Next Stop:Cincinnati

Now that the Amazin's have broken in the new ballpark, they head to Cincy to open the season on Monday.
After watching this team the past few years and the last few weeks, I have to say that they are still lacking something. That missing element certainly isn't Gary Sheffield. Nothing against Sheffield, but this assembly of players could use a little chemistry to help them get through the ups and downs of a long season. After the breakdown of the bullpen, the Mets didn't hit that well down the stretch last year. The offense dried up even when the bullpen wasn't blowing games.
There are too many question marks. The Dos Amigo's Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran really showed alot of hustle and spunk while playing in the WBC and we Met fans can only hope they bring that same hustle to the Mets. Omar Minaya really seems proud of the team that he assembled, but I gotta tell you that I just can't get excited about this club. I haven't been excited about this team since 1986. Perhaps I am being too hard on them. Maybe I'm still stuck in the 80's., although I got rid of my mullet back in the 90's.
The team doesn't excite me. Ryan Church is a good ballplayer yet he doesn't bring that excitement and anticipation that you get from a team that is destined to go deep into the playoffs. Remember the 85 and 86 Mets? Carter, Dykstra, Backman just to name a few. These guys were scrappy players that made it exciting to watch. You just had this feeling as though something big was going to happen. And it usually did. The closest any Met team has come was the teams in 99 and 2000. Ventura, Olerud, Piazza,Leiter. I miss those guys.Yet the anticipation wasn't as intense. They were missing something back then as well.

David Wright and Jose Reyes are fun to watch. We needed a marquee player like the Yankees got in Teixeira. K-Rod was a good acquisition but an everyday player would have been a nice added bonus. The team just doesn't seem to be all that fun to watch. But it is better to see new York Mets Baseball on a Weekend afternoon than flipping through the channels only to end up watching ESPN's marathon coverage of Poker. Gary Sheffield? It's gonna be a long summer but i am glad the boys of summer are back!