1. Is this a positive harbinger? On the same day, April 8, that the Mets celebrate their final home opener at Shea with a certain new ace on the roster, Madison Square Garden will be the latest stop on the nationwide tour by â drum roll please — Santana.
2. It is the first day of spring and what you see from here until the end of the exhibition season matters a whole lot more than what you have seen up until now. Players are now finding a gear to be ready for Opening Day. With that said, just about every established member of the Met bullpen continues to work brilliantly. Perhaps, most interesting, is Scott Schoeneweis, who went 1-2-3 on Friday to lower his spring ERA to 1.00. It is possible with lefty relief in such short supply that the Mets might actually be able to deal Schoeneweis somewhere to add that righty supplemental bat or keep him around as a southpaw tag-team partner with Pedro Feliciano.
3. It is obviously no surprise that the Yanks officially named Chien-Ming Wang the Opening Day starter. What is interesting â at least to me â is that it is a reminder that Carl Pavano actually started on Opening Day for the Yanks last year. It is like remembering that Paris Hilton filled in for Santa Claus a year ago.