{"id":888,"date":"2011-01-02T13:40:51","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T18:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/?p=888"},"modified":"2011-01-02T19:48:34","modified_gmt":"2011-01-03T00:48:34","slug":"baseball-equinox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/2011\/01\/02\/baseball-equinox\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball Equinox"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Faith and Fear in Flushing points out, yesterday was the (Mets) Baseball Equinox<\/a>. That magical time of year when the start of the baseball season is closer than the end of the last season. \u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0time to look forward. \u00a0It\u2019s only 42 (ish, no official date yet) days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on February 13th.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nIt\u2019s unlikely the entire roster will be clear when that day arrives, or even set in stone on Opening Day. \u00a0The Mets aren\u2019t likely to be revealed as a powerhouse out of camp, or be picked by many to even mak<\/p>\n

e the playoffs. \u00a0Like many teams that go into the season with players with potential, players with talent, and players that need to stay healthy, it\u2019s a fresh start and a fresh chance to change the narrative.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a franchise that\u2019s praying and hoping it\u2019s latest batch of draft picks turns out to be superstars that they can control for years and actually compete. \u00a0The Mets are an under-performing team that finished around .500 last year. They\u2019ve been cast as injury-prone, washed-up, creaky, soft, or just simply not that good. \u00a0As Sandy Alderson fills out the roster, and the Mets report for Spring Training and start showing us what they can do, they\u2019ll have a chance to start changing what they\u2019ve been type-cast as.<\/p>\n

Carlos Beltran can hit the season healthy, and prove that a combination of time and his knee-brace can keep him on the field and performing all year long. \u00a0David Wright can take the mantle of captain, whether officially or unofficially, and lead this team. \u00a0Ike Davis and Jon Niese, among other 2010 rookies, can take that next step forward and become better major league baseball players. R.A. Dickey can assert that he\u2019s a burgeoning knucklerballer, not a one-year wonder. The Mets can start rewriting their story as a well-run, hard-working team of talent rather than the usual mess they\u2019re portrayed as. \u00a0It\u2019ll take some effort and success and maybe even luck to start getting the reporters and fans to see this cast of characters as a new team. \u00a0Still, the foundation is there. \u00a0The Mets have a new general manager and manager that the media would love to cast as saviors. \u00a0\u00a0They\u2019ll be falling over themselves to to explain how Collin\u2019s fiery leadership is leading to wins and success on the field. \u00a0They\u2019ll praise Alderson\u2019s construction of the bench, or the bullpen, or his choice at 2B as brilliant.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 2011 and we\u2019re closer to the new season than the old one. \u00a0Baseball is around the corner and the Mets have nowhere to go but up. \u00a0There are still acquisitions to happen, and jobs to be won, but when the season starts we\u2019ll have a lot to cheer about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Faith and Fear in Flushing points out, yesterday was the (Mets) Baseball Equinox. That magical time of year when the start of the baseball season is closer than the end of the last season. \u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0time to look forward. \u00a0It\u2019s only 42 (ish, no official date yet) days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Baseball Equinox”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1133,19,3,1247,6],"tags":[2988,2968,1259,929,4,563,2964,925,1260,1258,14,1256,834,452,1170,1184,2965,1257,1255],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}