How Nice is Life?

How nice is life?

Is there a better feeling than knowing how much baseball is ahead of us? I sat in my favorite sports bar with Upper West Side legend Timmy Sacks, my former paralegaling partner in crime Nick the Voice and his main hommy from NYC, Z Newc -- it was just 4 New Yorkers in San Francisco taking in the game together and soaking in the moment.

I got some text messages from some of my Mets brethren and we were off.

Here I am now and I'm on my couch, watching Forrest Gump for the 47th time, reflecting on what was game 1 of 176. Here are thoughts 1-10.

1. First off, much like in 2002, this team will score 1000 runs. The offense is just scary. With Jose Reyes only getting better and Moises Alou urining up the 6th spot, we have a better offense than in 2006 when the offense was already scary. They made a dominant pitcher look bad, Sunday night and I have a feeling this won't be the last time.

2. So nice seeing Tommy Glavine come out and dominate. With Pedro gone there is so much pressure on him to carry the load.

Facing the team that ended our season in what you could say was a huge game from the standpoint of keeping the fanbase's morale healthy, Glavine just looked really sharp. He looked like Glavine in his first couple of postseason starts last year, the Tom Glavine of the mid 90's.

3. Joe Smith. He can't be older than 14, can he?

4. Billy Wagner. Oh man, this guy is starting to remind me of another Mets south paw closer, good old Johnny Franco. When his fastball tops out at 91 he just isn't good. It was also good to see that along with his new splitfinger, he is bringing a huge wad of dip into his '07 repertoire.

5. Freak out text messages. "This team sucks" was sent out to AFOMG in the bottom of 1. "This team will score 1000 runs" after Delgado's double. They are just a fun thing to do.

6. How much do you hate the Cardinals? These guys just really piss me off. So Taguchi, David Eckstein, Yadier Molina. Ugh.

These guys suck and I still hate them. Was glad that Big So sucked on Sunday and then Tony La Russa was punished for rubbing it into us by hitting Molina in the 5 spot. All that was was a slap in the face. I'm glad that that guy drives drunk. What a dick.

7. The Mets bullpen. When we have two dominant setup men they are great. When they have 1 they are just decent. There are going to be a lot of scary 7th and 8th innings.

8. I am already drooling at the thought of Carl Pavano getting pulled in the 3rd inning of the Yanks' opener against the D Rays. With Wang and Pettitte hurt, the Yankees starting pitching is going to be really, really bad. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch these people complain about Jeff Karstens and co. stinking up the mound 3 nights out of 5.

9 It's Spring Time. There is nothing better than New York in the spring, and Young Sip is only two days away from being united with the city that he loves.

10. It's a new year and this is a good team again. That's awesome.

Vaya con dios.

Sip

Pics courtesy of (ign.com, tsn.ca)