Baseball has had the headline news in the tabloids over the past couple of weeks in NYC. Yes, it involved both the Yankees and the Mets, but the headlines were not what you’d think. Usually it’s that the Yankees have done something wonderful and the Mets have made another mess – not the case this time.

Let’s start with the Mets – briefly. At the end of the season, the Mets swept out the major players – Omar, Jerry, (and Charlie the clubhouse guy, seems he’s been running a ‘shop’ of his own and may have federal charges) to make some clubhouse changes.

They hired Sandy Alderson as Omar’s replacement and he brought in his own people to assist him in the re-organization. All smart, top-notch guys as is Sandy himself who seems to be able to handle anything. Even the horrible accident that took his Dad’s life late one night in St. Petersburg – Sandy rearranged his schedule and kept on working – finding time to interview about a dozen people to replace Jerry.

Finally there was a news conference to introduce Terry Collins as the team’s manager, and the press release was ready, as was Terry with his plans in order.

Then, across town, in Yankeeland news started to break through the contract meetings that involved Derek Jeter. Before the issues were all covered, word came from Brian Cashman that the contract would be much less than anything mentioned by Jeter, or Casey Close – his agent. Then both Hank and Hal Steinbrenner made nasty remarks about ball players who thought they deserved more money every contract. Jeter has worked for the Yankees for fifteen years without a scandal, steroids, or other issues, and he has been the exemplary athlete, who simply does his job and does it well. Mariano Rivera – another fine durable Yankee player – got the same treatment. We’re still in the midst of the chaos there, so you’ll have to keep checking the media on this one.

Anyway, I am simply delighted at the turn of the Mets way of doing business under the leadership of Sandy Alderson – of course, this is what you learn at Dartmouth, Harvard Law and the Marine Corps. Haven’t seen the organization run like this since Frank Cashen – and it’s great. In fact, I spoke with Eddie Coleman on WFAN yesterday and he’s excited about the Mets future, too.

So, keep the faith folks, and let’s try to fill Citi Field this year to show our support.

Let’s Go Mets!