April 5th, 2012, was the 51st Opening Day for the New York Mets. And like clockwork they won. The pre-game ceremonies were dedicated to honoring the late Gary Carter who passed away this past February from brain cancer. His immediate family including his wife, Sandy, daughters Kimmy and Kristy and son DJ, threw out the ceremonial pitches and revealed on the left-centerfield wall, the “Kid 8” memorial which is similar to the patches the team will be wearing this season. I have to give kudos to the Mets. It was a very moving ceremony that was definitely befitting the man in every way.
Amazin’-ly so the Mets have the best winning percentage on Opening Day now with a record of 31 wins to 20 losses, a .608 winning percentage. What’s also amazin’, and also unfortunately like clockwork, the team lost one of it’s starters to the disabled list when centerfielder Andre Torres aggravated his previously injured calf, while trying to track down Tyler Pastornickey’s eventual triple in the 7th inning. I’m sure you’re all shocked.
Now would it be a new season without hearing that a Met was headed for the DL? Granted Torres has been dealing with this calf issue all of Spring Training so it’s not as if it snuck up on anyone but on Opening Day? Really? Couldn’t they give us a week? Now the team is stuck with option bad and option worse and option are you kidding me.
Option bad would be to give the starting centerfield job to Scott Hairston, a natural corner outfielder who has dealt with an injured oblique all of Spring Training. He’s a bad swing away from being molded for a body cast. Option worse would be to rush minor league outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis who in a perfect world, is at least a half a season away from getting his cup of coffee let alone the starting centerfield job for the New York Mets. Oh and by the way, he’s been injured most of Spring Training as well. Option you’ve got to be kidding me would have been calling up Vinny Rottino. No, he’s not an extra on Jersey Shore. He’s actually a journeyman who’s seen about as many minor league stadiums as Crash Davis. Did I mention Rottino is actually a catcher by trade? Of course that means he’s the perfect choice in center for the Mets!
As of late last night it seems Alderson and company have decided on calling up“Captain” Kirk. I guess when you have the depth of choices the Mets have it’s more of a matter of picking who will do the least harm. Good luck Kirk. Live long and hit homeruns for us.
Johan Santana looked impressive. I’ll be honest I was one of those who believed he was done, period. Not sometime this year or next, but done. So far he’s progressed after each start and hasn’t complained about feeling anything out of the norm. As a fan I’m ecstatic. As someone who is familiar with injuries to the shoulder I’m optimistically skeptical. He’ll be on a shorter leash this year than a Kim Kardashian boyfriend.
All in all, I’m happy the game is back. Even if this is going to be one hell of a long season.
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