Season on Fire

We've been waiting for this day for a long, long time...

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I hate to bring up bad memories, but you can't talk about the 2008 Mets without talking about 2007.

Never had a Mets team disappointed me as resoundingly as those Mets did last year. I don't mean that even in the sense that they fell short of my expectations for them as a team (which, god knows, they did). Teams and individuals choke; it happens.

What baseball fans don't understand is when ballplayers become indifferent, when it appears that baseball's become a chore, rather than something to be cherished.

Fans cherish the game. Nine out of ten people who pack the stands at a ball game are people who would give anything to be a ballplayer. You know, make lots of money, get lots of babes, and, oh yeah, play baseball for a living!

If there's one thing that those nine out of ten people could never understand, it's ballplayers who play the game joylessly, ballplayers who seem to have forgotten the simple pleasures of baseball.

And in many ways, that was the story of the 2007 Mets. The fire that made them so dominant, and such a pleasure to watch in 2006, was gone. They played as if October was their due, as if there was nothing to be proven across 162 games. And it was only when the end came that they appeared humbled.

For many Mets fans, the end was devastating but, somehow, acceptable. Me, I washed my hands of them. They don't want it? Fine, neither do I.

I never want to feel that way again.

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I've seen a ton of movies this past month, the better to pass the time until baseball.

Yesterday I watched Field of Dreams. Field of Dreams is about many things, but some of the more poignant moments speak to the simple joys of baseball.

Ask me what I want from this Mets team and it's simple: I want them to play with the passion and the joy of a young Moonlight Graham, with the urgency and appreciation of a banned-for-life Shoeless Joe. Really, the man said it best:

Shoeless Joe: Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?

Ray Kinsella: Yeah.

Shoeless Joe: It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!

That's how I want these Mets to play. I want them to play like they never forgot what's so great about this game. I want them to play like they care.

They seem energized. Adding Johan Santana was the tone-changer the franchise needed.

They have the talent. All they need is some fire.

Now let's play ball.

- A.F.O.M.G.