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They can shave in Queens!

tkrezel Written by tkrezel, Tuesday April 06 2010
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Remember last summer when David Wright and his fellow healthy New York Met teammates decided not to shave their faces until the team made it back to over .500? You probably don't. The Mets never made it back to .500 and the last I checked, the Mets never looked like the members of ZZ Top. Ok, so that team unity thing didn't hold much weight, but I don't blame the players.

 

2009 was a year to forget for Mets fans. When Carlos Delgado went down in late April, Met fans didn't panic. When Jose Reyes went down in May, Met fans were optimistic he would be back in the lineup in due time. When Carlos Beltran went down in early July, the Mets were barely hanging around the .500 mark. The Phillies were about to embark on their run. Delgado and Reyes were on their way to being shut down for the season. By the time Johan Santana went on the shelf in August, Met fans were not even phased as the season was long over at that point. For those die hard Met fans who were still watching late in the summer, David Wright gets plunked in the head and goes on the DL himself.

 

To add further insult to injury, argueably the Met fans two most bitter rivals (I personally still loathe the Braves for what they did to the Mets for a decade and a half) , the crosstown newspaper headline stealing New York Yankees and the divisional rival Philadelphia Phillies met in the world series. Truly a no win situation for any self respecting Mets fan.

 

The offseason didn't quench the Met fans thirst for improvement in 2010 either. Jason Bay was the lone major acquisition. Beltran decides to have additional knee surgery 6 months later and will miss at least the first six weeks of the season. Reyes developed a thyroid issue two weeks into spring training and starts the year on the DL (although I think he will have a huge year). The starting pitching was deemed by general manager Omar Minaya in the off season as sufficient, therefore no moves were made. Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine all enter 2010 with the ? label on the back of their jerseys. No one expects the Mets to finish any better than third in their division, behind those fighting Phillies and the rejuvenated Braves.

 

Ah, but hope SPRINGS eternal. For baseball fans across the country this phrase never applies more than on openning day. The Kansas City Royals are tied for first place. The Pittsburgh Pirates too. With each new season comes new hope. For Met fans, they too have a new hope in 2010 and it started out as well as any Met fan could have hoped for. Johan Santana was typical Johan Santanta and answered the questions about his possible health after minor elbow surgery. David Wright cracked a first inning opposite field home run, hopefully set to return to 30 home run form after a dismal 10 HRs last season. The new guys chipped in as well. Bay had a couple hits, Gary Matthews was able to pull in all of those wind infused fly balls in centerfield. Even Rod Barajas showed some power by hitting a double over the centerfielders head. All in all the Mets had a 7-1 victory and were a perfect 1-0 on the season.

 

Finally, if they hadn't already, the Met players can shave. And so can any of you die hard fans that decided to join the no shaving club in 2009 (hopefully you didn't though)! The New York Mets are over .500. For how long? Only time will tell, but for at least one day, Met fans can be optimistic about the 2010 season.


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Kerri SennoKerri Senno, over 2 years ago said:

The no shaving thing lasted like a week before they realized they were doomed. I am excited for 2010 though, let's go Mets!!!