Me on the Mets: In the beginning

The start of the season is always a time for optimism — no matter what team you root for ... well, almost.
    I’ve been a Mets fan for a long time. How long? Well, I remember rooting for Duffy Dyer, Don Hahn, Wayne Garrett, Felix Milan, John “The Hammer” Milner, Cleon Jones, and of course, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack.
    And oh those Dark Years after they traded Tom Terrific. Vince Coleman and firecrackers. The Bobby Bonilla days. But now’s not the time to grapple with the past as yet another “Amazin'” season is under way.
    Opening Day reinforced my optimism as the Mets did what they do better than any other team in Major League Baseball. The won the first game of the season. Yes, we were on top of the division (tied at that) for a day. They beat the Florida Marlins convincingly 7-1. Ah, that was a great feeling that didn’t last very long.
    Since then, the Mets have lost two in a row, and I hope these three games aren’t a microcosm of the entire season. Santana wins, and then inconsistency takes over. No, I’m not a doomsday-ist. It’s not the end. But in the 7-6 loss on Wednesday, they couldn’t finish an unlikely comeback.
    The Metsies were down 6-1 and fought back in the late innings, with the help of poor relief pitching by the Marlins. Then with the score tied 6-6, Fernando Tatis, who represented the go-ahead run, tried to race home from third when the ball got past the Florida catcher. Now some media folks criticized Tatis and said he shouldn’t have run. Later he said it was he who erred. But no ... it was the right play, even though David Wright was at the plate. The Florida catcher made a great play to get to the ball, then side-armed it to nail Tatis at the plate. Inning over. Then the Mets lose in 10 innings.
    Met’s luck, or lack thereof.
    Then on Thursday, their bats went dead against a pitcher who had a 5.44 earned run average with the Tigers last year as the Mets lost 3-1. That was after Mets media said the Mets had a great offense. I wonder how the Mets will fare against the Roy Halladay's of the National League, let alone those of high ERAs.
    Alas, it’s still early, and I still have confidence the Mets can have a good season, especially when Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran come back from injuries. And the last report said Reyes, the Mets’ spark plug, may be ready to play with the big club over the weekend against the Washington Nationals.
    That said, let’s hope the Mets don’t steal the slogan from my other favorite team of the Shea era — the New York Jets. With three consecutive seasons of failure under their belts, I’m hoping these aren’t The Same Old Mets.
    But hey, I still Gotta Believe.