Beltran on Fire

(Alternate Title: 'Beltran to Phillies: Suck It')

The award for the most unexpected appearance by James Carville in a major motion picture? Carville's turn as Governor Crittenden in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Did not see that one coming.

And the award for the most unexpected preseason boast by a member of the New York Mets? Well, this envelope's already been unsealed, hasn't it?

Yes, when Carlos Beltran launched the latest salvo in the budding Mets-Phillies rivalry on Saturday, it had a certain resonance that hardly any other member of the team could have mustered.

Beltran is a legitimate superstar, but he's shyer than a young and hungry A.F.O.M.G. was at a 6th grade dance. It's possible that his proclamation the other day was more words than we'd heard from him, well, ever.

Certainly, it's the most memorable line he's delivered as a Met since that legenedary January 2005 press conference where he dubbed our favorite team the "New Mets" and instantly launched the parlance of this web site for the first two years of its existence.

More than anything else, Beltran's gauntlet throwing represents a sea change in the team's attitude from 2007, a change we should all welcome.

For my money, the most telling quote about the 2007 season came from Billy Wagner. I can't remember the exact words, but he basically said that what differentiated the feeling in spring training 2007 from the year before was a general lack of excitement following an offseason of inactivity.

I remember Robin Ventura talking about the 2001 season. The Mets were fresh off a World Series appearance, and everyone from Flushing to Fresno expected the Mets to sign Alex Rodriguez. He was the missing piece; his addition would surely turn the Mets in to a championship-caliber club.

But you know what happened there. No A-Rod, no big moves at all really (assuming you don't count the signing of free agent Kevin "The Ape" Appier, which I don't). And so, Robin said, the Mets entered 2001 feeling strangely inadequate. If you're told often enough that you need something more in order to be successful, eventually you're bound to believe it.

I imagine a similar feeling pervaded last year when the Mets unsuccessfully pursued the then-missing piece, Barry Zito. We pinned our hopes on Zito signing with the Mets, but it never happened. And so we entered spring training last year without any zing, and what we saw over the next six months was a team without a spark.

Zoom forward to the present. With sweet Johan in the fold, this Mets team has a spark.

I'll bet you everyone in that clubhouse, to a man, believes this team has the pieces it needs in order to be successful. It's a different feeling from last year where a long, fruitless offseason made the Mets seem somehow deficient. There was no Zito, no Pedro.

This year's there's Pedro and Johan Santana. It's a different team. And so far, it sounds like a team with an edge. It sounds like a team with something to prove. It's a team with a spark.

And it's that spark that compelled the mild-mannered Beltran to issue his declaration. Chastened by bad memories, Mets fans tend to shy away from boasts such as these.

But they shouldn't. This Mets team is loaded.

And more important than anything, it seems they've got that hunger back. More than anything else, I think the Phillies capitalized on a team-wise malaise among the Mets last year.

This year is about righting everything that was so offensive and wrong with the 2007 club. It's about eliminating any trace of the entitlement that seemed so prevalent among the Mets last year.

It's the Season on Fire. It's about playing with intensity and with something to prove. I think Beltran's got that feeling. And I think that feeling will serve us well.

- A.F.O.M.G.