N.Y. METS ~ Chris Young Has Phun in Philly

From the desk of:  Head-Butting Mr. Met


NEW YORK METS: A Three Game Win Streak Is Cool.  Beating Philly Is Great.  Dumping On Cole Hamels Is Even Better.  But I'm Still A Big Picture Guy.

The Mets won their Opening series of the season against the Florida Marlins by winning games two and three after dropping the Opener. Then they won game one of their series against division rival Philadelphia last night.  A three game winning streak?  Contain yourselves Met fans.  Act like we've been here before OK?

I'll say this right off the bat.  You can't win pennants in April; but you can lose them.  I believe in good starts.  Having said that, I am not fixing my mind to chase down a division title just because we have a three game win streak going.  We know what this season is supposed to be for us.  We already have a list of things to do.  And most importantly, we know what kind of financial situation our owners are currently in.  So, no; I'm not living in the moment.  I still chose to adhere to the big picture.  But if things should go our way and the Mets do good things this season, I'm going to enjoy myself right along with you.

Do I have confidence in this team as presently constituted?  Yes...absolutely.  I never thought we were that much in a state of disrepair and far off from being fixable.  But I am telling you, I willingly chose to keep my optimism level in line with the pace of our changes.  I want to ensure we close out the last era of Met Baseball properly and seal that door shut for good, before I invest myself in a more promising outlook.  I'm not being a pessimist.  I'm being a realist.  Our eventual reality still relies on shedding Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez; addressing Jose Reyes' future with the Mets; and figuring out how get Johan Santana and Jason Bay healthy again and actually getting a return on all that money we're spending on them.

Here's something I live by.  You can't be disappointed with what you do not expect.  Therefore I have no expectations of the Mets and this season.  My mindset is more concerned with Sandy Alderson's continuing reconfiguration of the Mets.  That is priority number one for me.  Number two on the list is the situation our ownership finds themselves in.  Then third, I am concerned with the players and their performances on the field.

I assure you I'm happier this year than last.  But should the Mets be in a position of contention as the trade deadline nears, we should all be prepared for the Front Office doing nothing to enhance the roster, dollar wise.  But I am a Mets fan and I will enjoy myself between now and then.  I only suggest that we do not lose focus of who we really are in the present tense.  We are a team with a lot of problems and some questions that won three games in a row.

Again, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm being negative.  To the contrary, I'm very content with the team.  I like all our young players and I like the Front Office changes.  On the positive side, I think this season can sneak up on us like 1984 did.  Although I'm not suggesting we'll win 90 games.  I actually think we'll be just a .500 team.  But the kids will be pleasant to watch grow and we'll be contented with that.  We always were before if we knew we were up-ticking.

Change is still the order of the day.  Winning can be a happy by-product for us.  But remind yourselves, some losing is on the way also.  It's a long season folks.  Just refer to, and compare the Opening Loss hysteria versus the feel-good of winning three in a row.  It's too drastic a swing to start all that in April.
But if we do win tonight against the Phillies in game two of the series,  you're damn right I'm going to be happy about it.

However, I'm still not going to allow myself to talk about player performances after just four games and the first time through the starting rotation...   But just to show you this is still fun no matter how stoic I try to make myself sound.. -   Chris Young already has more hits and more strikeouts this season than Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez and John Maine combined.  Against the Philadelphia Phillies, Chris Young was the biggest two-way threat to take the field since Babe Ruth played for the Red Sox!

See?

Other stuff, like making fun of Cole Hamels and Phillies' fans, is stuff for a different post.

On it.




Mike.BTB