There's no such thing as an idea too good to “adapt” (you know, the way Rickey Henderson would “adapt” bases). In 1980, when a baseball strike loomed, Joe Gergen of Newsday started the Short-Season Awards, honoring the best players in the game from Opening Day to late May. A strike was averted, but he brought back the SSAs in '81 as play was halted. He kept it going for several springs thereafter.
Great idea, Joe. In your honor, we are rushing to judgment and honoring the Mets who have defined the first four weeks of the 2005 season. The rules are simple: We react/overreact to what we've seen over the first 25 games. We try to be so fair that it hurts. And we make no guarantees that anything we've seen will carry over to the next 25 games or 25 minutes.
Besides, around here, it's never too early to reminisce.
Mets Valuable Players
1) Cliff Floyd: Has anybody noticed this is the guy we used to fear when he was a Marlin? We haven't had anybody this hot since, well, Cliff Floyd in August '03, but that almost didn't count since he was taking some farewell swings before going in for more surgery. He's healthy and he's spectacular.
2) Pedro Martinez: Turned the season around in his second start. Turned the franchise around the same day.
3) Victor Diaz: Eight miles high and falling fast, but what a ride while it lasted. (We rush to judge, so we've already put him in the past-tense; we can be dissuaded.)
4) Doug Mientkiewicz: How many errors do the second baseman, shortstop and third baseman have? How many would they have without Minky? Bonus points for the way the “Z” on the back of his road uniform is practically shaking hands with the “N” on the front.
5) Roberto Hernandez: He is what stands between this being an adequate bullpen and a fire hazard.
Not So Much Valuable Players
1) Victor Zambrano: Nobody's done more to advance the cause of On-Base Percentage.
2) Kaz Matsui: He was considered one of the best infielders in Japan. Turns out infielder is a very unimportant position in Japan.
3) Tom Glavine: It's not the strike zone, Tom. It's you.
4) Mike Piazza: There used to be an all-star here.
5) Jose Reyes: Nobody's done less to advance the cause of On-Base Percentage.
The Season's Still Young (Cy)
1) Pedro in Atlanta.
2) Pedro in Atlanta (it was that good).
3) Heilman's one-hitter, particularly for the 99% of Mets fans who fret their pants over the “matchup” with Josh Beckett.
4) Ishii matching zeroes with Clemens, the Hall of Fame jerk.
5) Seo cruising in his first game back (to think it was almost Manny Aybar taking the start).
The Season's Still Young (Anthony)
1) Looper Opening Day; he's still not quite forgiven.
2) Any Zambrano start. Any.
3) Tom Glavine is The Manchurian Brave.
Short-Term Memory Memorial
1) Willie Randolph can't double-switch.
2) Heath Bell is being held hostage.
3) Mike Cameron will be ready for Opening Day.
4) David Wright can't get out of his slump.
5) Jose Reyes has to keep being aggressive.
Trend of the World As We Knew It
1) Mets Can't Win (0-5 start).
2) Mets Can't Lose (6-0 response).
3) Mets Can't Be Gotten Out (second game in Philly).
4) Mets Can't Score (particularly in Washington).
5) Al Leiter Won't Shut Up (but we don't care anymore).
Suspiciously Absent From Conversation
1) Carlos Beltran, but he'll be loud enough in due time.
2) Mike DeJean.
3) Eric Valent.
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
1) Leaving the Basia concert at Westbury to learn Aaron Heilman one-hit the Marlins.
2) Leaving Shea after the Pedro-Al hookup and joining in a mass wave-and-shout at the first 7 train we saw.
3) Leaving John Franco talking to himself after giving him a nice hand.
4) All the new bench guys: Anderson, Castro, Cairo, Woodward; they rock.
5) Those eighth-inning rallies which briefly became habit-forming.
These Are Not
1) Those Subway commercials.
2) Looper Opening Day (nope, still not forgiven).
2) That tease of a ninth-inning uprising against Kolb and the Braves.
3) Finally realizing just how much Shea blows, even if RFK is worse.
4) No starts from Trachsel or Benson.
5) We're still paying Art Howe.
I never forgot that about Cliff Floyd, Greg. I'm only now beginning to soften my stance on him. He really is quite a nice fellow, isn't he? A fine young man. There, I said it. You win. But don't expect the same sentiments about Glavine, EVER. He could save a boatload of kittens from certain death and I'd still dislike him.