What is going on...

with the fans this year. I've talked about fans once this year already, but I want to focus on Mets fans now. More importantly, I want to offer my theory on why we are so disgruntled.

Here is what I think. We all remember 2006. It was fantastic. Carlos Beltran bounced back from a disappointing season. Pedro was pitching well until he was hurt. Wright and Reyes took huge steps forward. Cliff Floyd was still around. Duaner was lights out. Delgado was exactly what we needed him to be. Everything felt right. The team had that certain something about them.

Fast forward to 2007. Everything was flowing along rather nicely. Division lead in May. Games up fluctuated for a while, but seemed to be steady around 6 or 7. To quote Matchbox Twenty, there's an awful lot of breathing room, but I can hardly move.

This is how I felt, and other Mets fans around me felt. We were pleased, but not overly confident. I discussed this with a friend, and we both felt like things felt different in '07 than they did in '06. This discussion took place before the end of the school year in early May. We could see something bad coming, but we didn't imagine it to be this bad.

The acquisition of Johan Santana was supposed to make this go away. That bitter taste from 2007. And it did for awhile. We as fans were perfectly happy during the offseason, and ready for March 31st to arrive. When it did, it was everything we expected. Big win over the fish.

Day 2: Pedro goes down and we lose. And we haven't had that 2006/we have Johan feeling since. Instead, we have that 2007 feeling. Somethings not right, and in the end its going to hurt us. We expected to win in 2006, and this is where the problems started.

I think this is where we picked up some bandwagon fans. Fans who in the past would have jumped on the Yankee ship. However, that Yankee ship was sinking and this team was up-and-coming. Of course there were some who jumped off that ship and onto ours. If the Titanic is going down that shoddy lifeboat doesn't look so bad.

Of course, these fans expected to win. They root for winners, that's what bandwagon fans do. Most bandwagon fans are used to a few years with one team. But this Mets team only gave them one and a half years. They can't jump yet, their time isn't up. They don't want to jump off too early.

And now, they give the true Mets fans, who were lovable losers, this bad reputation. We look stupid and panicky, booing everything we can. Meanwhile, the true Mets fans, some who have coped with losing for years while others for decades, are painted with the rest as "bad fans."

But we're not. We're dedicated and passionate, and we will persevere. Stay true to the orange and blue Mets fans. It's only a matter of time before we turn this thing around.

I'm on top of the world!!!

Alright, 1/2 game lead over the Marlins for first in the NL East. Johan stepped up, David bounced back, and nobody remembers that this team is jinxed against the Phillies.

But here's the best part of my day. I watched real live baseball for the first time this spring. And I got to watch the Braves lose. Who cares if it was the Richmond Braves, they still lost. And watching stud prospect Brandon Jones (#4 in the Braves organization, according to Baseball America) drop an easy fly ball, sitting about 10 rows up from the spot he dropped the ball.

But here's the stunner of the night. Looking at the stats sheet in the program I learned that Salvatore Frank Fasano is the only player on the Richmond Braves to hit a triple this year. Let that sink in for a minute. Sal never hit a triple in his major league career, but he has one already this year.

Anyhow, its been a good day. Tomorrow could be better with a chance to watch the Mets play for the second time this year.

Thank God for nationally televised games. Let's Go Mets!!!

The Stopper

What we have been hearing since the Johan trade is that he's a stopper. He can prevent a prolonged losing streak by picking up key victories. Apparently, we had a guy like that all along.

For the second time this season, Big Pelf has stepped up to stop a losing streak, right when it seemed like the fans were about to go over the edge. His last start was the first of a three-game winning streak, after dropping three straight to the Braves and Phillies. Now, with words like lackluster and disappointing being the predominant adjectives to describe the start of the Mets season, Pelf steps up again and gets a win.

Now, we had all heard what "they" were saying about him. Never going to be a #1 starter. Doesn't have the mental toughness. Might have what it takes to be a solid middle reliever. Doesn't have the killer instinct.

Well guess what. Maybe "they" were wrong. Maybe Big Pelf does have what it takes. He's proven it in this young season, holding the Phillies to two runs and throwing seven shutout innings against Washington, ending losing streaks both times. We'll see how his season pans out, but he makes me want to believe.

But we might want to keep that Johan around, just in case.

P.S. Welcome back Dirty.

Throw-Ins

Everyone discusses the core of the Mets as being David Wright and Jose Reyes. Solid young nucleus who came up through our system. The Mets also have a couple of pitchers who we acquired, but still treat as guys who we developed. John Maine and Oliver Perez.

These guys will be just as important to us in the next 5-10 years, if we can keep them together. They're our guys, even though we didn't bring them up through our system. Ollie had some success early in his career, posting a 2.98 ERA in Pittsburgh in 2004. However, he was a disaster before the trade, and considered a throw-in. John Maine was also a throw-in, with the gem of that deal being Jorge Juilo.

My point is, even though we didn't bring these two up through our system, they're our guys. They made their names on our team, so we feel like we brought them up. Getting steals like this in trades are just as satisfying as promoting players through our system. They're not some high-priced guy who became a superstar on another team. Not a guy who we sold the farm for...

Not that there's anything wrong with that either. Johan is the best pitcher in the game, the kind of guy you sell the farm for. And sure am glad he's here, and would make that trade every time. However, now we need to restock our farm system.

What we need to do is continue to develop these guys, and the pitchers in our system. What we need to stop doing is trading guys like Brian Bannister for Ambriorix Burgos. I'm worried that at the deadline Omar will think we need a starter because of injuries. And who knows, maybe he'll make the right move and win a title in '08. But he needs to make trades like those with Baltimore and Pittsburgh where we get a "throw-in project" who we can build up.

So Omar, don't forget the throw-in when you make your next deal. One more young solid starter and we'll be set for a decade.

Opening Day

First of all I would like to apologize for the long layoff. Expect regular posts throughout the season. Okay, down to the nitty-gritty.

1-0

All we can really ask for at this point. Haters can say what they want about posting a dominating victory over the Marlins, but this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to take care of business against the Marlins, Nationals, and Pirates.

Oh, wait. Those other two teams all won yesterday. Oh, wait, they beat teams that are supposed to compete with us for a division title. Atlanta and Phillie both went down to teams that haven't been over .500 on the same day since March 31, 2003. Atlanta needed a gift from Jason Bay and Nate McClouth to even take the Pirates to extra innings.

Meanwhile, Johan did his thing in Miami, and David Wright continues his trend of extending hitting streaks between seasons with a double that blew this one open. Bullpen was shaky, but did the job on a day when bullpen issues were the big story, especially in Atlanta and Philadelphia.

The other big story: Former Mets helping us out. Xavier Nady (The Untier according to Baseball Tonight) hit two home runs against Atlanta, including the go-ahead 3 run blast in the 12th. Lastings belted a 2-run homer in Philly and scored the go-ahead run in the 9th. Lo Duca added an RBI double to extend Washington's lead.

If these guys do more damage against our division opponents for other teams that they did for the Mets then trading them works out well no matter what we got for them. As for our other trade this offseason, after one game it looks pretty good.