Mets Fans, Hope and Wisdom from Shawshank

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Shawshank Redemption. Been a while since I watched it, but as spring training begins one quote from that movie/book stands out. It's when Red says to Andy:

"Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You better get used to that idea."

Never has a quote been more true for Mets fans than this one. For the last three seasons, we've been getting high on hope. Hope for no more injuries. Hope for smarter decisions. Hope for comebacks. Hope for turnarounds. Hope for financial rumors to be nothing more. Hope for firings. Hope for firings.

I'm sick of hope. And this spring we find ourselves hoping for one of the worst things: that the Mets won't be as bad as we think they will be.

Now my morbid demeanor will soon fade away as I will be sucked into the glory that is spring baseball. I'll get excited to watch some of the young players make a name for themselves in St. Lucie. I'll remember what fun it was to watch Ike Davis early on last season and how surprising R.A. Dickey was.

I'll even convince myself that the Mets can be competitive. I will have hope.

But unlike Andy Dufresne from Shawshank, I don't have a secret escape hidden behind a poster of Rita Hayworth.

However, there's a second half to the quote that I mentioned above. It's Andy's response to Red's depressed response:

"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

I hope that's true for Mets fans.

Give Me Some Opening Day

I tried to watch a Mets spring training game on Saturday afternoon, but I just couldn't do it. I don't care about these backups. I want to see Reyes, Wright and Bay out there every day.

I'm done with the speculation about Ollie P, Pelfrey and Maine. I want to see what they've got (or lack) in real game situations. I'm psyched about baseball being back. I have no high hopes for the Mets this season, but it's baseball and on opening day everybody is in first place.

I'm curious to see what Angel Pagan can do as a starting center fielder. I'm excited about Jason Bay because in MLB 2K10 on Xbox the guy is a monster at the plate. I want to see that Santana changeup. I want Mejia in the 8th (pretty please!). I'm looking for Frenchie to gun a guy down at the plate in the first week of the season. And I want to see Reyes dancing at the top step of the dugout after a David Wright home run (hopefully there's one before Memorial Day).

Baseball is the rare sport that is on almost every day for six months out of the year. My bracket is busted. 70 degree weather is on the horizon. Easter weekend is coming. It's time to start some baseball.

One more week.

Why the Mets Pitching is so Important

I love the long ball. I appreciate a good hit and run. And I jump off my couch like any fan when I see a shot hit to the gap in right center with runners on base. But winning baseball is all about pitching.

The Mets are living proof of this point. It may shock you to hear this, but the Mets last year were a pretty good offensive team statistically. Yes, I didn't believe it either. The Mets in 2009 were actually tied with the Dodgers for the best team batting average in the NL at .270. They also were ranked #2 for average with runners in scoring position.at .276. That means the Mets actually hit better with runners in scoring position.

On top of that the Mets led the league in stolen bases and were one of the top seven teams in runs scored. Now that resume would make you believe that was at least a .500 ball club if not in contention for the division.

But we know that's not the case. Why? Because the Mets pitching is awful.

This year's success is contingent on solid starting pitching. Bullpens will have their problems and I truly believe the K-Rod is a more than adequate closer to sure up the last inning. The 2009 Mets team ERA was 4.45 with an almost league worst WHIP of 1.45.

Any improvement in the starting rotation will yield at least 10 more wins than last season. While many of us, myself included at times, have been focused on improving the lineup's power the real key is improving the Mets' ability to get opponents out.

To me spring training doesn't give us a good sign of what's to come. In the spring pitchers are focused on control, learning new pitches and just getting in shape for the season. We have no idea what to expect from Maine, Pelfrey or Perez, but I'm no longer worried about what we'll get from Bay, Wright or Reyes this year.

If a lineup that included Cora, Pagan, Tatis and Santos for most of 2009 can be in the top portion of batting stats last year, it goes to show that in the National League pitching is all the difference.

Don't Even Watch Oliver Perez Until April

Johan Santana got hit pretty hard yesterday in a spring training game. He gave up four runs and had trouble with his control. Of course, he's Santana so we don't really think anything of it. I mean, come on, it's spring training.

However, the media and Mets fans are all over Oliver Perez. He got shellacked the other day for 5 runs in like 2 innings and the Daily News led with the headline "Ollie Oops!" I'm not trying to compare Perez to Santana because, let's be honest, there is no comparison. But we've got to cut Ollie just a little bit of slack.

This is spring training after all. I don't care if Perez goes 0-12 in spring training with a 6 ERA because if he wins double digit games in the regular season that's what matters. Perez got hit hard in his last spring outing, but I was happy to see him throwing strikes and cutting down on his walks.

Perez is a headcase. He's certifiably nuts. There is zero chance that anyone can accurately predict what is going on in that brain or how he'll do from one outing to the next. That's why I'm not going to even bother watching Perez pitch until April. I'll wait til the season begins to start casting judgment and calling for his head because that's when we need him to do something.

A no-hitter in spring training or an ERA under 2 mean jack squat in March.

And So It Begins

Today marks the first official day of spring training. While snow still covers my driveway and winter hats are still necessary for any visit into the city, there's a warm breeze in my mind that has me longing for those sunny days on the diamond.

Spring training signals the coming days of summer when baseball is on every night and day games are an escape from your every day schedule. Even Mets players can feel this spring fever. David Wright is talking about winning. Fernando Nieve is positioning to be a starter. Jose Reyes is working on new dugout dance routines. And the Mets are on the verge of having a bakers dozen's worth of catchers.

Every Mets fan should be pleased...for today. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about how the Mets recent off season moves and lack of direction in the front office had me for the first time not looking forward to spring training. Well I spoke too soon. Now that it's hear, I do feel that baseball fever flowing through my veins. It's most definitely a virus of some sort. It's the sickness I've been plagued with for most my life.

It's called being a Mets fan.

No Joy in Upcoming Mets Spring Training

Spring training was at one time a season of hope, joy and wonder. Those days are gone and have been replaced with discouragement, agida, and disbelief.

The last two seasons the Mets had made off season moves that gave Mets fans some hope for the coming year. The 2010 season lacks the silver lining that we had been fooled with in prior years. With pitchers and catchers reporting in just a few weeks, I personally have no excitement about the season to come.

The issues the Mets needed to deal with are still unresolved. The Mets enter 2010 with the exact same starting rotation as they did last year which delivered them a next to last place finish. Sure the Mets added a solid bat in Jason Bay, but now have an injured Carlos Beltran, a question mark at first base and a reliance on bounce back years from their star players in Wright and Reyes.

The free agents the Mets were supposedly targeting, whether you liked them or not, have been picked off by other contenders. Molina, Piniero, Halladay, Sheets, Garland, Figgins, and a laundry list of other players the Mets allegedly were focusing on are gone.

What is there to look forward to?

I love baseball. I'm a die hard Mets fan so I will be begrudgingly sucked into every Mets game, but I've lost any hope that this team can and will succeed in 2010.

The Mets are reliving their past. This team reeks of the 2003 or 1994 teams that relied on mid-level moves and the promise of player improvement to lead to success but ends up falling well short of any worthwhile goal.

I want to be wrong. I want to eat crow. But I don't think I will.

Waiting for Baseball Season to Start

Spring, unlike any other season, has the ability to get you excited about what's to come. I could dive into a Freudian rant of the effect of season change on the human psyche, but what it really comes down to is the fact that baseball season is about to start.

It begins with spring training and the anticipation that Opening Day is right around the corner, but for Mets Lifers it's different this year. We have a new stadium for the first time in a millenia that is literally one of the best baseball stadiums on the planet. That newness is bound to create even more buzz around the Mets than usual and is sure to spark a new energy in the home game crowds.

But on the negative side of the coin, there's also the anticipation of what's to come this season. The past two years have been as enjoyable as a knife to the gut. Fantastic spring and summer months have led to dismal and depressing fall season that has seen the Mets miss the playoffs by mere inches each of the last two years.

What will September hold for the Mets this year? Will we be able to enjoy a season with the dark cloud that is September baseball waiting for us?

So there you have it. Spring and the start of baseball season are bringing both the positive and negative sides of anticipation to Mets Lifers everywhere. Sports Illustrated has started the season by giving the Mets the ultimate kiss of death by picking the Mets to win the World Series.

Can the Mets break the SI curse? Can they overcome their failures the last two seasons? Will they give us something to cheer about late in the season? Will I have to write another 600 posts on the BLOWpen?

The anticipation of those answers and my love for the game of baseball are what makes the start of baseball season, and spring, such a great time of year.

Let's go Mets.

What's the Deal with all the Mets Injuires?

I know spring training is the time when you have to "work the kinks out," but this is getting ridiculous. It seems like every other Mets player is injured in spring training. What are these guys doing during the offseason?

Castillo is banged up (expected), Church (ok), Pagan (not again), Pelfrey (please, no), and Santana (make it stop). Someone tell David Wright and Jose Reyes to stay away from the other players because this is becoming contagious.

The good news is it's only spring training. Still time to recover, but I think Ryan Church should wear a football helmet everywhere he goes just to make sure he avoids banging his head on something again.

Almost Here

It's almost that time of year again. Oh, I can almost taste it. March Madness. Man I love brackets.

Ok, so it's almost time for pitchers and catchers to report too. Some of the Mets starters are already in Port St. Lucie to start getting ready for the season, but I'm not all that excited about it.

It's weird because I love baseball and I follow the Mets like no other team. But this year is not like last year. In 2007 the "collapse" was a shock to the system. As Mets Lifers, we thought we were headed to the playoffs again and potentially a World Series until our utter demise smacked us in the face. So at the start of last season, we were hopeful. We had Santana. We added a few players. We were prepared for a pennant chace.

Then September 2008 came and stabbed us in the gut. We're no longer fooled into holding on to hopes and dreams of playoff runs and championships. Mets Lifers have become realists, and we know that nothing matters until the calendar turns to October. The Mets could go undefeated in April, May & June, but no Mets Lifer will start thinking playoffs until that final weekend is over.

We're jaded, and until this team produces in September you won't find any giddy banter about this team's potential for a world series run. It's a new world we're living in and this season is going to be a very long journey to make ammends for the past two years.

Let's hope this story has a happier ending.