More Than Just a Loss

Last night's game can be looked at in one of two ways. You can carry your sour feelings of last year's team and the end of season collapses of the previous two years and say to yourself, "Same old Mets." If you're going to do that though you came to the wrong place because this blog is going to pour you a tall glass of koolaid. Last night I watched a game that had a disappointing ending but a lot of positive to take away.

Remember last year when we'd have men on base and you'd get a sick feeling in your stomach because you had no confidence in our hitters to not ground into a double play or even get on base to keep the inning going? In a short sample size, the Mets are showing us that you can rely on almost anyone in the lineup to work the count and keep the inning going.

I was more than impressed with the amount of 3-2 counts we saw last night - many of which resulted in walks that kept the innings alive and brought power hitters up with men on base. All of this allowed the Mets to come back from a multi-run deficit and force extra innings.

Think of how valuable a player like Jeff Francoeur will be if adds on-base percentage to his repertoire. He's always been a dangerous hitter and excellent fielder and free swinging has been a weakness. Again, a small sample size but looks like a move in a positive direction.

How about guys like Gary Matthews Jr. and Mike Jacobs stepping up? They are helping now and could be used as great trading chips later in the season to get some pitching help once Reyes and Beltran come back. Or, maybe they will stick around and be really strong bench players for the Metropolitans.

That's another thing, just because Maine had a rough outing to start the year doesnt mean that guys like Pelfrey and Niese won't turn things around and be effective pitchers, they haven't even gotten a chance yet.

Stay positive Mets fans, keep drinking your Kool Aid, and remember, in a 162 game season there will be losses and while last night was one of them, it wasn't a bad one. Let's get pumped for Niese tonight and take this first series and Let's go Mets!