Mets March Madness

Ummmm isn't Spring Training supposed to be easy? Isn't this supposed to be the time of year when the players show up, get all the kinks out, loosen up their arms, get a couple of at-bats and get ready for the season? This is my impression of Spring Training. But of course when you root for the blue and orange, nothings ever easy. Forget about going to Detroit to witness the Final Four March Madness. It looks like it's been in Port St. Lucie all along.

Think about Spring Training so far for these 2009 New york Mets. They've had more issues than an entire season of "Golden Girls." Here's a fast rundown of what Jerry Manuel has had to deal with in the last 3 weeks:

• The experiment of batting Jose Reyes 3rd, in which Manuel looked like a genius when Reyes hit 2 home runs (including a Grand Slam) and had 6 RBI's in his first game. Alas, Jose is now back to lead off as we all thought.
• John Maine showing that there were no ill effects of his shoulder surgery by putting up a double digit ERA (sarcasm).....then letting everyone know that he can't find the right mechanics just yet - yikes.
• Johan Santana hurting his elbow, pulling out of the WBC, almost being sent back to NY for an MRI, taking time off to rest, not starting opening day, blaming pitching coach Dan Warthen, Warthen blaming Johan, throwing a good bullpen session, and now penciled in for opening day.
• The battle for the 5th Starter job that no one apparently wants. Tim Redding can't get college kids out, Freddy Garcia is topping his fastball out in the mid 80's, Jon Niese looks like he needs another year to get to the majors, and Livan Hernandez is very mediocre. The lack of production here of course led to.......
• Chants of "Let's bring Pedro back!!" Seriously, Pedro goes lights out in the World Baseball Classic and we're watching Tim Redding get knocked around by the University of Michigan...awesome. And speaking of the WBC.....
• This utterly useless event provided more agita for everyone involved in the Mets Organization than any other team in baseball. You had K-Rod being brought in for 4 out saves every other game, Oliver Perez throwing almost 90 pitches in a blowout loss, and David Wright playing a whole game even though he thought he broke his toe in the 1st inning.
  

Seriously, the month of April can't come fast enough. I think we're all ready to settle into a new stadium and a new season and see what this team is all about. I'm sure this season will be filled with its ups and its downs like it always is.....but lets save the March Madness for the college kids.

Mets Blog Writer: Jeff Bertinetti