A NEW era begins today when the Mets walk into pristine Citi Field. The best thing about Citi Field, and there are many wonders in Jeff Wilpon’s brand new playground, is that it is not Shea Stadium.
All those ghosts that haunted the Mets at Shea can be put to rest. That has to happen immediately, or there will not be an October or a November this season for the Mets.
Walking into Shea, you always felt like you were walking into a dump, a friendly, cheerful dump, but a dump nonetheless. The Mets were just another punchline in the joke that was Shea Stadium.
The joke ends today. The Mets will walk into their new home with confidence and a more serious attitude. They have buried the past. There will not be the false confidence they showed the past few years, the false swagger that got them in so much trouble. There will be the confidence of knowing they have a talented team, they have talented players, and for the first time in years are realistic about their season.
The Yankees have built themselves a palace. The Mets have built themselves a ballpark. Each, in its own way, fits the personality of the team.
The Mets have always been the regular guys. Look at that their two championship teams, 1969 and 1986. Each team was filled with players you would love to have over the house for dinner. You might want to keep an eye on the silverware with a couple of them, but you still would love to sit and talk baseball.
These 2009 Mets now get to write their own history. They get to do it in a beautiful new location where they don’t have to be reminded of their failures against the Phillies, and the Marlins, the last two years.
This will be a pitcher’s ballpark, which is interesting, because the Phillies play in a hitter’s ballpark.
There are many reasons to think these Mets will overcome their demons. Start with the bullpen and Frankie Rodriguez. I don’t know exactly what kind of season K-Rod will have, but I can tell you this, he will not blow 29 saves like the Mets’ pen did last season.
The Mets were walking a tightrope the last few years with that shaky bullpen, now they have a safety net.
K-Rod is here to win, plain and simple. He showed in the WBC that winning is what matters. He was not afraid to get more than three outs for a save to help his country win. He brings that same attitude to the Mets. And he has help: J.J. Putz is a great addition.
A team that essentially had no closers the last few months of the 2008 season now has two. Sean Green also has caught the eye of scouts and will be an improvement over what the Mets had there in the past. The challenge will be to see how Jerry Manuel manages this bullpen, but it seems to be a pretty easy challenge.
If the Mets play to their talent they will win the NL East. Johan Santana is the kind of No. 1 that every team wishes it had and Mike Pelfrey continues to grow. John Maine doesn’t need a curve ball to be successful, and Oliver Perez would really help himself by listening to everything that Santana tells him and forget about everything else.
Carlos Delgado turned it on last year once he was healthy and Carlos Beltran showed during the WBC that he is a five-tool player that just needs a baseball mission. I don’t want to see Jose Reyes rein in his talent; I’d like to see more of it.
David Wright was put in a leadership position by his teammates on Team USA and responded well, his Mets mates should do the same.
Shea Stadium is dead and buried. Citi Field is alive today with baseball wonder.
