Spring training should be the one time of year for Mets’ fans where there is hope. I have noticed a disturbing trend of apathy and depression emerging this spring training that is stronger than in any past years. This level of apathy and depression should be saved for the first five game losing streak of the season or first major injury, not for spring training.
I don’t blame any Mets fan for presuming the worst for this season but I urge everyone to hold off on the negativity and look at the positives during this spring. Focus on the exciting prospect we’re getting to see this spring. Believe in breakout seasons for Ike Davis and Jon Niese. Root for David Wright as he represents the Mets and the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Think of the success of teams like the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks, 2012 Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics.
This negativity extends to the radio and shows like Benigno & Roberts on WFAN. Listening to Joe & Evan talk Mets with Eddie Coleman is a depressing 15 minutes. The Mets have a dark aura around them for good reasons but let’s allow the sunshine state to overwhelm this dark aura for the remainder of spring. Let’s have a positive outlook and allow the team to disappoint us when they’re ready. That is instead of entering the season assuming the worst and feeling a depressed sense of vindication when your predictions are correct.
Hold onto the positives during spring training because goodness knows we will probably have enough to complain about during the season. I’m attempting to reinvigorate the excitement I have for the Mets upcoming season. I hope fans will join me in my crusade for positive thinking in spring training. Think back to your youth or if you’re still in your youth think back to last Friday, and the excitement baseball in March brings.
Ya Gotta Believe!
34 comments
Mr North Jersey
3/6/2013-5:28pm at 5:28 pm (UTC -4)
Yea Benigno is tough to listen to at times of late. Personally at the minimum I am looking forward to watching what players like Ike Davis, David Wright, Ruben Tejada, Jonathon Niese and Matt Harvey will do.
Daniel Stein-Sayles
3/6/2013-5:57pm at 5:57 pm (UTC -4)
Absolutely especially Harvey and Ike, see what they can provide. Lots of young players that can improve a lot, Gotta Believe!
Stick
3/6/2013-5:59pm at 5:59 pm (UTC -4)
plus, you will have the “call up d’oorknob” watch for a while. Probably Wheeler too. That is usually fun times.
gategem
3/7/2013-12:31am at 12:31 am (UTC -4)
Grasping at straws can be fun.
Stick
3/6/2013-5:57pm at 5:57 pm (UTC -4)
Well, leave me off the pity party invitation. I have hope, and am looking forward to the season.
and I never actually listen to WFAN, so whatever those boobs are babbling about means nothing to me.
I only pay attention to SRT. When she tells me to abandon all hope, then I may consider it.
Daniel Stein-Sayles
3/6/2013-7:15pm at 7:15 pm (UTC -4)
That is good to hear!
srt
3/6/2013-7:19pm at 7:19 pm (UTC -4)
hahaha!
Even though it doesn’t look like we can compete with the Nats and Braves this season (I refuse to concede we can’t compete with the Phillies)…I’m looking forward to the season – for some of the same reasons you named.
- First full season for Harvey
- First full ‘healthy’ season for Ike
- ML debut of booth Darno and Wheeler
Then there’s the:
- Duda watch – will he or won’t he hit enough to justify what almost is a lock for poor defense?
- Parnell watch – will he finally, finally step into that closer role and own it?
- Will either of Familia or Mejia contribute at the ML level this season and if yes, starter or BP?
- Will Flores succeed enough at 2B in AAA for them to trade Murphy and call him up?
- Will Johan pitch good enough to interest some contender at the trade deadline – even if we have to eat some of that salary?
There’s also Wright, Niese, Tejada and Gee hopefully having solid seasons.
We might be no better off than last season – we might be bad – but I refuse to believe we’ll be Houston bad and lose 100 games.
Can’t wait for opening day.
Daniel Stein-Sayles
3/6/2013-7:52pm at 7:52 pm (UTC -4)
Lots of things to watch but you/re right no way they’re anywhere close to the Astros. (Knock on wood)
gategem
3/7/2013-12:38am at 12:38 am (UTC -4)
Likewise when I view a motion picture I pay attention to the development of the cast as the movie progresses and pay no attention to the story line.
darknova306
3/6/2013-8:50pm at 8:50 pm (UTC -4)
No, I don’t ‘gotta believe’, thank you very much.
Why does it bother you that fans think the team will suck? We all have our own ways of viewing sports, and a rational assessment of the Mets tells us that they will likely be a sub-.500 team, and very likely 4th place. A lot of things will need to go right for them to break those expectations.
The most important thing in a baseball season for a team is how they finish. The Mets will very likely finish in a state of mediocrity, hence the negatives outweigh the few positive individual performances that could happen. That’s just the way the focus will go. Sorry if that rubs you the wrong way, but it’s the way it is. Not all of us can view the team through rose colored glasses.
It’s gonna another Mets-ian season so sit down, grab a pint, and get ready for the roller coaster to nowhere.
Also, Beningo is dumb moron that thinks ‘heart’ and ‘grit’ and ‘professional hitter’ are legitimate descriptors to make a mediocre player sound better than he is. He’s an idiot.
darknova306
3/6/2013-8:57pm at 8:57 pm (UTC -4)
Gotta love all those missing words in the middle of sentences. I may or may not have been drinking tasty beverages this evening…
TX
3/6/2013-10:26pm at 10:26 pm (UTC -4)
I had a Russian river damnation and a Russian river redemption last night. No Pliny the elder, but I’ll take what I can get, considering biz was paying.
darknova306
3/6/2013-10:45pm at 10:45 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, just rub it in…
Only spot on this coast that RR distributes to is Philly. Ugh. How were Redemption and Damnation? Only RR beer I’ve had is Pliny the Elder.
Just bought a Stone Enjoy By 4/01/13 yesterday. Gonna drink it tomorrow night. Looking forward to that.
TX
3/6/2013-10:50pm at 10:50 pm (UTC -4)
The redemption was a single, so it was lighter. 7%. Not my style. Damnation was a tripple, 7.75%. Was nice. I prefer dubbles myself, so of the two the damnation was more to my liking (hopefully not literally). Both were wonderful though.
New Belgium has an I2PA now.
TX
3/6/2013-10:53pm at 10:53 pm (UTC -4)
Also, the bill came to $800, with tip, for 3 people. Just plain nuts. You could add French truffles to any entrée for a mere $45 extra. Thank goodness for biz dinners!
darknova306
3/6/2013-10:56pm at 10:56 pm (UTC -4)
Dubbels are the best. One of the flagships I’m working on for our brewery is going to be a dubbel using local black currants. Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
We won’t be seeing New Belgium here in NY for a while. We should do a cross-coast beer trade sometime.
darknova306
3/6/2013-10:57pm at 10:57 pm (UTC -4)
Holy crap! How do I get that kinda gig?! My business dinners/lunches in the defense industry were all dry and as cheap as possible. Bleh.
TX
3/6/2013-11:00pm at 11:00 pm (UTC -4)
I think we may need to do that.
As for the biz dinner, the person sponsoring it was advised not to have that happen again. I stuck to beer and my tab came to $160. Stupid other 2 clowns were letting the house choose wine bottles for them. The RR bottle were $18 a piece if that puts it in perspective.
darknova306
3/6/2013-11:34pm at 11:34 pm (UTC -4)
Smart man, TX.
Daniel Stein-Sayles
3/6/2013-10:22pm at 10:22 pm (UTC -4)
It doesn’t so much bother me as I think it might be nice to look at the positives for once. It very well may just be me, but that is what I’m trying this spring. It absolutely is a result driven business and the Mets have fallen short for many years now, but I for one am going to pay more attention to the process and not just the result.
darknova306
3/6/2013-10:41pm at 10:41 pm (UTC -4)
Fair point. Unfortunately for that mentality, the media is going to focus on the bigger picture of the team’s likely upcoming performance. That negativity will be there all year unless the team proves them wrong.
Daniel Stein-Sayles
3/6/2013-11:26pm at 11:26 pm (UTC -4)
WIth the media there is no doubt. They always go big picture especially on the major outlets and they don’t analyze or comment on some of the smaller, interesting intricacies of baseball and all sports for that matter. The analysis for the most part is for the less informed sports fans who are just looking to see playoff odds, home run race, etc. However fans especially the well informed ones on this site have the ability to understand the bigger picture while still noticing the smaller intricacies of baseball in my opinion at least.
Stick
3/6/2013-10:35pm at 10:35 pm (UTC -4)
Dark, good thing you did not post this over at the 2nd home of some of the regulars here. I believe you would be guilty of insulting, instigating, or in general being a big meanie.
All of which are now apparently 1 strike and done fatal errors, leading to an immediate ban. He even has a counter up, as if he is proud to have the biggest bunch of immature morons on the internet posting! (7 bannings and counting or some such).
Seems there are even people that you are not allowed to respond to (or some matrix of who can’t respond to a post by other guys. Must be hard to keep track of).
all because of a select few jackasses that ruined a good site, all of whom seem to be immune to the new rules and will never be sent to the cornfield.
I know you don’t like to hear about that place, but thought even you might see the humor in it!
darknova306
3/6/2013-10:51pm at 10:51 pm (UTC -4)
That place’s comment section is like Metsblog for 10 year old crack babies. The fact that several of you spend so much time over there just confounds the hell out of me.
srt
3/6/2013-11:12pm at 11:12 pm (UTC -4)
It’s like stick said….there’s only a handful over there – who should have been banned long ago – that ruin it for everyone else. With the new commenting policy, I’ll be curious how long they last.
Stick
3/6/2013-11:18pm at 11:18 pm (UTC -4)
just keeping an eye on the place out of that very curiosity. So far, the boss seems to be looking the other way on them, and ignoring the elephant which is that they are the actual problem, and banning everyone that has the audacity to call them out for being dopeasses is the wrong way to go (since he clearly seems to have “grandfathered” in the core).
but, hopefully they finally show there true stripes and get booted, and you can finally discover if that place can be usable again.
darknova306
3/6/2013-11:18pm at 11:18 pm (UTC -4)
As long as we don’t have to hear about that ‘handful’ of commenters on this site, I don’t really care what they do over there.
gategem
3/7/2013-1:23am at 1:23 am (UTC -4)
I honor of Joe D. at MMO I have changed my avatar.
Stickguy
3/7/2013-9:03am at 9:03 am (UTC -4)
I was wondering what happened to Wilma.
kingman 26
3/6/2013-9:07pm at 9:07 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for writing Daniel!
Sorry for being away; biz in NYC and NJ…
I am bearish on 2013 for sure, but I believe it is 1983—despite the Wilpons, we have a group of kids who are prepared to make 1984-style noise in 2014.
This year we hope to finish 4th unless the Marlins’ kids again make noise, but with d’Oorknob, Shingaard, Harvey, Montero, Flores, etc., and the aging Phils, 2014 will be our 1984.
GO NETS!!!!!!!!!
TX
3/6/2013-10:27pm at 10:27 pm (UTC -4)
I’d like to think its closer to 1984, but it isn’t. Then again, they well could have done it in 1985.
Daniel Stein-Sayles
3/6/2013-10:26pm at 10:26 pm (UTC -4)
It’s no problem at all, we’re all busy, I have been swamped with some fellowship applications for school along with my work load. The Mets are definitely amassing some young talent but I think the Phils are the least of the Mets problems going forward.
darknova306
3/6/2013-10:52pm at 10:52 pm (UTC -4)
My boy Niese will get at least one Cy Young vote this year. Book it. (See, Stick, I do like at least one player
)
Stick
3/6/2013-11:15pm at 11:15 pm (UTC -4)
everyone has to start somewhere.