Mr. Met Prepares for 2006

Wow, Mr. Met’s been thinking, 2005 was a heckuva time for him. He made new friends from Boston and Houston and is looking forward to making newer ones from Miami and Philadelphia. His head swells with pride when he looks at the left side of the infield and he’s reduced to stitches every time he thinks of the time that fellow from Korea hit a double off that overly tall drink of water who came by sneering one Saturday afternoon. And what about that nice man who ran around the bases blowing bubbles but never stopping until he scored?

Yeah, Mr. Met’s sentimental. He’ll miss all the guys he came to know last year who won’t be here anymore. No, most of them weren’t going to be of very much help in 2006, but Mr. Met likes to think of all 771 Mets as family, so it deflates him just a bit every time one of them has to leave. But he knows that’s baseball. He just hopes his pal Omar doesn’t see him as one more chip to be thrown into the pot. A lot of teams could use a good mascot, but Mr. Met is a 10-and-5 character. He would have to approve any trade and he’s not planning on going anywhere.

Mr. Met says Happy New Year to all Faith and Fear in Flushing readers. He’ll probably be hanging around here right up until the ball drops on Saturday night. If there’s one thing Mr. Met doesn’t like to see, it’s a ball drop. It gives him a sympathy headache.

Mr. Met’s priceless expression courtesy of Jim Haines and Zed Duck Studios.