While We're Away, Mets Still Play!!!

Folks, we apologize for the dearth of new posts, but I've been busy opening a new restaurant and Jon's been swamped at work. The amazing thing about being a Mets' fan is that it's almost a bad thing when we are this good. What do I mean? Well, you become so accustomed to losing over the years that when we have a season like this, we expect the wheels to somehow fall off the wagon. At this point, however, we are on cruise control, headed down the freeway at a comfortable 75 mph, with a full tank of fuel and some great tunes, while the group we started out riding with have been left at rest-stops all along the road, nursing flat tires, over-heated engines or being lost with no directions home. I won't say that there's no way the Braves can come back from being 15.5 games back, but the probability is about as strong as Howard Hughes popping up in Las Vegas tomorrow, demanding to blow up half the strip and reverting it back to 1969 standards! Reyes is, as we predicted, fulfilling what we hoped he'd become, one of the best shortstops & lead-off hitters in the game. The two Carlos' have been amazing (all pun intended), especially Mr. Beltran, and our investment looks wiser by the day. Pedro is Pedro- nothing else needs be said. Tommy Glavine won his 11th game- and it's not July yet. Even with Sanchez's injury (and we sure hope it's nothing), we have the best bullpen around and Henry Owens is mere moments away. Our bench has been nothing short of spectacular. Paul Lo Duca has been more then we expected. Omar was right, everyone else was wrong- Nady IS more then a platoon player. Lastings Milledge has done nothing but excite us even more for the future. Jose Valentin and Endy Chavez have provided way more then we had ever hoped in their injury & performance-based replacement roles. Kaz is no more. Cliff Floyd is STILL hurt (and Francisco Franco is still dead), and if anyone would have told us where he is at at this point in the season, back in April, we'd say that it was the Mets who were 15.5 games back. Are we forgetting anyone? Oh yeah- there's that one guy who seems like he is not only the best position player we've ever developed (sorry, Darryl), but definitely one of the 2 or 3 best players in all of the game, and he's humble, happy, inspiring and becoming the best clutch ballplayer we've seen in a long time- and his name is David Wright!!!! (as if you didn't know) Pujols, Wright, Cabrera...these are the 3 players I'd build my team around, above and beyond anyone else in the game right now. In the near future, Mike Pelfrey will join Santana, Loriano, Rodriguez & Harden (when healthy) as the pitchers I'd most want to build around. Think about it- we'll have a team of such homegrown stars as Reyes, Wright, Milledge, Heilman, Pelfrey, Bannister, Humber, Owens, A-Hern, Bell & Soler by the middle of next year, Beltran tied up for 5 more after this one, total control of Nady's future, and such up and comers as Martinez, Flores, et al on the way. It's better to be a Mets fan this year then any we can remember, and never before have we NOT sweated out losing 2 of 4 to a team like the Reds. We're both calm, as our expectations are being met beyond our wildest dreams. Unlike 1986, we're not cocky and we're not pissing other teams off...in fact, it seems like other teams are simply in awe of how well we're playing and are offering praise like never before. It's simply amazing to say right now how great it is to be a Mets' fan! I am working over 90 hours per week right now, and Jonathan has his hands full with tons of work and raising two incredible kids, and the one thing that we don't have to worry about, for a change, is the Mets...WOW, we can't believe we are writing that...let's take it back- until October, at least...