Johan Santana

I like to think of myself as a realistic Mets fan.

This offseason, while many of my fellow Mets fans were picking the Amazins to finally overtake the Phillies and win the division, I was quietly optimistic while still taking a wait-and-see approach.

I even picked the Phillies to win the division in my National League East season preview article on Bleacher Report.

With that even-keel mentality in mind, I think it may be a long season for us Mets fans.

Over the first 12 games of the season the New York Mets compiled a record of 6-6. That means that the Mets are .500, that's not bad for most teams.

For the Mets it apparently is. I don't know the reasoning for that, maybe because they are favored to win their division. 

Whatever it is, "Don't Worry 'Bout It". I say that because all the Mets have to do to get in good shape is at least take two out of three from the St. Louis Cardinals in their upcoming series.

On Saturday, April 4, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Mets 9-3 in the second and final exhibition in Citi Field.  Not only this, but I received my first opportunity to check out the ballpark, which at about nine months ago I praised as the best of the two New York ballparks.  Was I correct? Let’s take a look, report card style.

Ballpark Exterior: A

Last year, Johan Santana had to deal with pitching, knowing he wasn't guaranteed the bullpen would hold his win for him. Today Johan had 13 strikeouts and didn't allow any earned runs but still got the loss. His ERA is somewhere around 0.71, but he still has a 1-1 record.

And this brings us to Daniel Murphy. Daniel made the error that lead to the two unearned runs that lost the game. It came on a deep fly ball the Murphy would have caught right at the wall, if he had made the catch.

Mets fans, here is yet another screw up by the Mets brass in the face of history.

Tomorrow night at 7:10, a New York Met will toe the rubber and fire the first ever regular season pitch to the Padres' leadoff hitter. Wouldn't you think that the $157 million arm of Johan Santana should be making that pitch?

Well, he isn't.

I usually don't like predictions because I am really bad at them. These are just numbers, not backed up by statistics from last year because, frankly, I don't give last year much thought. Especially because I'm a Mets' fan.

So I made these extraordinary picks. Not too many surprises, that's why I still have three out my four final four picks still in there.

I'm all for nostalgia, so I have my two favorite teams to relive some brilliant baseball history, and after another drug-filled offseason, I think everyone would agree that we need some excitement this season.

In my previous piece, I said I tend to gloss over outfielders. If that's true (and it is), I flat out ignore pitching. Those of you looking for sturdy analysis of more than just the super-elite starters and closers should look elsewhere because I'm just going to hit the aces of the aces.

In other words, these are not the previews you're looking for (with a wave of my hand).

It should hopefully be a fun read though...

THE PITCHERS