One Week in the Show

Not an honest week, mind you, more like 11 days by this point, but so far our boys have played an even 7 games. Five up, two down -- disappointing though the two losses may have been, you take that record every time.

It's too early to have a strong sense of this team, but it's never too early for some first impressions. Seven games in, here's what's on my mind:

1. David Wright.

I had an interesting discussion about David Wright with B.O.A.F.O.M.G. and my soon to be sister-in-law. I was about 5 Dewar's and sodas deep by this point so the details of who said what are a little fuzzy, but basically there's some concern among the three of us about young David.

That's not unusual; my sense is a lot of people are slightly concerned about Wright. They're concerned because of his home run drop-off in the second half of last year. They're concerned because he had a slow spring training, extra-base hits wise. They're concerned because he's not off to a hot start.

Me, I'm pretty confident he's going to have the kind of season we've come to expect from him: 30ish home runs, 100-plus RBIs. He's got two full years in the bigs under his belt, and he had virtually identical seasons, even showing improvement, modest though it may have been, in 2006.

So I'm not concerned about Wright's production, I'm concerned about his psyche. For years Wright was the golden boy, the chosen one, the one who we all assumed would be the best, most popular player on the Mets for the next decade or two.

With the ascendance of Jose Reyes last year, that began to change, and now Reyes, with his infectious blend of speed, style and swagger, has become the most popular Met. I'm happy for him; he's my friend, remember?

But I'm a little concerned about Wright. It can't be easy being the best, most exciting, highest paid young player in New York one day to second-best the next.

And yet everywhere you turn that's what's happening. The Village Voice has written that Reyes could prove the best New York ballplayer since Mickey Mantle. ESPN is telling fantasy owners to trade Albert Pujols for Reyes (and the one or two players you'd get in such a deal besides). And then on Opening Day, it's Reyes who gets the bigger cheer, not Wright.

I'm fully confident that this hasn't affected the friendship between the two players, but somehow I have to think it's in Wright's head a little bit. For so long he was the chosen one, and now, all of a sudden, he's not anymore. At the very least he's got to be aware of it. It can't be easy.

Luckily, if there's one thing that article in New York Magazine taught me about David Wright it's that he's a competitor through and through. Maybe having somebody steal the limelight a little bit will provide that much more motivation.

2. The bullpen.

There's not a lot to go on, but it's looking so far like this year's bullpen won't be as strong as last year's. Heilman/Bradford/Feliciano/Mota-Sanchez/Heilman-Wagner was pretty dominant, so I suppose there was nowhere to go but down.

That said, I'm confident Scott Schoeneweis will show us more than he has so far. But what's the deal with Heilman? Is he injured or isn't he?

3. A-Rod.

You know what sucks about A-Rod? No matter how well he does in the regular season, the whole psychodrama surrounding him won't stop until he has a strong October. Even if the fans cheer him at Yankee Stadium there will still be articles about what it means to him to have fans on his side, or about how it doesn't mean a thing until he gets that ring.

It's all so tiresome.

4. Those two losses.

I know I said you'd have to take 5-2 every time, but I think we all feel a little disappointed with those two losses. We kicked the ball around in the first one, with two errors on routine plays leading to three unearned runs (the difference in a 5-3 loss, mind you).

It happens, sure, but I really wanted to send a message to the Braves right off the bat. I'm worried that series win will give them the confidence that they can hang with us, that this year is going to be different. They might have had that attitude regardless, but an early series win over the Mets couldn't help but buttress that idea.

Frustrating.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Images courtesy of themightymjd.com and washingtonpost.com)