(To read past year’s letters, click here)
Letters to the NL East, Part 0 of 5. (part 0, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)
Dear New York Mets,
Welcome to the what I like to joke is the second half of the ’09-’10 season. But it’s time to put the past behind us and move on. Nothing that happened before today counts for anything, and it’s time to step it up and start taking control of your own destiny.
Last season was a disaster; Let’s not talk about it anymore. It’s now 2010 and even though we’ve got a couple of nagging injuries, there is hope. Reyes will be back shortly, Murphy by the end of the month, and hopefully Beltran not too much after that. The pitchers are healthy and while we’re missing Beltran for too much time, the rest of the offense is actually really capable. There’s a lot of pressure on the pitching staff right now, but from all accounts you’ve got a chip on your shoulder and are working hard to succeed. Relish the underdog role and punish the opponent.
Citi Field is amazing and all the changes look great. Now make the experience inside a memorable one and make me forget that there is a Big Apple Brews or Shake Shack anywhere. I’ll be there today early enough to get all that stuff out of the way before settling in to watch Santana pitch. It’s time to get some confidence and win some games. It’s time to talk about things like wins and losses, actual performance, and stat lines, without trying to predict and project what you guys are going to do. The division is ripe for the picking, and it’s time you stopped disappointing us and rise up and take it. Let’s rock Citi Field like it’s never rocked before.
The predictions for your team are meek, but don’t let that bother you. It’s time to surprise some people. By June I expect to hear a collective, begrudging “I think this division is the Mets after all” to be uttered by the supposed baseball experts. I expect you to make it so that most Philadelphia blogs will be talking about the Eagles by August. The Mets have never closed two consecutive decades without a World Series title, and I see no reason to start the trend now. In fact, they’ve never had a decade where they did not even go to the World Series, so let’s make that the starting point.
Your lifelong fan,
Optimistic Mets Fan
(I’ll be at the game today, but some that aren’t will be gathering in the Real Dirty Dugout irc chatroom of which you can find a link over on the right)