There haven't been too many swings as cathartic as the one David Wright took in the bottom of the first inning of Monday's opener against the Marlins. The ball flew out over the right field wall, the crowd exhaled and exploded all at once and Wright remembered the way around the bases despite his well publicized issues with hitting home runs in 2009.
Just like that everyone forgot about the players who were missing from the lineup and agreed that it was a new year -- the sun is shining bright and all things are possible. Everything that could go right did go right for the Mets on Monday and they got a 7-1 victory to start their season as a result.
Johan Santana was strong through six innings, danced out of trouble more than once and got some extra rest thanks to the offense. History says he shouldn't get used to too much run support, but maybe that's changing thanks to the newcomers in orange and blue. Jason Bay tripled to start a four-run rally in the sixth inning, Rod Barajas notched a pair of hits and Gary Matthews had a pair of hits.
The Marlins did their share by playing defense like a team schooled on the Mets' 2009 highlight DVD, but the Mets did more than enough to set themselves up for a victory. They played well in all phases of the game and provided a little bit of optimism to those who are still finding it hard to buy into the 2010 edition.
If you need any more evidence that the baseball gods were smiling down on Opening Day, Jeff Francoeur even drew a walk. If that can happen, is there any reason to believe that other miracles aren't in the offing?
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.
