What an awesome way to start a season. Johan Santana was just vintage Johan with 6 innings 4 runs and 5 strikeouts. And it looks like he has gotten himself some more run support. I really hope that he keeps it up especially agsinst the Phillies.

Nice to see the team in blue hats and pinstripes for a change. I wish I knew why Charlie Samuels seems so obsessed with the black-and-blue hats they wear about 8 of every 10 games, and why he even has so much influence over what they wear.

It was great to be back at Citi Field. I was up in the left field "nose bleed" but still enjoyed a Mets victory. It was great to see the Cowbell Man as well as all the loyal Mets fans. I even saw a guy wearing a Mets jersey with a Yankee hat!? I also saw a guy wearing a Mets #86 jersey with the name "Buckner" on the back. Besides all that, great to see a Mets victory and hopefully many more in 2010!! Lets Go Mets!!!

I must say that the Mets were lucky to have this game go to extras. When Frenchy (Jeff Francoeur) walked to make the game 6-5 Marlins, one of the balls should've been a called strike 3 but it was ball 2 instead. And Leo Nunez the Marlins pitcher didn't do anything but the Umps thought the opposite. If the Mets won I would have thanked those umps for being morons.

Couldn't have asked for a better birthday! Well, maybe weather wise since it was chilly and windy! I enjoyed a nice Acela Club restaurant dinner before watching a 2-HR barrage by both Francoeur and Barajas. While having my birthday message on the scoreboard, I got to watch Pelfrey pitch a solid 6 innings in his season debut and in the 8th inning Ruben Tejada got his first ML hit! Still undefeated at Mets games I've attended on my birthday!

How on earth did Willie Harris catch that fly ball? That was just awful.

My first game at Citi Field for 2010 and the weather was full of blue skies although chilly. Went with my pal Kathy and her son Adam from Vietnam on his 4th birthday and they did put his name on the scoreboard! The game itself was a tepid affair until the Mets had a chance to win it but bad old Willie Harris (yet another Met killer) made the diving catch to deny the Amazins a walk-off win. After the game, all three of us went into the new Mets HOF and Museum and I truly give it my seal of approval. Actress Julia Stiles threw out the first pitch and let's just say she's way better than what Mariah Carey did at a Japanese baseball game.

W: Fransisco Rodriguez (?) L: Joe Mather (what) S: Mike Pelfrey (!)

This is pretty much two games (2.2, in fact) - one that was a pitcher's duel; and one in which the Mets and Cardinals tried to one-up each other in blowing the game.

Unbelievable game that started after 4:00 PM (New York time) and ended at around 11:00 PM (NYT) and I watched all 20 innings!! Plus it's the fourth Mets regular season game to go at least 20 innings and the first that they ever WON!!

While watching I was constantly thinking of the late comic George Carlin's "Baseball vs Football" (the only clean bit he ever did in his career) where he said: "Baseball has NO time limit: We don't know when it's gonna end, we might have extra innings where football is rigidly timed even if we have to go to sudden death."

The only negative was the game was on FOX 5 with Kenny Albert and Tim McCarver but thank goodness Joe "The Jerk" Buck was nowhere near the booth!!

One result of this game was that Mike Pelfrey temporarily led the team in wins AND saves.

Being able to recall the Met losses in their 25, 24, and 23 inning games, it was nice to see them win this one even though Tony LaRussa almost handed it to them on a silver platter - letting a pitcher hit twice with the bases loaded and using two non-pitchers to pitch .

Tim McCarver kept comparing it to the 19-inning win on July 4th in 1985 but this was more of a pitchers duel until the last three innings which were truly bizarre when the Cards brought in non-pitchers to pitch.

It was rather amusing to have the announcers report the final scores of night games while this game was still in progress.

I lived in Los Angeles at the time, and that day I had a flight to NY. I boarded the flight as the game was about to start, and the flight took off about 20 minutes later. I had a stopover in Denver, then took another flight to New York. After landing at LaGuardia, I took the M60 bus to Woodside. As I got out of the bus, I saw the delicious Peppino's pizzera and I could not resist- I had to go in to get a couple of slices. I lugged my big suitcase into Peppinos, ordered two slices, and was shocked to see the game still on TV.

I agree that it was a drawback that the game was on FOX (and always is), but on the bright side, Tim McCarver was in the booth, so it was kinda like the good ol' days back on channel 9.

It was great to be back in New York and great to see a Mets game in New York again (even though they were in St. Louis). I really enjoyed that pizza. They won the game after I'd been watching the game for 20-30 minutes, with Pelfrey getting the save.

Checking the box score, Jose Reyes drove in Angel Pagan with the winning run on a sacrifice fly against pitcher-catcher Joe Mather in the bottom of the 20th. Time of Game: 6 hours, 53 minutes.

Tough loss for the Mets. Outside of the 2nd inning they did absolutely nothing against Wainwright. Maine was his usual self having tons of base runners and a 100+ pitch count into the 5th inning. The guy is flat out dead weight and the Mets would be foolish to sign him to any type of long term deal. I love the fact that Pelfrey, Perez, and Santana had great starts in the previous 3 games. This is a discovery year for the Mets to determine who they should keep for the long run and who needs to go. Let's bring up the young guys like Ike Davis and others and see what they can do already.

Ike's debut for our Mets at 1B. 2 for 4 is not a bad start to what hopes to be a stellar career.

Mets are starting to hit their stride now. Starting pitching has been very good of late, Bullpen has been arguably the best in MLB, and looks like the offense is coming around. How about Ike Davis hitting his first career HR? Guy has been pretty impressive in his first few games. Question is what do they do when Murphy comes back? At this point, Murphy is going to have to be a backup player sitting the bench. Mets would be foolish to bench Ike Davis. Hopefully we can get this 2nd game against the Braves this afternoon with Niese pitching. Just looked at the lineup for the game and Braves are sitting Prado and McCann.

Mets caught a break in this one. Big Pelf was walking a tightrope over 5 innings, but he got the job done once again. He is finally maturing into a top notch starting pitcher. I don't know what it is, but I think the Mets have the right group of guys in the clubhouse. You just can sense it on the field that these guys would run through a brick wall for each other and that is a trait that the Mets have been lacking for years

Let's keep it going against the Dodgers this week, then off to Philly.

Nice win for the Mets, and now they have a great chance to win the series with Pelfrey going today and Santana tomorrow. Niese was tremendous going 7 strong and the offense did what it was supposed to do against a subpar pitcher. It is only April but this is a different team than years past. It is a better team and a better clubhouse and I love it. Mets can really make a statement today by beating Halladay but we all know that is going to be tough. Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the game. Hopefully Big PELF is on his game as well. GO METS!!

Well this series certainly did not end the way I expected it to. After the Mets won the opener I thought we would at least have won the series, but the Phillies did not just beat us in the last 2 games, they crushed our 2 best pitchers. I was in utter shock watching Santana get rocked in the 4th inning. It was an Ollie like performance from our best pitcher. It is amazing that Santana was 1 strike away from pitching a scoreless 4th inning and then all of a sudden the wheels came off. It has become obvious that Santana is not the dominant pitcher he was when he was in Minnesota. In any case, the Mets need to not allow this series to derail what they accomplished in the previous 10 games. Off to Cincy. Hope the Mets can get things going again.

My second game at Citi Field, nearly a year to the day after my first. Had great seats in section 12 of the Delta Club for the team's first walkoff win at the new yard. Ike Davis and Rod Barajas each went deep twice. So much for Bengie Molina, lol!

My first game at Citifield. I went with two of my younger brothers, and it was kind of bittersweet not being with our father.(rip) BUT.. I had to say goodbye to Shea by visiting the plaques in the parking lot representing the infield before entering the new home.

What a game to see for it to be our first one there! A Pelfry win, 2 dingers by the new star of the team Ike Davis, and 2 by our catcher WITH a walk-off. I'll never forget this one!

Tough ending to this series for the Mets. Loved the way they came back to win the first 2 games with walk off homers from Barajas and Blanco. What was exposed in this series, however, is that the bullpen has been taxed through the first month of the season. Nieve, Mejia, and others have been used way to much. Most of the blame needs to go to Perez and Maine who have been awful thus far although Maine seems to have turned it around a bit. Perez is a lost cause and all we can do at this point is wait for his contract to expire and let him go.

Angel Pagan hit an inside-the-park home run in the fourth inning of this game. An inning later, he started a triple play by catching a fly ball in center field. This was the second time that Pagan had an in-the-park homer in the same game in which a TP was turned. The other was the previous year at Citi Field, when he hit an ITPHR in the first inning of the game against the Phils that ended with Eric Bruntlett's unassisted triple play.

This was a great game to watch, although my nerves took a beating at the end of the game watching K-Rod pitching on fumes with an 89 mph fastball and no off-speed stuff whatsoever. Still don't know how he managed to get by Texiera and A-Rod. Santana pitched like a true ace and Bay finally started to look like the slugger the Mets went out and signed in the off-season.

What a game!!! I was at the game (Section 106) and Jose Reyes ROCKS!!! Not only did he hit his first home run of 2010, he made a great leap for the final out of the game. Citi Field was rocking tonight as we ramped up the JOSE-JOSE-JOSE chant after a long absence and many Met followers including me yelled ("Chase Ugly", "You are Werthless" to Phillies RF Jason Werth, the "Philly STINKS" chant and when a cheesesteak and Tastykake eatin' Philly follower slandered the Amazins; I simply yelled "GO BLACKHAWKS" as they're the opponents for the FLYERS).

This win gave the Mets a three-game sweep of the Phillies and all by shutout! The complete blanking put the Mets over .500 and I thought they were about to take control of the National League East, ending the Phils' glory days. I was wrong. Philadelphia went on to their fourth of five straight division titles while the Mets would finish the season with another losing record.

Nice job by RA Dickey once again. The guy has been good since getting the call up. I don't know where the Mets would be right now without him and Takahashi. Good to see Francouer get it going at least for 1 game. Hope this is the start of something big for him. Thought Bay would continue his hot hitting but he kind of disappeared once again. In any case, Mets need to refocus and get to San Diego where they have had their struggles in the past. Another story that caught my eye was the Ollie Perez story where he once again has refused to go down to the Minor Leagues to correct his issues. I really am disgusted with this guy. He is proving time and time again to not be a team player. It's like dealing with a 5-year-old who refuses to do their chores and throws a temper tantrum. Mets should cut this guy loose. He is not a professional.

I was at this game and sat right behind home plate in the Upper Deck. As for the game itself Santana started and gave an unusually non-solid performance. Scrappy David Eckstein lead the Padres to a 4-2 victory that day.

This game will be remembered most though for all the antics of Lady Gaga who was in attendance that day. Funny thing is though being in the Upper Deck I wasn't aware of all the antics she apparently created until I read a report on line the next day. No one else around me seemed to talk about it either. I don't know; can the media just make these things more than they are?

Relocated to Maryland in May, made a day trip into Baltimore on a very hot sunny Saturday.

The stands in Camden Yards, not to mention the Inner Harbor before game time, were half filled with Mets fans. Everybody was really laid back, no hostilities or crazy behavior....unlike when the Yanks are in town.

As for the night game, a great pitching job by Takahashi. Reyes and Francouer homered (Jeff's barely made it over the wall), and aside from K-Rod's dramatics, an enjoyable win.

A loss for the Mets that tied the subway series at 3 a piece, was anything but exciting. Big Pelf has pitched poorly in his last two starts, but you can't bash him for that, he's been an all-star the for the whole first half. In my opinion he should join David, Johan, and Barajas in the annual summer game, but if not, that's fine, they'll need the rest. The game concluded a nine game road trip in which the Mets finished 7-2. Things are looking up as Maine and Beltran look to return and add more depth to both the offense and defense. It's looking like we may have some exciting summer baseball to look forward to, unlike last year. Oh, and the Phillies are 5.5 out, but I'm not ruling them out, just saying. The Braves have won 5 in a row, and are up by 2.5 now, but if Troy Glaus cools down, and Jason Bay heats up, I'm feeling a changing of the tables.

This game highlighted the skills of RA Dickey and Jose Reyes as Dickey pitched eight strong knuckley innings and Reyes fell a double short of the cycle on the way to a 5 to nothing victory over the Tigers.

I went to this game with my friend Jason. I had been living in NYC for two weeks and this was my first trip to Citibank Field as a denizen of New York. We were really excited to see the Mets hot new rookie, Ike Davis.

Let's take a quick trip back to 7 pm on the 23rd of June, 2010. When Jason and I met just outside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the Mets were a surprising 10 games over .500 and sniffing first place. Even though the 2010 squad seemed patched together with the tin man Jason Bay in left field and the scarecrow "Frenchy" Francoeur starting in right, along with "Send Me An Angel" Pagan manning center for good measure, this patched up Mets roster somehow started winning, helped along by their phenom at first base.

Ike was the first real hot prospect that seemed capable of delivering since David Wright in 2004. After Wright, all the Mets got from their draft picks was heartache for the most part; I'm referring to #1 picks Lasting Milledge and Mike Pelfrey in particular. Besides those two, I made a list of the Mets prospects who debuted from 2005 to 2009, and it also includes Mike Jacobs in '05, John Maine (not a homegrown Met but still a prospect) in 2006, Joe Smith in '07, and Daniel Murphy in '08.

Needless to say, by 2010, Jason and I (and all Mets fans) had been starved of bonafide prospects for going on six years. So when Ike Davis came up in April, he was like the second coming of John Olerud.

When I bought the tickets to this game, I couldn't wait to see him in person. There was a guy with a sign at this game that said I LIKE IKE and I nudged Jason and said, "I like Ike," and he said, "I like Ike." Everyone liked Ike in June 2010. It was almost like Woodstock at Citibank Field that night.

Jason and I sat along the right field line somewhere in the middle (I still have no idea how Citibank field is oriented) and talked about Ike Davis a lot. Besides watching him play first like two old scouts, we looked at his stats at the start of the game (57 games, 209 AB, 56 hits, 8 HRs, 29 RBI, and a .268 BA) and then tried to calculate what kind of streak Ike would need to go on to reach a .400 batting average. We actually tried to do the math in our heads (no smartphones in 2010, only flip phones) for about three innings while RA Dickey was tossing a gem right before our eyes.

By the 7th inning or so, Jason and I had stopped talking about Ike Davis and were talking about how good Dickey was pitching and how the Mets got him for nothing, and how he was going to be 6-0 for the year.

I was surprised that Jerry Manuel brought in a reliever (the guy we gave up Mike Trout for) to pitch the 9th, as it seemed Dickey had a shutout in the bag. He was dealing that night.

Ike went 2-4 in this game, so in order to reach .400, we decided he would have needed to get at least two hits in his next 100 games or so. I just did the math 12 years later, and at that clip, Ike would have ended 2010 with 265 hits and a .420 batting average.

After this win, the Mets were 41-30 and .5 games out of first. As it was, they never did reach first place (after May) in 2010, and after going 18-8 in June, they went 9-17 in July followed by two more losing months. Therefore, this game was basically the high point of the season.

The starting pitcher for the Tigers was Armando Gallaraga, the one who lost the perfect game in early June due to the blunderous call of SAFE from umpire Jim Joyce. Armando wasn't perfect this night but he did get the win and in 2011 he will be pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks. By the way, the D-Backs will be visiting Citi Field on Easter weekend (April 22-24,2011).

Second time that I've seen Santana pitch in person (first time was in Sept '08) and he looked like he was distracted from all of the negative press from the past week and got roundly booed; meanwhile the Mets so-called offense made Carl "American Idle" Pavano look like Bob Feller as he goes the distance!!! Prince Harry (Prince Charles and Princess Di's son) throws out the first pitch as a goodwill gesture during his visit to New York for his support of both American and British military. Not bad for a soccer/cricket person; he should've stayed on the mound instead of mediocre ol' #57. Btw, many Twins fans were there from Minnesota and unlike the arrogant, rude and foul mouthed Satan Worshipers who cheer the Bronx Bastards; they were polite and down to earth with their wonderful Minnesota accents!

First trip to Citi Field for my wife and I. Dingers from Frenchie, Ike, and Mr. Wright. Neat seven-hit shutout. What more could you ask for? The stadium is great - could use more blue and orange, though, to make it feel more like the Mets "home."

I was there with my family. R.A. pitched a gem and it was a great game until Rodriguez blew it in the 9th.

Just got one thing to say about Santana:

THAT WAS GANGSTA!!

Another great performance by Santana. He is starting to round into form for the 2nd half. Was not a great home stand for the Mets going 2- 4 against the Braves and Reds but they are firmly in 2nd place and 8 games over. Can't wait to see Beltran's return as it could be a huge lift for their offense. Would like to see Big Pelf get back on track. His last few starts have not been good. All in all I am proud of this team and the grit and fight they showed in the First half

Let's Go Mets and Win this Division!!

Very tough weekend for the Mets as their offense was non-existent. They needed this win very badly and thanks to Ike Davis they got it. Just continue to feel awful for Johan Santana. This guy must have the worst luck in baseball. The Mets never score runs for him and even when they take a lead into the 9th, the bullpen seems to blow the lead and cost him a win. Good thing for the Mets Santana is not a selfish player and all about personal stats, he just wants to win and I love that about him. As for K-Rod, the guy absolutely scares me every time he comes into a game. I am starting to believe that he is no longer an elite closer. He looks more like an average closer. The Mets may have to get another guy in to serve as an insurance policy in case K- Rod continues to blow games like this. Let's not forget that the Mets and K-Rod were handed a gift when Cuzzi blew the call at home in the 9th inning.

The Mets are in huge trouble. The Braves are running away with this division and the WildCard is slipping away as well. Don't know how the offense can be so great without Beltran and be so lethargic with him in the lineup. Makes no sense. I don't like calling players out, but Jason Bay is robbing the Mets right now. The guy has been terrible all year long and he has not earned any of the money the Mets are giving him. He is an untradeable player based on his salary and performance so the Mets are unfortunately stuck with him. He needs to get his act together because without some type of contribution from him the Mets are going nowhere.

Not ready to give up on this team yet but am getting close to that point

On a beautiful Friday night at Citi Field where Mike Pelfrey had a rough 1st inning, where David Wright hit two long home runs, where Raul Valdes looked like the Exxon Valdes, where two guys ran onto the field waving Mexican flags protesting the Arizona immigration law until the Keystone Cops aka Citi Field security caught up with them; those two were lucky that they didn't get destroyed by former Mets C John Stearns or former Baltimore Colts linebacker Mike Curtis. I got to sit in the Pepsi Porch (not bad seats) and had to endure a Mets "fan" who had bet on the D'Backs and every time the D'Backs scored, he went crazy until I moved to another part of the porch. If you want to bet on sports go to Vegas or to the horse racetrack not Citi Field. Then in the bottom of the 9th, Mr. Mike Torrez -- er I mean Aaron Heilman -- came in to get the save for the D'Backs and I made 100% sure that I constantly reminded him about 9th inning, game 7 of the 2006 NLCS where he served that dagger in the heart to every Mets fan aka the HR to Yadier "Bleeping" Molina.

I was at this crazy game. Sat in the Pepsi Porch, wound up sitting next to a Mets fan who told me that he had bet the D-Backs. In my opinion, that's a big bowl of WRONG!!!! David Wright hits 2 long dingers in the cavernous Citi, a couple of dudes run onto the field protesting Arizona's anti-immigration law as the security detail catches them (where's John Stearns and/or former Baltimore Colt LB Mike Curtis when you need 'em). Guess who comes into the game for the D-Backs in the bottom of the 9th? The "grandson" of Ralph Branca and the "son" of Mike Torrez: Aaron Heilman and the remaining crowd lets him have it as I constantly remind him he's the main reason why the Mets were in their living rooms instead of taking on the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series!!!!! In true ironic fashion, Heilman gets the save!!!!

In an earlier post (prior to the All Star Break) I wrote about how I was proud of this team for showing grit and fight. I am starting to think I spoke too soon. What we saw tonight, in a game that arguably was the biggest game of the year, was a team that lacks fundamentals and any idea of how to play the game right. It was outright embarrassing to watch them in the field. I don't know who is to blame but for the past 4 years we have been waiting for this team to show the promise that it showed back in 2006. That year was fun, watching Reyes and Wright break out and watching Beltran and Delgado lead the offense. It is so hard to explain what has happened to this franchise, but things have gone downhill since 2006. Better Luck Next Year because this season is pretty much over

What a BRUTAL loss! After Jon Niese pitches 7 strong innings, the bullpen (as always) gives the game away. Bases loaded and reliever Manny Acosta gives a early Christmas gift to ex-Met Melvin Mora for a deflating GRAND SALAMI. At that point, many of the Mets faithful leave Citi Field (As always, I stay until the conclusion) like rats deserting a sinking ship!! Then I get home and turn on SNY and I find out that K-Rod (who should have been in the game in the first place) suddenly decides to become Kimbo Slice and beats up his poor father-in-law. Anyhow, I'm yelling after the game that Rose Nylund aka Jerry Manuel needs to go; demote Minaya to peanut vendor; and that the Wilpons need to get the #$% out of the baseball business and sell the team to Mark Cuban or Donald Trump ASAP!!

My second game sitting in the amazing Delta Club section, 15 rows from the field next to the Phillies dugout. Dickey was equally amazing - the only hit he gave up was a bloop single to Cole Hamels.

The score should have been 2-0, but the umps screwed up the call on their video replay review of Mike Hessman's homer. I'd never seen a review take that long - at least 6-7 minutes - and I'd never seen what resulted - a ground rule triple!

My wife and I took an impromptu long weekend because we were both working ludicrous 60+ hour weeks at our jobs at the time and had done bupkis for the summer except slave away. To get away from it all for a while, and get a sliver of fun in before the summer ran out, we drove out to Pittsburgh to see their sweet ballpark. It's a great little city with many good places to eat and drink, for cheap too. A highly recommended trip.

Aside from Pelfrey's above average (for him) pitching performance, and Chris Carter's homer, I don't really remember that much about this game. The Mets and Pirates were both so far out of it, it's a wonder this game, and series, was even scheduled this late in the season by the MLB powers that be. My emotional attachment to this particular game was zilch.

I joined my fellow members of the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association for our annual visit to Citi Field, and we had the Modell's Clubhouse next to the bullpen. It's quite a unique experience - sitting on the bench behind the chain link fence, you can reach down and touch the warning track.

My first ever game at Citi Field. Things went well until Derrick Lee's grand slam :( I attended with several of my friends from high school. Good times.

What a day!!!! First the sun was obscured by rain threatening clouds, then the trip on the 7 train took forever due to track work, then in fitting fashion, the Mets offense takes the day off (AGAIN). Normally, the last game of the regular season for the most part is a 2 hour plus and then head home for the winter but the Amazins played 14 innings until Oliver Perez walks in the winning run. Typical Ollie!!! Me, my friend Kathy, her son Adam and Kathy's friend Rosemary stayed the entire game like true diehards!!! But the sad part was the Mets DIDN'T even have any giveaways except during the game when lucky fans (NOT US) won some nice prizes!!!! How rude of the Mets to do that, if Mark Cuban was running the team (I WISH THAT HE WAS) there would've been a nice giveaway for all 30,000 + that suffered through another lost season but the diehards like me will be rewarded when the Mets return to the post-season (and believe me, IT WILL HAPPEN!!!!)