Amazin' what a new blue fence can do.
The Mets are 3-0 after sweeping the Braves to start the season, but I'm still supressing my optimism in favor of the more natural pessimism the Mets have instilled in me as a fan over the last 25 years.
I swore I wouldn't give the team a dollar until they turned things around and put a product on the field (and did the right things off the field) that New York fans could be proud of. I stayed away from Citi Field for the first two years of its existence, then caved last year and attended three games.
I planned to revert back to my boycott, but a 3-0 start coupled with $2.50 tickets for Santana vs. Strasburg on Wednesday has me folding just six games into the season.
Maybe they are doing something right.
I'm still not optimistic about the season, I just don't think the talent is there. The division is strong and the Mets are still the Mets. Something goes wrong. It always does, at least since 1986.
When will my optimism return? I think they need to be over .500 at the All-Star break, but some Mets fans, at least the ones who call WFAN, are caving already and saying they have a good shot at the second wild-card spot.
They must be new Mets fans, or at least suffer from amnesia. The Mets are not making the playoffs this year. No chance.
It doesn't mean I won't enjoy the wins. It just means I won't be drinking Kool-Aid while I'm watching.

Don't be fooled, the Mets always win on Opening Day.After going 0-for-the 1960s in the first game of the season, the Mets are 33-10 since, including Thursday's 1-0 victory over the visiting Atlanta Braves.
Why a southern team travels north on April 6 I'll never understand.
I'll have more to report after I get home and watch (fast-forward through) the game, but I'm not fooled. The real Mets will show up soon.
Even before the excitement of having the entire starting lineup intact for the opener could die down, Andres Torres pulled up lame and landed on the disabled list.
Now those are the Mets I know. Can't have a win without a loss.

I approach every Opening Day with blind optimism that my beloved Mets are gonna make some noise. Most of the time that noise ends up being a booing crowd, a crying child or the pop of a ligament.
So I'm going pessimistic this year — last-place, 2-16 against the Phillies, 0-6 against the Yankees, David Wright gets traded, Jason Bay completes his transformation into a left-field Rey Ordonez pessimistic. It's all gonna happen. This team is doomed.
But even as I write this, optimism is trying to creep back in like a 17-year-old who's been kicked out of the strip club. Johan Santana is healthy, the starting lineup is intact, the fences are closer, the Madoff situation is kind of in the rear view. There are legit reasons to be optimistic.
But those reasons will fade like the velocity on Mike Pelfrey's fastball.
The Mets will be out of it by the all-star break. By August the empty seats will outnumber the taken ones and throughout September individual voices will be audible on TV broadcasts.
And being the sucker that I am, mine will be one of them.
Meet the Mets. The Mets are Meat.