Bottom of the first, one on and one out. My buddy Mike turns to me and says that David Wright was going to hit a two run home run and when he did I jumped out of my seat. I also knocked the beer out of his hand which went all over the guy in front of us. Now, while I felt like a complete idiot for soaking this guy (and still kind of do) it turned out to be a good thing. How can dumping beer on a stranger be a good thing? Well based on being a Mets fan over the last few years, it could have been much worse but Opening Day 2010 proved to be different.
When I think about Opening Day 2010, I think nothing but good thoughts which, if you're being honest, has not happened much since Game 7 of the '06 NLCS. However, Opening Day '10 brought a new start for the both the players on the field and the fans off of it. It's been a long ten months since the meltdown of '09 featuring a dropped pop up, a bases loaded walk to Mariano Rivera, and a shirtless/wrestling assistant general manager. When you throw in a long spring, complete with the apparent foregone conclusion that this team will be sub .500, it became clear that it was time for the new season to start.
Well yesterday the new season started and the Mets came through. A dream first at bat for Wright, amazing new additions to the stadium and an overall positive vibe in the park (minus the booing of the medical staff and Ollie Perez which were both hilarious and deserved) left the feeling that the darkness of 2009 had lifted. It's a new season and it's time to see what this group of guys can do. Can they make the playoffs? Probably not but I don't think an 85-87 win season is completely unreasonable if they stay healthy and get good pitching (great pitching might push them up near 90 a maybe a wild card, and yes I did just say that.) Overall, yesterday was a great day; the Mets were back and life was good in Queens.
I can't wait for the next 161. Let's Go Mets!
