Just a perfect day. You made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else. Someone good.
Lou Reed wasn't thinking about Mets Opening Day when he wrote those lyrics, at least we don't think he was unless he's got one spectacularly prescient crystal ball, which makes how well they fit all the eerier. For three hours on Monday, there was no thought about last season and no thought about unrealized offseason dreams. It was just a perfect day in every respect.
Now comes day two and the return of those familiar nagging doubts about this team's fitness for the long haul. No one was worried about Johan Santana's ability to spin gems from his left arm and, frankly, the Mets are supposed to win every time he's on the mound.
It's the other 127 or so games that are the real reason for concern.
The first of those comes on Wednesday night when John Maine takes the hill against the Marlins. And then it's Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez and Jon Niese and just like that here comes the fear again.
No one really knows what to expect from the non-Santana portion of the rotation and that's pretty terrifying since that quartet will be starting a lot more often than Johan. If they pitch well and win, especially in this early part of the season before Carlos Beltran is back with the team, confidence will grow and it will be a very different feeling around Citi Field.
If they don't, though, those glorious feelings of the last two days will feel like distant memories long before we reach Memorial Day. That's why Wednesday night's game is almost the true opener because it's when we'll start finding out what the 2010 Mets will really have in store for us this summer.
In other Lou Reed words, it's time to take a walk on the wild side.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
