I’m looking forward to the baseball season. I can’t wait for the opening game. My home team is the Mets, and their first game in Shea is against the Cubs on Monday, March 31st. This is when I’m glad I’m a freelancer, because I can have the game on all day if I want. Some other people get to go the game; a lot of former Brooklyn Dodger fans who are retired go to every game. Though the Mets have been around since 1962, these people remember the rivalry in the fifties between the Dodgers and the Yankees, and the spirit has been reincarnated into the boys of Queens.
This year I hope they will do better than they did last year. 2002 started out well. By April it was one of the best starts that I remember in recent history. But that all changed pretty quickly, and by August the slide was so deep that the team was barely worth mentioning in general sports news other than the Roger Wells/ Mike Piazza controversy and Bobby Valetine’s antics.
Hopefully Steve Phillips’ overhaul in the offseason will mean something. Art Howe seems calm enough to focus on managing a team, rather than starting up Controversy du Jour. Getting David Cone was a nice sentimental gesture, so he and John Franco could catch up on old times. But Cone is a bit of a wild card. After all, the guy was called out of retirement. Maybe Cone will pull a New York Lotto: hey, you never know. Stealing Tommy Glavine from the Braves and acquiring Mike Stanton should beef up the pitching staff. Wigginton and Sanchez seem good, but whether they can adequately replace Ordonez and Alfonzo will have to bee seen. Mo Vaughn has lost weight. Frankly, I thought he hadn’t done so badly the previous year, considering his lack of shape and being injured. Now he’s closer to standard health. Who knows what the possibilities are?
The National League East is supposed to be really tough this year. In order to get into the playoffs, the Mets will really have to play their best all season. What season has it not been that way? The Atlanta Braves are always there. But these are the Amazins’. They played the Yankees in the World Series just two years ago. They could do it again. And win.
Hey, you never know.
