In what was an unseasonably warm 70 degree afternoon at Citi Field in New York, the Mets bats were just as hot, putting together a good offensive performance to back up ace pitcher Johan Santana's solid outing.
The Mets strung together nine hits, and were helped out by three Marlins errors, en route to an opening day win. It was a relieving result to many anxious Mets fans, who don't really know what this season may hold.
Well those fans can rest easy tonight with their team jumping out to a 1-0 record. But what does the future hold for this team?
Today was great and all, but it was very much a sub-par performance from the Marlins, who had just six hits in total. Also keep in mind that this was Johan Santana pitching today, arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball.
The Mets still have four other pitchers, all of them prone to injury, and all of them prone to losing. Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez, and John Niese were all injured last year for at least a little while. Oliver Perez struggled with his control, and John Niese struggled with his inexperience.
The Mets don't have a solid bullpen. They have no eighth inning pitcher, and today used former-starter Fernando Nieve to get them through the seventh and eighth. K-Rod was brought in to close it out. Jenrry Mejia is the possible eighth inning guy, but he hasn't even made his Major League debut yet.
The Mets also have some holes in their lineup. They have a slew of catchers, but none of them are really all that good. It looks as if Rod Barajas will be the man, but will he be able to stay consistent?
Other questions remain about the health of Carlos Beltran, Daniel Murphy, and Jose Reyes, all of whom are currently on the DL. And will Murphy even be good enough to play when he is healthy? He has been inconsistent throughout his career. Albeit, he did lead the Mets in homers last year with 12!
Other questions still remain about the glove and the versatility of Jason Bay. Will he be able to play left field in the spacious Citi Field? Will David Wright bring back his power for this season after hitting just 10 last year? It looked so today after hitting one out in his first at-bat. But that's one at-bat. He hit a homer on opening day last year as well.
So what does the future hold for these New York Mets? Will these players be able to come up big, or is the franchise destined for doom? We'll just have to wait and see.
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