a couple of met(s)a thoughts

1. Why has the online voting on the All Star game begun 19 days into the season? I realize that the All-Star game actually has something important riding on it now that the absolutely ridiculous rule that the winning league in the All Star game gets home-field advantage in the World Series is in effect, but it still seems patently silly to open up voting for the best in the leagues when no team has yet played even a quarter of the games they'll play before the All Star break. It's simply too early to be talking about All Stars-- Carlos Delgado hasn't started hitting yet.

2. I'm enjoying this focus on games against our own division in the early part of the season, particularly for the opportunity we've had to show Mr. Rollins and the rest of his teammates in Philadelphia quite a bit about the real team to beat in the NL East. So far, we've played 14 games, all but the first three against the NL East (and let's not forget that those first three were a sweep we took from the '06 World Champions). After the series with Atlanta, the Mets have 3 against Colorado at home, but then only NL East teams again until May 3, which will be the team's 27th game of the season. So only 6 of the first 26 (3 against St. Louis, 3 against the Rockies) aren't in the NL East.

3. Given that the Mets are going back to NY to face Atlanta in first place with the best record in baseball, I'm enjoying just thinking about the various psychological impacts my team's opening performance may or may not have had on their opponents in their division, and have high hopes for their performance this weekend against our perennial nemesis in the division. But I'm also anxious to see the Mets play against the teams doing well in the rest of the league-- Los Angeles and Arizona in the NL West, and of course the Yankees back at home. We'll get to see that match up in May; fingers crossed we'll leave no opportunities for walk-off homers from A-Rod.