It's time for...

Mets vs. Phillies! I love a good baseball rivalry and this weekend, we're finally going to get Mets/Phillies baseball like it was meant to be played. I've said before that I don't hate the Phillies nearly as much as I still hate the Braves - even though they've been irrelevant recently - but that doesn't mean I don't want to go for the jugular here. I believe that this series is much more important for the Mets than the Phillies. Sure, the Phils have some bullpen problems (ok, maybe a lot of bullpen problems..) but they're the defending NL champs until someone dethrones them. It also seems like they make the right moves when necessary, so I have no doubt that they will magically find some relief pitchers to help them out and all will be right in the City of Brotherly Love. Again. ugh.

The Mets, on the other hand, have some convincing to do. I know, I know - we just finished a 10 game home stand at 9-1. I like Ike, and so does everyone else. Jose Reyes is being Jose Reyes. David Wright and Jason Bay finally remembered how to hit a baseball. The starting and relief pitching has been absolutely incredible, with John Maine and Oliver Perez being the exceptions. (That's right - unlike the rest of New York, I'm not letting John Maine off the hook because he had one solid start where 30 MPH winds aided the natural movement on his 87-MPH fastball).

But here's the thing about being a Mets fan: we're still not convinced. Believe me, I wish I wasn't conditioned to wait for the other shoe to drop. It's stressful to constantly wait for bad news. The term I've seen being used the most on Mets blogs is "cautiously optimistic" - as in, we love what is happening right now.... but we know all too well how tenuous this success can be. Realistically, the Mets can take two out of three this weekend:

Friday - LHP Jon Niese (0-1, 3.68) vs. RHP Kyle Kendrick (0-0, 7.71)
Saturday - RHP Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 0.69) vs. RHP Roy Halladay (4-1, 1.80)
Sunday - LHP Johan Santana (3-1, 2.08) vs. LHP Jaime Moyer (2-2, 5.25)

I'd like to think we can beat Kendrick - Jon Niese has pitched fairly well so far this year, but he is also still developing as a pitcher so there are bound to be some bumps in the road and Kendrick has not been on form. As phenomenal as Mike Pelfrey has been, the edge goes to the Phillies in game 2. We can also beat Jaime Moyer as long as we don't beat ourselves (translation: Santana needs run support). All in all, I'm excited for this weekend. Baseball hasn't had this much meaning for Mets fans in nearly a year and I'm enjoying every second of it.