i honestly think this year will be great for the mets -- not necessarily playoffs good, but certainly close.
willie randolph is good things. very good things. he's got the tuttelage of joe torre, sweet lou pinella, captain don mattingly, and his own brand of coaching styles that rose him to being a captain. he'll make smart moves all through out the season, starting with the new infield rotations.
the defense has been upgraded, and the offense has received a major boost. granted, over the past few years, the mets have made similar moves with less than desireable results, but this team seems to have a much nicer mix of chemistry, rather than the post-2000-yankees-like hodge podge.
according to the hype, the pitching, with the arrival of pedro, should be significantly better. but a combo of glavine and leiter should have been amazing enough, and that never really set a standard.
certainly, home attendence will be up, and that can only help enthuse the team. that, along with bringing in additional income, which can only help the mets new mini-steinbrenner.
...mets aside...
a yankees vs cubs series sure would be fun.
the 2003 post season will forever go down as one of my favorite, simply because of all the legacies involved, the curses involved, the stadiums involved... not to mention the "david vs goliath" attributes of the world series.
seeing a wrigley vs. yankee stadium match up while rocket was goin for his 300th was pretty damn cool ... i'd love to see that atmosphere duplicated in the big 7
