Live From Federal Government Field

The 2009 baseball season has begun... unless you're in Boston. So I guess there's still time for me to get a season preview in, since everyone hasn't started yet.

Of course my baseball preview begins with the Mets, because they're my team. Since Omar Minaya finally took the advice from me (and thousands of other Mets fans) and blew up the bullpen, things look much better at the outset. Based on the results today, so far so good. Johan Santana has to leave the game in the 6th inning with a 2-1 lead. Last year in a situation like this, I would be digging my nails into the barcalounger agonizing over the 11 runners we had left on base to this point and waiting for the inevitable bullpen implosion that would cost us the game. Instead, today we get 3 1/3 scoreless innings from Shawn Green, J.J. Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez. 1-0. Life is good.

Now if this happens much more often than it did last year, we'll be all set. Offensively, the Mets have the weapons. The latest addition to the roster does not make me happy, however. Just before the season began, Omar went out and signed notorious crybaby and alleged steroid user Gary Sheffield. Oh wait, that's right, he was duped by Greg Anderson and BALCO, just like Barry Bonds was... riiiiiiiight. So in exchange for getting to see Sheff hit his milestone 500th home run, we have to deal with an entire season of him complaining about not getting enough playing time and how he's better than Ryan Church and Daniel Murphy. New York sportswriters are salivating over all the back page mayhem they can stir up with this guy in the clubhouse. If we don't make the playoffs this year, I blame him.

The true highlight of the Mets 2009 season is of course the new stadium, Citi Field. Or as we probably should call it, Federal Government Field or Taxpayer Field... as it's our tax dollars that are paying Citi's bills these days, including that $400 million naming rights deal that is pretty much paying the salaries of Johan, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, and everyone else in orange and blue these days. No use in complaining about it, I guess, although I can see why the fans of the 29 other clubs might gripe. I have my tickets for a game at the new ballpark at the end of May. Can't wait.

Now you may not have been able to concentrate on the previous couple of paragraphs because you had to put up with the gales of laughter from all the Phillies fans who are reading this. I know I've never heard the end of it since the Phillies won it all last October as the primary beneficiary of the 2nd straight September collapse by my Amazins. This is why I am petrified of predicting that the Mets will win the NL East. Because I really DON'T NEED TO BE WRONG IN EMBARRASSING FASHION FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW!!!

So I'm picking the Phillies to win the division. Choke on that, cheese steakers.

The Mets will win the wild card, but the Phillies continue to be motivated by some demented hatred of us (especially Jose Reyes), so they're not going anywhere and I can't ignore the fact that they're just as good as last year. So as much as I appreciate K-Rod (he hates to be called that, btw) injecting himself in the rivalry and saying that the Mets are the team to beat... he's wrong. The Phillies are, until they are beaten.

Now that I'm done eating crow, here's how the rest of the NL East will shake out. Atlanta got Derek Lowe and they're trying to reload from the farm system, while Florida held a mini-fire sale and jettisoned several key players from last year. That makes it easier... Atlanta 3rd, Marlins 4th. Washington will finish in last again... but at least I'll get to see if they're heading anywhere in the future because their top prospects now play in Syracuse. That is, if I ever go to a Chiefs game.

Elsewhere in the NL... the Cubs have to be the favorites in the Central, as the Brewers slip a notch after losing both CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets to free agency (although with Sheets injured - as usual - it's not like he would have helped anyway). The Cardinals could be a factor if Chris Carpenter returns to 2006 form and their bullpen can right itself. The rest of the division is just watching. The NL West comes down to one question: will Manny be Manny, or will Manny "be Manny"? As in will he play hard, put up typical numbers, make his teammates better and lead them into October, or will he tune out, age rapidly before our eyes, and become Joe Torre's problem child? Arizona will be there looking to capitalize if it's the latter. The Giants have good pitching led by Tim Lincecum (btw, love the video game commercial with his digital double singing Wang Chung in the car) and they could contend if they ever get someone who can hit more than 20 homers in a season in that lineup.

Over in the American League, all the attention is of course on the Yankees. They have an even-bigger, even-fancier, even more expensive new playground to move into this year. I never got to see a game in the original Yankee Stadium and I'm not really in much of a hurry to see a game at the new one... certainly not for the prices they're asking Joe Six-Pack to fork over for tickets. But I guess you have to get your money to overpay free agents somewhere. So CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixiera are now Yanks, and that makes the Yankees the most overhyped 3rd-place team in baseball. Because that's where they finished last year (as predicted by yours truly), and that's where they're gonna finish again this year. The last time we saw CC facing American League hitters, he was a Cleveland Indian with a losing record and an inflated ERA in the first half of 2008. Today's game in Baltimore proved that little has changed. Burnett has a history of arm problems (Carl Pavano, anyone?), and Teixiera has never played for a contender for longer than a couple months and strikes me as being the perfect complement to A-Roid at the corners of the infield. They both put up great stats, but only when it doesn't matter.

Boston and Tampa Bay will duke it out for the AL East title (when they finally get started). Tampa can only get better as their young stars mature, plus they still have David Price waiting in the wings at Triple-A. Boston has a solid lineup, solid rotation, and Jonathan Papelbon Irish-jigging all over opposing batters in the 9th inning. It should be an exciting pennant race, although the loser may well get the wild card so maybe it won't be THAT exciting. Toronto has had the pieces for a while but they've never been able to get it all working at once. They had the bats in '07 but no pitching; last year, they developed a lot of good young arms to go with Roy Halladay and the now-departed Burnett, but the bats fell asleep. If they could get it all to work at the same time, it could make for much excitement north of the border and apoplectic Bronx Bomber fans watching a $200-million, 4th-place team. Baltimore... is Baltimore. They play in a division with 4 good-to-awesome teams, and there's not much they can do to improve their situation when top players won't sign with them (see Teixiera).

The AL Central is wide open. Everyone has a shot at this division... well, except for the Royals of course. The White Sox are solid, Minnesota has great young arms and Justin Morneau powering the offense (although losing Joe Mauer for a while hurts), and Detroit and Cleveland both have good teams that need some players to have bounce-back years. The AL West may as well be the Angels and everyone else. Nobody's going to beat Los Angeles, not with the team Mike Scioscia is piloting. Texas is the closest competitor, but they always seem to struggle pitching-wise. Oakland and Seattle have a lot of work to do.

There's your regular season... I'll hold off on predicting what will happen in October, since any kind of wild Mets-related forecasting would just invite me to more ridicule. See, I can be humble... but all of you down in Philadelphia had better hope that my inability to pick an NL East winner lately doesn't continue...