other team does this, but it always made me proud to be a Mets fan. Even in the lean years, people would flock to Shea to express their passion for our Metropolitans. The creativity of the fans made it a fun event. I always wanted to go and make a banner, but never did.

When Banner Day was done away with after the 1996 season, I thought it was a part of history that was not to be messed with. I was sad to see it go.

Thankfully, they brought it back in 2012 and even R.A. Dickey, who was only here for one of them, understood the relevance of it for the fans and it’s place in Mets lore:

“Giving people a platform to be creative is great,” said R.A. Dickey last year when the Mets revived the tradition. ”That’s one of the things that makes this place unique. Nobody else does it. That’s what makes it neat.”

When the Mets brought it back last year, I was thrilled. A part of my childhood was coming back and it was great to see it back. And now I get to make a dream come true by actually going. I am so looking forward to seeing the banners and the clever slogans telling the world that we have our Mets backs, no matter what the scoreboard says or where we are in the standings.

If I want to participate, I have to be at Citi that day by 10 am. Since I live near Philly, that might not be possible. But, who knows? Maybe I’ll be inspired to create a banner and walk with my Mets brethren. I can express the love and solidarity that I have had with  this team since 1968.

Will this be a banner year for the Mets?  I better start working on my clever slogans….

So, just like every recent spring, the Mets are not picked to do anything in 2013. In most cases, they are not even mentioned as being a team in the National League East, which to me is quite insulting. The so-called “experts” don’t pick the Mets to finish above .500 yet alone being mentioned for even a Wild Card spot.

Why not the Wild Card? Why not even the Division?

Yes, most people would say to me at this point ” Ok Clare, are you crazy?”. And maybe I am. But I have faith in our team and have had that faith since 1968. I saw that team in 1969 who no one picked to do anything shock the world and win it all. It had a lot of no-names at the time – Al Weis, Cal Koonce, J.C. Martin and Bobby Pfeil to name a few. It also had some good solid players who went on the great noteriety  – Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Tug McGraw, Tommie Agee and my first favorite Met, Cleon Jones. We had Gil Hodges as our manager and he was the right man for the job. He led with a quiet demeanor but the players all knew he meant business.

No one believed in that team either.

I saw the 1986 Mets – picked by many to win and for the most part, had a great regular season and playoffs. But, in the World Series, they met their match in the Boston Red Sox. I’ll never forget Game Six and the feelings I had. Here we were, one strike away from losing to the Red Sox and ending the Curse of the Bambino. We would always have to carry that around and in New York, that would have been almost impossible, especially since our cross town rival Yankees would never let us live that down. But, what did the Mets do? They rallied under incredible odds to not only win that game, but win the whole thing. When Mookie’s grounder went by Buckner, it was a feeling that I have never had up to then or since.Pure elation!

No one believed in that team either.

Here we are getting ready to start the 2013 season and no one is picking us to do anything. We have a mix of young talent, proven players and veterans from other clubs. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? But, you can’t look at the roster on paper and assume that the Mets have no shot at even a Wild Card. Every team has a shot; all teams are filled with major league talent. Who’s to say that Matt Harvey and Johan Santana won’t have good solid years?  Can David Wright continue to be the franchise player? How about d’Arnaud  – is he the real deal? I know our outfield is a little shaky, but why can’t Nieuwenhuis and Duda play well out there? Will Cowgill and Baxter get a chance? Who knows!

But, even with all the questions, we still have a team that will be worth rooting for. Maybe we will have a rebuilding year and all the critics will be correct. But, just maybe, things will all gel together this year. We could be the team no one sees coming. We could be the team that puts it all together and just plays hard and doesn’t have all the pressure that the other “contenders” have.  And even if we don’t make the playoffs, it will never deter me from being a Mets fan.

My daughter, who is a Mets fan too, told me once ” Mom, when you are a Mets fan, you are true to the team. No one can stick with a team like this unless they are really a fan!”. She wears her orange and blue all the time, even though we live in Phillies country. That is what a Mets fan does – tells everyone that we are proud of our team and follow each game right down to the last one.

So, enjoy the 2013 campaign everyone. Let’s see if our Mets can prove everyone wrong and let’s shoot for the playoffs. It would make for one magical year – us hosting the All Star Game and playoff games in the same year. And don’t get discouraged if our year turns out badly. Our future is bright with our young guns and we will be financially able to add more pieces of the puzzle in 2014.

Come out and cheer for our team – let’s show everyone that being a Mets fan is about loyalty and faith. Let’s Go Mets in 2013!!

This should have been Piazza’s plaque being added into the Hall of Fame

So, like everyone else, I was very disappointed yesterday that Mike Piazza did not get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. And what was the reason? We all know that he has the stats during his career to be considered for the Hall. So, why didn’t he get in?

Piazza has been put in the group of players who played during the so-called “steroid era” and it’s just not fair. Where is the evidence that Mike was a cheater? Was his name in the Mitchell Report?  Did Mike show obvious physical signs of steroid use? The answer to all of these questions is “no”.

In our country, we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. With this result, Mike Piazza is considered guilty until he eventually gets voted into the Hall of Fame. This is not how we are supposed to view people in America.

I know that Mike will eventually get voted in – he’s just too good not to. He is arguably the greatest offensive catcher of all time. It’s just a shame that he has to be included with a group of players that everyone knows cheated.  And hopefully, when Mike Piazza’s plaque is unveiled in Cooperstown, he will be sporting a Mets cap.

The people who are allowed to vote for these Hall of Fame players need to take a long hard look at the process in general. Maybe the voters need to include others, like broadcasters and current Hall of Famers who would be willing to take an objective look at the whole thing. The writers alone should not be the sole voters – it’s leaving out many more qualified individuals who could look past the suspicions and rumors to elect players worthy of the Hall and what it is supposed to represent.

Mike Piazza will get elected someday – - and that day will be a wonderful celebration for the man who lifted our spirits after September 11th and showed leadership and passion for the game. Thank you, Mike for all that you did for the Mets and the fans. You are already a Hall of Famer to us.

Baseball is a game of numbers. Not just RBI and ERA, or wins and losses, but numbers related to players and uniforms. In fact, there are Mets uniform numbers that everyone knows by heart. But did you know who had that number before or after your favorite Met?

My first favorite player was Cleon Jones, who just turned 70 over the weekend. Cleon wore number 21 and after he retired, I didn’t want to see anyone else wear that number. But many have worn it, including Kevin Elster, Bill Pulsipher, Carlos Delgado and currently Lucas Duda.

David Wright is my current favorite Met, No. 5 on your scorecard. I remember when Ed Charles wore number 5 while also playing at third base. I didn’t realize until I did the research for this article that Davey Johnson also wore No. 5 when he managed and forgot that John Olerud donned a No. 5 as well. The way David Wright is going, he may be the last player to wear that number for the Mets.

Of course, everyone associates number 41 with the Franchise, George Thomas Seaver. He was of course the last one to wear that number, but four Mets before him wore #41 including pitcher Clem Labine as an original Met.

There have been Mets that have worn number 0 (Terry McDaniel and Rey Ordonez) and number 99 (Turk Wendell) and every number in between. Every fan has their favorites and most of us can just tell who is up just by the number on their back. You don’t need the name spelled out; you just know.

This year especially, every Met fan has a certain number on their minds – number 8 for Gary Carter. We lost him way too soon and the patch that the Mets wear every day with the number 8 and Kid on it make us smile in remembering a real Mets fan favorite and Hall of Famer.  But even number 8 was worn by other Mets: Carlos Baerga, Desi Relaford and of course, Yogi Berra when he was our manager.

We are also thinking about number 50 for our 50^th anniversary this year. Mets who have worn #50 include Benny Agbayani, Duaner Sanchez and Sean Green.

Why do these uniform numbers mean so much to us and to the players? Is it superstition? Probably.  I’m sure that everyone remembers that first uniform number that you wore – mine was number 5 and I always wore #5 after that in any sport that I participated in. Is that why I like David Wright? No, but since I was a third baseman, I have always been partial to players at third.

If you are even an average baseball fan, certain numbers are just common knowledge – #24 for Mays, #21 Clemente, #3 Ruth and #4 Gehrig and #41 for Seaver. Will the Mets have any great players that will be added to that list? It’s hard to think of Mets players in the same category as these greats mentioned above, but you never know.

By the way, in doing the research for this story, I used a great website – Mets By the Numbers.  Take a look and have some fun remembering Mets from the past who wore the numbers that you love. And the next time your favorite Met comes up to bat, take a look at the history of that number and the history that your current player is making now.

It started me thinking about other deadline deals that the Mets did make. Here are just a few that stand out to me:

July 31, 2006 - Mets acquire Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Xavier Nady.

I remember this trade well because Nady was one of my favorite Mets. I was shocked when he was traded for Hernandez and Perez, but at the time I thought it was the Mets’ only option. Remember that Duaner Sanchez was injured in that freak taxi accident and Omar Minaya tried to deal for a reliever because we were fighting for a playoff spot. At first, Perez pitched well winning 15 games in 2007 and Omar looked like a genius, buthow is that trade looking now? By the way, Nady was just cut and is available  – just saying…

July 30, 2004 - Mets trade Scott Kazmir and Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano

When I think about this trade, I think about opportunity lost. We all saw what Kazmir was capable of and he has 5 1/2 solid seasons before his mysterious decline. Diaz and Zambrano never did pan out. Still so frustrating even all these years later.

July 31, 2002 - Mets acquire Steve Reed and Jason Middlebrook from San Diego in exchange for Bobby Jones, minor leaguer Josh Reynolds and minor leaguer Jason Bay.

Yes, Mets fans – we actually had Jason Bay way back in 2002. But the big difference is that he was a minor leaguer that the Mets were willing to part with in order to get Reed. Bay went to San Diego and started to put up the numbers that we wish he could do now. Reed was just OK for the Mets and I can honestly say that I don’t recall what Middlebrook did in his Mets career. And now, Mets fans wish that Sandy Alderson could have put together a deal to send Bay to another team and get some prospects back.

Of course, there was one notable trade deadline deal that sent Tom Seaver to the Reds on June 15, 1977 when the deadline used to be much earlier. And even non-deadline deals like the Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi trade – whatever became of that Ryan kid?

Why does it always seem like the Mets never know what to do at the trade deadline?  I don’t think we had a choice this year – we just didn’t have the resources and Sandy was right in not trading Scott Hairston. But it would have been nice to make some kind of news on July 31.

I heard someone say yesterday that the Mets are now better because the Marlins and Phillies held fire sales during the past month. I don’t know if this is the case, but it does make those teams weaker. We need to seize this opportunity and find a way to win against these teams in our division. Let’s see if by making no noise at the deadline, the Mets can generate big noise coming down the home stretch.

(pictures courtesy of nyfuturestars.com)