Next Year Is Now

First big game of the year tonight. With this series agains the Phils knotted up at one game apiece, the Mets have a chance to send a message to the Phillies, and perhaps more importantly, fans like us, early.

I believe Willie when he says the Mets aren't shook of the Phillies. He's right when he says we've lost a lot of fluky kind of games, and the idea they've dominated us is wrong, no matter what the won-loss record says.

But that's much too practical for fans. Fans care about wins and losses. For a lot of fans, a win tonight would go a long way toward convincing them that this 2008 Mets team is not simply the 2007 Mets in disguise.

A loss would bring up the same old storylines: the Phils have our number, the Mets have a psychological hurdle to overcome, it's 2007 all over again.

The truth is, the memories of, and questions about, 2007 won't recede until we make the playoffs. Sometimes I think the conversation will change when the calendar turns to 2009, but with guys like David Wright and Jose Reyes not going anywhere, talk of the collapse will persist until a Mets team proves it can withstand the heat of a playoff race. Just the way it is.

But in the meantime, the Mets can strike a blow for changing the conversation by dropping the Phils tonight. It'll be John Maine against Adam Eaton. I'll take that matchup. I'll also take a few more hits out of Wright and Reyes.

- A.F.O.M.G.