Game Day Six Pack: “We of the Mets Persuasion”

There comes a time in some people’s lives when they turn away from all logic and reason and root for the Mets.  Some of those who chose this lifestyle have websites.  One of them is Steve of The Eddie Kranepool Society.

I saw a guy at the Phillies game last night wearing Mets gear that I was pretty sure was hired to stand there and cause fights because we weren’t even playing the Mets.  Was that Steve?  We may never know.  But we do know that he is here with us today, to clear up some of our tougher, more profound Mets inquiries.

1.  Jason Bay?

We are at the point with Bay that his walk up to the plate music should be a Sarah Mclachlan song as Bay looks like one of those poor puppies she wants me to feel sorry for and adopt until I realize they have to be fed and walked and I say too bad doggie. Bay is hearing the boos from the Citi Field crowd and the front office would love to trade him or even release him but until some team names Omar Minaya their GM it’s going to be tough to move the late Jason Bay.

2.  In other news, Johan Santana pitched the other night, and he couldn’t have been more uninjured.  How encouraging was it to see him out there, active and effective?  Does it at all legitimize the Mets to have ace starter potentially returning to form?  Was it like the end of Homeward Bound where all the beloved animal friends come bounding out of the woods and back into the arms of their human friends?

Yeah we of the Mets persuasion are not used to guys coming back from catastrophic injury to where they were at the time of the injury especially the injury that Santana had. It’s very encouraging to see Santana pitch as effective as he has so far through two starts but I keep thinking during of his next starts he will burst into flames on the mound leaving just ashes and instead of the animals coming out the woods Stevie Little appears as a Geisha girl.

3.  Sure, the Mets have trouble putting a competitive team on the field, are hurt a lot, had to resize the ballpark to be more accommodating to offense, and had the whole Bernie Madoff implosion.  But they also sent Mr. Met to deliver this dentist’s season tickets!  So, I think you guys can put the last few years behind you now, yes?

It’s going to take a while to put the Madoff mess behind us but in the long run the fleecing by Bernie Madoff may be the best thing to happen to the Mets. When the club was flush with ill gotten gains they had no idea how to spend that money. Jeff Wilpon was like a guy playing Monopoly who buys every property he lands on with not clue how to put a lot together a lot to put up houses and hotels to win the game. Now with no discretionary funds and with a real life adult like Sandy Alderson running the team, the Mets are rebuilding the organization through the draft and building up their farm system. This could pay off big time like it did for the Yankees when Boss George was in exile and Gene Michale and Buck Showalter rebuilt the team.

4.  50 years of Mets baseball can be celebrated this season.  Do you feel as though the 4-0 start to the 2012 season spits in the face of a Mets legacy that began 50 years ago with a 40-120 season?

No spring training was the the teams homage to the Original Mets, the 4-0 start woke up some of the slumbering Mets fans to the point local Home Depot’s and Lowes were running out of lumber as the bandwaggon building was in full force. Losing 2 of 3 to the Nationals saved alot of trees.

5.  David Wright’s pinkie injury.  How detrimental is it to the Mets’ playoff run?

Forget playoff run, this is a big contract season for Wright as the last two seasons he has declined both offensively and defensively. The current baseball ops staff has no allegiance to Wright, they understand that he has done for the organization on and off the field but at 29 years old this season and with a $16mil club option for 2013 the best he can hope from the Mets is picking up next years option and they add a two year extension or the Mets could pick up the option and trade him as well.

6.  Which young player that no one talks about outside of the Mets are you most excited about?  Ike Davis?  Probably Ike Davis.  How old is R.A. Dickey?  Maybe him, too.

Don’t be ragging on The Dickster [EDITOR’S NOTE: You guys don’t call him that.  Do you?  That’s mean.], he is not only the most interesting Mets player but he may be the most interesting in all of baseball. Kirk Nieuwenhuis is a player I had hoped would break camp with the team but injury set him back and then Andres Torres went down with a calf injury on opening day and Capt Kirk was healthy again and brought up to play CF.

There is a pitcher the Mets have in Low-A Savannah named Jack Leathersich who I watch play last year at Brooklyn and was impressed by his poise and ability to throw strikes. He’s not very big at 5’11” but he’s lefthanded, always a plus and he throws hard. His one big blemish is he’s a Boston Bruins fan.

The Mets have some very good young talented players who are a couple of three years away so don’t worry you Pholks of Philly, you will be able to hate the Mets and New York again in due time