New York Mets Three Games Up on Cross-town Nemesis: A Fan’s View

"It's never good to come into the season and get swept," Brian McCann said. "Nobody in here is thinking about last year."

Baloney.

There are several myths to dispel about baseball and baseball players. One is reflected above. The previous McCann quote appeared midway through an Associated Press story on the day (April 8) the New York Mets uncharacteristically swept a team that has played the role of nemesis for two decades. It sent the reeling Braves to its first 0-3 record in a generation. Every time the Braves skid this year, they will be poked and prodded about the unseemly collapse last year which kept them from what seemed only a month before as a certain playoff spot. Guess what. They'll think about it.

Here's another myth. It's too early for players to be satisfied with their position in the standings. Of course, they are all realistic, and understand the remaining 159 games could represent a sobering reality. Every year, a group of have-nots run out to a great start…a start nobody saw coming. It is what is no romantic and compelling about baseball. Somehow, ordinary teams can scream out to a five or six game lead in a few weeks before they spiral out of the sky to earth like a malfunctioning helicopter.

Well, this year, at least after just one weekend, one of those teams is the Mets. The 3-0 Mets may not enjoy another three-game winning streak this year, but everyone in that locker rooms knows they own the ceremonious three-game lead over everybody's World Series favorite, their cross-town pain in the neck adversary, the New York Yankees, who were swept by a really strong Tampa Bay Ray squad.

What, you ask? How can that be? Well, the Mets pitched extraordinarily well during this first home weekend, and popped more home runs at Citifield in a couple of days, it seems, than all of last year. Lucas Duda demonstrated the power some believed he had with two home runs in one game. That's right, two home runs by one Met in one game! Heck, on Sunday (April 8), even Jason Bay collected an RBI, perhaps a gift from the Easter Bunny.

Guess what. The Mets notice the standings…even if it is just dawn on a new baseball season.

Glenn Vallach has been a New York Mets fan since foolishly abandoning the mighty Yankees in his youth after Mickey Mantle retired. Since the fond, fleeting memories of the Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee years, he sits quietly yearning for a fraction of the success enjoyed annually by the team that inhabits the borough in which I was born…waiting and hoping…waiting and hoping.

Sources:

• · Yahoo! Sports New York Mets page
• · Yahoo! Sports Atlanta Braves page
• · Yahoo! Sports New York Yankees page
• · Yahoo! Sports Lucas Duda page
• · Ronald Blum, AP Sports Writer, Niese takes no-hit bid into 7th, Mets sweep Braves

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