Enough is enough.

That’s how I feel as a Mets fan. I can’t speak for every Mets fan out there, and I’m not going to try. What I am going to do is tell everyone how I feel about this team at this point.

I’m a man that deals in facts. The fact of the matter is that this team has been playing like a .500 baseball team since June 2006. The record has shown them to be playing a bit better at times, but I’m talking about their style of play. Call it laid back. Call it what ever you will. However, for over a year this team has not played with the killer instinct that gave them a huge lead in 2006 and had them dominating and getting up for big games. I’ll give you an example.

Think back to May 5th, 2006. The Mets are playing the Atlanta Braves. A team that has cursed this organization for over a decade. A game in which the Braves had taken a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the 7th, we saw the 2006 Mets rally in the 7th to tie the game. The game would go on to the 14th inning, where ironically a Jorge Sosa gave up the game winning run to David Wright. The point here is that the 2006 Mets fought for that win. They didn’t take it for granted. Don’t be deluded that the team’s talent was better, because it actually wasn’t. Remember, the Mets had a rotation that was falling apart. The bullpen was being used every day. Floyd also had been in a funk and no one knew what Xander Nady was. Sound familiar? The difference here is that the 2006 Mets had no taste of championship. They wanted this win and fought for it. Now can anyone point to me a game in the past year where this team wanted to win as bad as the fans want them to win.

Now, I’m not a psychologist and I’m not going to attempt to be one. However, I can tell you this. The majority of the players on that team still play on this team. I honestly hope that last night in the closed door meeting, some form of this point was discussed. It’s one thing to lose, it’s another to completely give up. That’s exactly what we’ve been seeing over the past two months. The 2006 Mets played a lot of ugly games. The difference was that they overcame their mistakes and found a way to win

The mantra that this season is early is true and should give some hope to all of us. There are a lot of games to play and the Mets are one game back in the loss column. It’s not like this team is in the situation of the Yankees (heaven forbid). What better way to turn this season around than with your ace on the mound? This is more than wins and losses. This is about attitude.

I wish I knew how to adjust this attitude. There is no one reading this that can do anything about it to be honest. All the booing and yelling on the local sports radio won’t do anything to change the mind set of this team. Nor can a manager. Any manager. This is about the players. Plain and simple. Either they all want it or they don’t. Simple as that.

The afternoon Mets VS Cubs game may be significantly delayed this afternoon as a significant band of heavy rain slowly moves towards Chicago. The good news is that the majority of the severe thunderstorms will remain to the south. However, a large band of stratoform heavy rain will slowly move through the windy city this afternoon and will last for several hours.

Given this is the only time the Mets go to Chicago this year (weird, I know), I expect that MLB will make the Mets and Cubs wait out the rain for some time. The good news is that the rain will end by the late afternoon (after 5 PM) with clearing by this evening.

As the Mets enter the middle of April, I have some mixed feelings about this team. My concern grew out of one significant statement form Carlos Delgado, which basically showed complete ignorance to the situation at hand. Delgado is absolutely correct in that a loss to the Brewers is not a big deal. The loss itself is not the issue. It is the way in which the Mets lost that is troubling to me.

Every team will have losing streaks and periods of bad play. The difference between a bad team and a good team is that these streaks are few and far between. The difference between a good team and a championship team is that laspes in basic baseball skills are not tolerated. Mets fans aren’t upset that a batter strikes out. We are upset that with the bases loaded and a pitcher who can’t locate the strike zone, that the batter (and this can cover almost ever NY Met at the plate) is swinging at the first pitch. This is about execution. This is about this team NOT playing to their abilities. That’s why Mets fans are frustrated because we all know this team should play better. It’s one thing to lose because say Gabe Kapler had a hot day at the plate. It’s another when you have the bases loaded and can’t score a run.

The question I have is where is Willie Randolph in all of this? I can’t say what he is saying or doing in the club house. I’m not there obviously. However, if Willie is “angry”, well frankly that anger is not being advertised in the club house. I’m not asking for the Mets to feel bad, I’m asking them to get back to basics.

The good news is that the Mets aren’t the only team struggling in April. The Phillies and Braves are right along with the Mets. All three teams have been hit with some significant injuries or bad play. All three teams have issues in the bullpen. So time is certainly not running out for the Mets. However, perhaps the Mets should take some clues from the young Florida Marlins! The Marlins don’t have super stars and don’t exactly win pretty all the time. However, they stay within themselves and concentrate on the basics.

The other good news is that Duaner Sanchez is returning to the Mets! This is extremely important to this team. Duaner Sanchez could give Willie Randolph at least the option of going with Heilman/Sanchez in the 7th and 8th, followed by Wagner. Schoeneweis, Smith, Sosa, and Feliciano now can be reserved for either specific batters (lefties, righties) or if needed in the 6th. The bullpen can now return to close to what we saw in 2006, which would be a huge boost. That of course, is predicated on Willie Randolph using the bullpen correctly, of course.

So am I a tad ticked off? Yes, because I know the Mets should be playing better. Frankly, perhaps Mr. Delgado should wake up and realize that it’s not the lose but the way they lost that should concern him. However, there is hope and the motto of this team is Ya Gotta Believe!

The bad news is that the field conditions in the outfield are going to be very bad with over 3 to 5 inches of rain having fallen over Atlanta. However, the heaviest rain has pushed east and the back edge of the rainfall is moving quickly towards western Georgia.

Rain should begin to end by game time. With a delay to 5PM, dry conditions can be expected. Whether the field will be playable is a different question. High pressure will bring dry, cool, and windy conditions for Sunday with no impacts to game conditions.

The building of Citi Field right behind Shea stadium will have move impact than a significant lack of parking.  Although Shea Stadium is naturally considered a pitcher’s or neutral park due to dimensions of the park, due to the construction of Citi Field, Shea Stadium will have a feature in the outfield.

In order to understand the physics of the influence of Citi Field, one must examine the velocity of air flow around the overall stadiums combined, the tightening of the meso (small scale) gradient between the two stadiums, and finally other micro scale influences above 10 meters.  

Calculation and Procedures

I produced this study based on observations from past games including data from the National Weather Service from Brookhaven National Laboratories and personal game tapes and on line video data base from MLB.com.  Pictures of Citi Field and the position in relation to Shea stadium was provided by online sources from Mets.com and Metsblog.com.  Finally, calculations were made using basic velocity, pressure gradient, and wind shear stress equations.  These equations can be found at any college or graduate level physics literature.  Calculations were made based on a level of 10 meters or higher.  Calculations below 10 meters lead to significant error due to micro level influences like seat position and terrain (pitcher’s mound, dug outs, etc.).  

Before Citi

Before the construction of Citi Field, a strong 10 to 20 mph wind from the west, northwest, and north-north west would have a significant impact in the trajectory of a fly ball.  In most cases, a fly ball would be influenced by increased friction and thus peak and fall at a much faster rate.  Conversely, winds from the northeast, east, and southeast at a speed of 10 to 20 mph would support an increase in distance of the flight of a ball.  Finally, winds from the south and north would produce a wind trajectory from left field to right field and visa versa.  In most cases, this will have a neutral impact with winds below 15 mph.  However, above this speed, a baseball velocity will be impacted with, depending on the direction of the wind, would veer to the left or right.  This would decrease the distance of the fly ball from start to end, but also cause some rather tricky fielding conditions especially with a pop up fly ball.  

Post Citi

There are several impacts to consider with the Citi Field stadium nearly complete.  

Winds from W to NNW:

Based on the latest pictures seen on Mets.com and Metsblog.com, the impacts of west, northwest, and north-northwest winds will be significantly limited below 20 meters, which generally covers any fly ball hit at Shea Stadium.  There will be no inhibitor to a fly ball on windy days like in previous years.  However, this wind direction will not enhance a fly ball either.  In short, this wind direction will have a neutral influence when before there was a negative influence.  

Winds from E to SE:

When I looked at the influences of Citi Field on Shea Stadium from the winds listed above, the impacts become complicated and frankly rather interesting from a micro and meso meteorological point of view.  Citi field acts like wind blocker for Shea Stadium.  The air that flows into the stadium becomes trapped in a circulation for a time.  For winds under 10 mph, I calculated that the influences will generally remain neutral.  However, for winds above 10 mph, there is an increasing potential for a micro-scale low pressure circulation that would develop over the stadium.  This circulation develops due to what we call wind speed shear.  The reason why this shear develops is because the winds at field level will be much lower than at the Mezzanine and Upper box levels.  For example, a 15 mph wind at the Upper box levels will translate before the circulation begins to roughly 5 mph.  Now, this shear produces a circulation over time just above the field.  This circulation will produce a micro-scale “jet stream” directly over Shea stadium and carry over left and center field straight to Citi field.  As such, many fly balls that reach the Lodge and Mezzanine Levels or higher will in most cases become positively influenced and the velocity will increase along with the magnitude of distance.  Velocity will be influenced by speed rather than direction in this case.  In this case, winds above 10 mph will turn Shea stadium into a hitter’s park in my opinion.  

Winds from the South and North:

The main impact from Citi Field on Shea with this wind direction is the development of a strong jet stream from left to right and visa vera depending on wind direction.  Based on my calculations, these winds will have several minor impacts attributed to the stadium.  Pop ups over the outfield and in field will be influenced by a weak circulation that will generally circulation along the outline of Shea stadium.  In other words, while the jet stream described in the previous section will enhance the speed vector, this circulation will influence the directional vector.  So, if a fly ball is hit to right field with a southerly wind, the ball would be influenced to drift towards center.  Also, a potential home run ball with a southerly wind, with a direction towards right field might instead end up being blown foul.  These influences will have to be examined on a day to day basis.  

Conclusion

Based on the calculations I have produced, for the first time in Shea stadium history, this ball park will become a hitter’s park on days with the wind above 10 mph.  There will be limited negative impact to the trajectory of a baseball in the air with Citi Field situated currently.  

If you think it is wet outside in New York, just check out the Southeast! A cold front is slowly going to move through Atlanta over the next 48 hours, which means showers and thunderstorms will be moving through the area for tonight’s game and tomorrow afternoon.

There is a very good chance for a rain delay if not a rain out for both tonight and tomorrow afternoon. The main threat looks to be severe weather as locations to the northwest of Georgia have seen isolated tornadoes, small hail, frequent lightning, damaging winds, and very heavy rainfall that has caused some flash flooding. Therefore, there is a very good chance we all may be watching Mets Classics on SNY rather than the Mets and Braves at some point this weekend.

Through the blogosphere, Mets fans have been clamoring about being afraid of the Braves.  Personally, I don’t get this fear at all.  I would like to interject a little bit of reality to this irrational fear.  First and foremost, this is not 1995 or 2000 or even 2005.  

These Braves lack a bullpen.  Heck, they lack a closer!  These Braves lack a center fielder that seemed to catch anything hit in the air.  If you don’t think that’s important, ask anyone one of the pitchers over the past decade on this team.  This is a Braves team that so far this year has yet to hold a lead in a close game due to a bullpen with a 5.40 ERA and a 0-3 record.  The closer of this team can basically be described by a dart board.  Who should come into the 9th Bobby Cox?  I don’t think he knows either and I don’t blame him.  The plight of the bullpen can best be described by what I saw last night in the Braves extra inning loss where Bobby Cox had to put a pitcher in the outfield to allow him to pitch again later in the inning.  They ended up losing anyway.  

This is a Braves team that has already lost Mike Hampton to injury before even entering a game.  Not exactly a surprise.  This is a Braves team relying on a declining Tom Glavine and an already injured 43 year old John Smoltz.  I can promise you that if these two were on the Mets, the media would be claiming that both of these pitchers would never make it through the season.  However, because they are Atlanta, clearly the Braves can win the East according to some at ESPN.  The only pitcher who I feel is a challenge for the Mets is Tim Hudson, who goes tonight.  However, unless Hudson goes 9 inning tonight, the Mets have a great shot of taking out the Braves with that bullpen.  All John Maine has to do is keep the Mets in the game, which he is more than capable to do.

The Braves due have an explosive and impressive offense, however this offense lacks a true lead off hitter in my opinion.  They have power and will have the capability to mount a rally, but they aren’t at the level of the Mets nor the Phillies.  Once again, the lack of Andruw Jones in the middle of that line up will be noticed.  

All in all, from almost every aspect, the Mets are a better team by far.  The Mets have the best pitcher in baseball and two very impressive young pitchers that are coming into their own in Maine and Perez.  The Braves do not.  The Mets have a very strong bullpen, which (and I know it is only one series) is the best in the National League.  Oh yeah, and the Mets have a closer.  

This fear of the Braves is irrational and stems from the trauma that we all experienced in the 90’s and early 2000’s.  We will see this weekend that the Braves are pretenders and the real competition is not any team in the National League East, but the Mets themselves.  It was the Mets that defeated the Mets last year with bad play and unfocused players.  Nothing more than that.  Meanwhile, the Braves are nothing more than a .500 team when all is said and done.

Last night I felt like I was watching 2006 all over again. Once again, Pedro Martinez was pitching against the Marlins and once again he gets hurt in such an unexpected way. In 2006, the injuries began with him literally slipping on the floor in the club house while changing his shirt. The umpire said the long sleeve shirt was distracting the hitters. This year, looks like the hamstring got Pedro this time. I’m not going to bother to figure out what type of injury this is. Hearing a pop tells me that at the very least Pedro is down for 15 days, which is roughly 2 to 3 starts depending on the days off. The only good news I can dig up is that at least this happened in April, in the second game, rather than in September, so Pedro has plenty of time to get back and help the Mets. However, as much as a high we all had yesterday, last night was a real kick in the groin.

Matt Wise can be a really great addition to this bullpen, however as of right not he is the least impressive of the bullpen pitchers out there.

Can I see Joe Smith more please?

Oliver Perez starts his season tonight! I have high hopes for Perez and look forward to him having a solid season. The question for Perez has always been control. Hopefully his style will work perfectly with the free swinging Marlins and the Mets come away with a win.

The key to the season isn’t long winning streaks, however that certainly helps. Winning series is what matters! So this season I will track the Mets record in the convention of series wins. Should the Mets win each of their series this month, they will be in first place by at least 3 games.

Yesterday to mark opening day, I decided to jump on a bus and ride into Manhattan for Metsblog opening day party at Butterfield 8.  I can report that the experience was great!  The food was outstanding.  I would highly recommend the wings which are big and spicy.  Make sure you have a full glass of water or adult beverage on hand when you try these wings.  The hot dogs were a nice touch too!  The bar, though small, had their big screen HD TV’s positioned perfectly so no matter where you were sitting or standing, you can see the game.  I would strongly suggest that if you want to go to the next Metsblog event at Butterfield 8, that you get there an hour to an hour and a half ahead of the game.  The seats fill up quick and room, as would be expected with 100 plus Mets fans, is limited. 

As for the game, what can I say?  Johan Santana was everything  that we all were expecting.  What caught my attention was the offense, specifically the bottom of the line up that showed Pagan and Church showed some pop.  Alou who?  If these two hit around .270 to .280, then this line up is going to be very solid.  One thing that left me scratching my head was the 8th inning.  I like Willie Randolph.  I really do.  However, I don’t get why he is using Sosa for one out in the 8th inning.  I know everything worked out fine, but he’s supposed to be the long man in the pen.  Now, God forbid, the Marlins had tied the game, who would pitch in extra innings?  I would have gone with and was expecting Smith to pitch in that spot, not Sosa.  However, I applaud Randolph for not using Wagner in this situation.  One of the issues we saw in the second half was Wagner getting tired and less effective in August and September.  He should not pitch in these games and I have no problem with him sitting out with a lead of 4 runs or more.  Save him for when it matters.  

I also spent the day watching the Phillies and Braves.  You know, the teams that experts say are better than the Mets.  Now, look, I am not saying anyone can make an objective opinion on a team for a whole season based on one or two games.  However, can anyone on either team get an out from their bullpen without giving up a run or 6?  This isn’t a case of a bad game. Who exactly is the Braves closer?  Who is the guy that slams the door shut in the 9th?  I can’t find a closer, can anyone else?  How about the Phillies?  Is Flash Gordon a closer?  He sure didn’t look like it.  Actually he hasn’t looked like a closer in a long time.  Can Brandon Lidge be the answer?  Maybe.  If he’s healthy and can keep the ball in the park, both of which is not a given.  So the two chief rivals for the Mets have a serious flaw in that neither team has a trustworthy closer let alone bullpen.  By the time the Braves play the Mets this weekend, they will have used every pitcher in their bullpen.  In fact, last night the Braves used all their pitchers in their bullpen after Glavine gave a less than inspiring 5 innings.  They were beaten by an old friend who is on fire, the X-man, Nady! 

By the way, Lasting Milledge sure looked good yesterday.  I still believe that trade will bite the Mets in the butt down the road, however I don’t think he would have thrived in New York.  The media would have torn him apart every time he showed some excitement or immaturity.  He’ll grow out of that in Washington over time and will be a big bat for that team this year.    

Finally, I don’t know about you, but the best non-signing Omar Minaya has had would be Barry Zito.  Man, talk about a developing bust of a contract!  For 126 million over 7 years, the Giants have gotten a rather large disappointment.  In his first year, Zito was 11-13 with a 4.13 ERA.  His contract was ace status, those numbers clearly are not.  Then yesterday, the great Barry Zito pitched a great game!  He went 5 innings pitched, gave up 4 earned runs, and had a 1.80 WHIP.  I’m sure Chris Russo is LOVING Barry Zito this morning!

It’s been a while since I wrote about the Mets. The crash from last year was like a heart attack to my Mets soul. It was extremely painful and I felt I needed to step away from baseball for a while to get back into baseball. I won’t get into what’s already done in the off season, but lets look at the Mets pitching coming into this season!

Unlike last year, the Mets strengths clearly lie in the pitching. Pitching wins, period. You can give me a whole line up of all start home run hitting giants, and I’ll still take a team with light offense and great pitching. If you don’t believe me, just ask the Texas Rangers the past decade. The Mets happen to have the best pitcher in baseball, a young ace, an old ace, a wild card, and the question mark in the starting rotation.

Best Pitcher:

Sometime you don’t get what you want, but what you need. In this case, the Mets got both in Johan Santana. Lets be completely clear about this. He IS the best pitcher in baseball. I can write here about all his statistics. I can tell you about his dominating K/BB ratio. I can write how he dominated a tougher (let’s be honest) American League. I can tell you all of this, and all that information will not add up to what Santana means to the Mets and this rotation. For all us young Mets fans who where not around in the 60’s and 70’s, HE can be our Tom Seaver. He is a type of pitcher that every 5 days you can count on a win 85% of the time. Further more, there is no one in the National League East like him. Not on the Braves (maybe Smoltz 5 to 7 years ago) and certainly not anyone like that on the Phillies. He’s a difference maker and anyone that doesn’t think so is kidding themselves. This year I expect a record of 20-6, 2.25 ERA, and a Cy Young when all is said and done.

YOUNG ACE:

Back in 2006 season I stated that John Maine will be a future ace of the New York Mets. I loved this guys fast ball and if he just trusted his change up and curve, he’d be dominant. Not only did I like his stuff, but I liked how he rose to the occasion when needed. The best case of this was in the first game of the NLDS where John Maine was thrown into the game on short notice. He stepped up big time and did so again in game 6 of the NLCS. He took the next step in 2007 where not only did he win 15 games, produced a WHIP of 1.27, and had a 2.40 K/BB ratio; but also nearly pitched a no-hitter in the second to last game of the year where everything was on the line. As we all remember, a certain old pitcher couldn’t do the same the next day. This year I think we see John Maine take the step to the next level. The level of an ace pitcher. A pitcher who you can count on to put the Mets in a position to win. A pitcher that trusts his stuff and isn’t afraid to face down a hitter in a tough situation. I expect the following: 18-9, 3.00 ERA, and an increase in his K/BB ratio to 2.50 and a decrease of WHIP to 1.10.

OLD ACE:

One of the biggest missing pieces for the New York Mets last year and in the 2006 play off run was, at the time, the Mets best pitcher; Pedro Martinez. After a long fight back from injuries, he is back and looks to be back to his winning ways. Now, I don’t think anyone can expect the Pedro from the late 90’s. However, the Pedro Martinez from 2005 is very reasonable. He gave the Mets a 15-8 record, 2.80 ERA, and a 0.95 WHIP. That’s what a healthy Pedro Martinez can do and that’s exactly what Pedro is, healthy. Although I think the WHIP maybe higher, I still expect similar statistics to what we saw in 2005. One of the benefits of adding Santana to the rotation is that Pedro will face the number 2 starter rather than another team’s ace and will have less pressure on him to be dominant. However, knowing Pedro’s pride, you can bet he’ll push himself to keep pace with Santana. That alone should be an interesting combination.

WILD CARD:

Trying to figure out Oliver Perez can be as difficult as hitting his fastball and cutter. This spring was basically a short description of his career to this point. He’s had some horrible years with the Pirates and Padres. He’s had two great seasons, one of which was last year. There are times when Perez gets into a groove and can pitch a dominate game. Then the next game walks 8 and can’t get out of the 2nd. However, last year Oliver did take some major steps in the right direction. He used his defense more to get outs and learned how to control his arm angle to have a nice string of solid games. He was good enough to win 15 games and tended to rise to the occasion of big games. However, of the top four pitchers I rate Oliver Perez as the least reliable, although his ceiling is very high. I think a record of 14-10 is reasonable with a 3.86 ERA. Perez will benefit from being 4th in the rotation, which might save him some loses. However I can make a case for Perez to win only 10 games if he’s wild, and winning 20 games if he harnesses his electric abilities. His ability may make the question of the 5th starter mute. After all, if the Mets get 70 plus wins from the top four starts, the need for the 5th starter to produce is rather mute.

THE QUESTION MARK:

I have to say I have a bias against Orlando Hernandez here. I respect the guy, but how long can anyone actually expect this guy to stay healthy in the rotation. How many injuries has this guy had since joining the Mets? How many times has Hernandez caused trouble for not only the rotation, but the entire pitching staff due to his injuries? The question isn’t if, but when the next “injury” will pop up that will put the Mets in a bad situation for the rotation. Right now, after trying and failing to alter his pitching stance, Hernandez will deal with putting pressure on a bad bunion. When healthy Hernandez has the ability to go 6 to 9 innings of solid pitching and put the Mets in a winning position. I’m going on record as saying by some point in the 3rd week of May, Hernandez will have trouble with that bunion. Bunions don’t go away, and that high leg kick will only put more stress on it. As such, you can count on Mike Pelfrey to make some starts for the Mets.

Pelfrey has the potential to be a top of the rotation pitcher. However, like all young pitchers, he must learn his craft. Pelfrey is entering only his third professional year in baseball. That includes minor and major league experience. Now, I know that New York fans expect a pitcher to come to the big leagues and dominant, but more than not it just does not happen that way. Pelfrey needs to take his lumps and learn how to pitch on the major league level. That’s not going to happen at double or triple A. I rather know that I have Pelfrey going every 5th day for 6 innings pitch than not knowing if a starting pitcher will even make it to the ball park intact. So the sooner Pelfrey gets to the Mets, the better.

The Bull Pen:

The Mets strong rotation puts the bull pen in a great position. The Mets bullpen looks to include Pedro Filiciano, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, Joe Smith, Jorge Sosa, Brian Stokes, and Matt Wise. Right now, looks like Jorge Sosa will be the long man in the bullpen, which is fine as Sosa can be serviceable for 3 to 4 innings when needed. What will be interesting is the battle that will unfold in April between Joe Smith, Brian Stokes, and Matt Wise as who gets sent down or traded when Duaner Sanchez comes back back the end of the month. Out of the three, the most intriguing pitcher to me is Matt Wise who was a major set up man for the Brewers before having some trouble in the middle of last year after hitting a batter. Wise for the Brewers was what Heilman is for the Mets now, that bridge in the 8th to the closer. Should Wise step up, then the Mets have the potential for a devistating bullpen. Imagine if you will a game where Willie Randolph can go with Feliciano or Smith for a lefty, then go to Schoeneweis for a righty in the 6th, followed by Wise or Sanchez in the 7th, then Sanchez or Heilman in the 8th, and finally shutting the game down in the 9th with Wagner whom by the way has has a great spring training. That bullpen is very similar to 2006 and gives Willie Randolph the options he never had last year. The return of Sanchez and the addition of Wise puts Feliciano, Schoeneweis, and Smith in specific roles that will put them in the best position to succeed. For the most part, that is what we have seen all spring.

As we all know, pitching wins. The 2008 Mets have plenty of pitching and the ability to end a game quickly by the 5th inning if need be. With a rotation of Santana, Martinez, Maine, and Perez; the Mets may have the best rotation going 1 through 4 and would make a short series very difficult to win. You can bet that opponent hitters will shake their heads seeing a rotation of Santana, Martinez, and Maine in a 3 game series. The weakest link is the 5th starter, but of course what team doesn’t have questions with a 5th starter. In closing, it is my opinion that the Mets will not need a high powered offense to win like the team in 2006, but rather will only need 2 to 4 runs per game to win a majority of the games this season. This is going to be a fun final season at Shea!

Steve DiMartino was born in Peekskill, New York and raised in Freehold, New Jersey.  He went to college at SUNY Oswego for BS in meteorology and graduated in 2002.  Steve lived in Oklahoma from July 2002 through April 2007 working for private meteorology company.  He has been a Mets fan since 1984.  Steve's first memory as a Mets fan is going to a Mets game in 1986 with Keith Hernandez getting a game winning double.  Steve has many favorite Mets moments but he will never forget the Mike Piazza home run on first game after 911.

Steve runs his own Mets blog called “Mets Fan In Oklahoma” soon to be renamed since Steve is now returning to the New York City area.