Cool the Jets on the Mets
As much as I love opening day and the return of baseball, Lord knows that the extensive amount of overreactions have soared to beyond ludicrous speed.
I’ve never been one for preseason predictions, especially in a sport like baseball. There are over 30 teams with 162 games each and only four playoff spots per league. That doesn’t exactly lend itself to accurate predictions for all the expert swamis out there. Case in point: Last year the Tampa Bay Rays were something like a 100-1 shot to win the World Series. I also remember how the Mets were going to bounce back after Epic Collapse Take 1 with the addition of Johan Santana (more on that in a bit).
Opening Day (or night, if you’re ESPN) was my beloved Phillies vs. the Braves. The Braves picked up Derek Lowe, arguably one of the top free agent starters on the market (outside of A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia, who were gobbled up by Galactus — geek moment for all you comic book fans out there who will get what I’m talking about). Lowe was in full-fledged, vintage form against the potent lefty-heavy Phillies offense. To see sinker balls in all their splendor, look no further then Sunday’s game tape. Maybe he pitched with a chip on his shoulder from last season’s NLCS, or maybe he really has just returned to form. There is no arguing that he was that dang good.
So the Phillies laid an egg on opening day — I’m used to that. They’ve lost opening days all but one (2005) since 2003. Many of those losses were completely embarrassing blowouts, like a 13-5 loss to the Cardinals in 2006 and a Tom Gordon-fueled 11-6 blowup last season. Please note that the Phils have played .500 ball or better in all of those seasons.
Opening Day is special, but people, it’s one game! All of the sudden the media, fans, and pan handlers sleeping on subway sidewalk vents are going crazy as if it is the end of the world. According to some, the Phillies’ 4-1 loss to the Braves was an omen that the defending champs are not a team to be watched this year.
On the flip side, you have the New York Mets, where Collapse Take 1 and Collapse Take 2 might have damaged the part of their brain that deals in short-term memory. They won their opener in Cincinnati, 2-1, behind the efforts of ace Johan Santana (who has coincidentally joined Jose Reyes in a battle of excessive Broadway-choreographed celebratory handshakes).
This offseason, the Mets went out and made some much needed bullpen acquisitions in the form of set-up man J.J. Putz (can someone please tell me how to pronounce this name without laughing or sounding lewd and offensive) and star closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, who I’m convinced thinks he is an angel who should ascend into heaven after each save.
The so-called “experts” have some kind of love affair with them because of these bullpen moves. So the bullpen got a little better — good for them — and apparently that is the surefire sign that they will not only win the NL East this year, but the World Series as well. Much like how the Yankees are guaranteed to win after their $430 million-plus shopping spree — but that’s another rant for another day.
The experts also see the Mets passing the Phillies because of Cole Hamels’ spring-training elbow flare-up, ignoring that Santana had the same elbow flare-up scare just a week before Hamels.
These “experts,” like the narcissistic and self-righteous Steve Phillips, also forget that:
- the Mets trot out the same lineup as the last two seasons,
- their starting rotation is a question mark, considering how poor Oliver Perez’s offseason was,
- the concerns about the health and effectiveness of Mike Pelfrey and John Maine,
- and the Tim Redding- Freddie Garcia-Livan Hernandez fifth starter experiment.
The point being that after Opening Day, someone reading all the blogs and watching ESPN would think the Mets were already anointed the champions. I mean, why play the other 161 games, right?
And if they’re not talking about the Mets winning the division and having their victory parade with a dance floor for Jose Reyes, then the Yankees should be panicking like there is no tomorrow due to CC Sabathia’s overpaid ineffectiveness against the Baltimore Orioles.
To the talking heads on ESPN who refuse to cut the umbilical cord to your incredibly obvious frontrunning allegiance: IT IS ONLY ONE GAME IN (probably two or three by time you are all reading this).
I’m just waiting for Epic Collapse Take 3.
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