The New York Mets will open their 2010 Spring Training on Tuesday, March 2 against the Atlanta Braves at 1:10 p.m. at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Here is the rest of the schedule, or if you dare you can scroll down to my notes and thoughts below.

March 2: Atlanta Braves in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 3: Atlanta Braves in Disney, 1:05 p.m.
March 4: St. Louis Cardinals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 5: Florida Marlins in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 6: Washington Nationals in Viera, 1:05 p.m.
March 7: Washington Nationals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 8: Florida Marlins in Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.
March 9: Houston Astros in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 10: Atlanta Braves in Disney, 1:05 p.m.
March 11: Boston Red Sox in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 12: Minnesota Twins in Ft. Myers, 1:05 p.m.
March 13: Detroit Tigers in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 14: Florida Marlins in Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.
March 15: St. Louis Cardinals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 17: Boston Red Sox in Ft. Myers, 1:05 p.m.
March 18: Florida Marlins in Jupiter, 7:05 p.m.
March 19: Minnesota Twins in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 20: St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.
March 21: University of Michigan in Port St. Lucie, 11:10 a.m., Astros in Kissimmee, 1:05 p.m.
March 22: Washington Nationals in Viera, 1:05 p.m.
March 23: Atlanta Braves in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 24: Houston Astros in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 25: St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.
March 26: Florida Marlins in Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.
March 27: Washington Nationals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 28: St. Louis Cardinals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 29: Florida Marlins in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 30: St. Louis Cardinals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
March 31: Florida Marlins in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
April 1: Washington Nationals in Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.
April 2: Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, 6:05 p.m.
April 3: Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota, 1:05 p.m.
April 5: Stock up on Alka Seltzer it’s Opening Day.

Notes and Thoughts

The Mets will play sixteen games against NL East foes; Nationals, Marlins and Braves. It seems like we’ll be seeing them a lot more than usual. I wonder if we’ll get to see top pick Stephen Strasburg?

We have several players that are coming back from off season surgery or significant injuries including Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Jon Niese, Johan Santana, John Maine, Fernando Nieve and Oliver Perez. I know this is asking a lot, but I hope they all come back ready to play with no setbacks. 

Last spring training, Jerry Manuel instituted his now famous (or infamous) 80 swing batting drill in an attempt to get his players not to pull the ball. That’s exactly what he got in 2009 and I wonder if it may have been one of the reason for the power outage and drop in homeruns? Be careful what you wish for Jerry. Maybe this year he should just give them 80 lashes if they walk the bases loaded,, forget to touch third base, or drop the final out of the game and let the winning run score.

This spring training, would it be too much to focus the team on fielding and baserunning fundamentals? I would love to see some emphasis on situational hitting as well, but at this point I’m willing to to take two out of three.

Finally, can we please get this team serious about winning? I’m sick and tired of all the goofing around and all the warm and fuzzy stories that come out of this team every spring. I don’t want to hear about how everyone is still haunted from the last three years, I don’t want to hear any predictions, I just want to see some damned professionalism and a blue collar work ethic from this team…

I want to see a burning desire to win at all costs. I want to see bats and helmets flying onto the field after a bad call. I want to see Manuel and the coaches going ballistic and getting into an umpires face in defense of our players. I want to see Francoeur and Beltran crashing into the catcher like a freight train and sending him flying into the backstop whenever they head for home plate. I want to see some freaking payback whenever an opposing pitcher hits any of our players. I want to see our pitchers throw some damn strikes and own the inside part of the freaking plate. I want a lot of things, but mostly I want this team toughen up and play each and every game like it’s the seventh game of the World Series.

You didn’t think I’d just post a spring training schedule with out throwing in my two cents did ya?