180 Degree Turns

Last night's series opener against the Cardinals presented us Mets fans with a lot of 180-degree turns.

As the Mets got off to a 1-0 lead in the game and things were looking good, Mets fans were forced to spit up a little of their koolaid as Felipe Lopez went deep with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th inning. A crushing blow that the Mets could not come back from in the 4-3 loss last night. We were feeling good but this 180-degree turn was not a welcome one for Mets fans as we sit back, drink our koolaid, and wait for the potential we know this team has to come out and send us on that multi-game winning streak that will turn even the naysayers. Don't forget, even losing the lead and giving up the grand slam, the Mets fought back and almost made up the 3-run deficit. You can't help but love the fight that's still left in this team even when almost no one believes in them at this point (except us here at Mets Koolaid and, of course, our excellent readers out there!).

Most importantly though was the 180 made by Oliver Perez on the mound last night. Despite the gallons of koolaid we've been pouring, even the writers of this blog were a little nervous sending Ollie to the mound to face some of the most dangerous offensive players in the majors. With Ollie's recent track record over the past season and a half, we remained hopeful but with low expectations. Ollie went on to pitch 6.1 very strong innings and even limited the best offensive player in the game in Albert Pujols to an 0-4. He even got Pujols to ground into a huge doubleplay with runners on first and second in the 2nd inning. There was zip on his fastball, he was hitting corners, and out by out, Ollie started to win us back. If this is a sign of things to come for Ollie, Mets fans need to be ecstatic.

The rotation was the biggest question mark going into this season. The bullpen has performed with the exception of last night's hiccup. The hitting has shown signs of life and there's a lot to look forward to as Frenchie, Wright and others are doing well now, Reyes is getting back into the swing getting a late start, Bay adjusting to the NL, and Beltran expected back before you know it. At some point, if each part of the Mets play well, they will be able to put it all together and start pumping out the wins. That can't happen if you can't expect a good performance out of your bullpen.

So, Mets fans, which would you rather have had happen last night? Ollie get beat up and the offense squeak back to win in a bad performance? Or have Ollie pitch a gem and have the Mets get unlucky in a tough loss? This early in the season, I take the hope that can get from an excellent outing by Oliver Perez, pour myself a tall glass of koolaid, and wait for this team to do what I think it can. Here, you have a glass too.