NL East

From Oren Yaniv (hat-tips to River Ave. Blues and BBTF):

Drafted No. 38 overall by the Mets in 2001, third baseman David Wright has seen his skill, and popularity, rise more and more each year in the organization.

Raised in Chesapeake, VA (20 minutes away from the old Mets' AAA-affiliate Norfolk Tides), Wright grew up a Mets fan and dreamed of playing for his favorite team one day.

Never in a million years did he imagine it would come true.

The son of a retired police chief, Wright was raised in a very disciplined household.

The Phillies have won two World Series titles since 1883. The Florida Marlins have won two titles since 1993. The Marlins are a pesky team for the Phillies.

Richard Simmons was last seen entering the Mets locker room in Port St. Lucie carrying a fairly worn copy of "Sweatin' to the Oldies." His target: Oliver Perez.

It seems our new multi-million dollar man needs to get in some better shape. The Daily News quoted Mets pitching coach, Dan Warthen, as saying "I think he's out of shape, the arm is out of shape..."

This is fantastic news. Not only did we send our second highest paid starting pitcher to the WBC, but he comes back out of shape because he wasn't working out while playing in the WBC.

According to MLB.com, Mets manager Jerry Manuel is leaning toward batting Daniel Murphy second in the Mets lineup to begin the 2009 season.

Earlier this winter, Manuel hinted shortstop Jose Reyes might bat third.  While every indication shows that he is returning to the top of the lineup, I was beginning to warm to the idea that Reyes could provide speed in the middle of the order with guys like Wright, Delgado, and Beltran right behind him.

If Reyes was going to bat third, I would welcome with open arms the possibility of Murphy batting second.

Most of the New York Mets off season predicated on fixing the leaky bullpen responsible for pulling the plug on their season in 2008. 

They went out signed K-Rod and traded for J.J Putz.  Bullpen—check.

After that, the Mets stabilized the middle of their rotation by signing Oliver Perez, after being spurned by Derek Lowe. 

Middle of the rotation—check.

Why, oh why, is Opening Night not a day game? I need your help.

I know the official reason is that the Padres don't want to fly cross-country to play a day game. Why do the Padres have to play the Mets the second week of the season? I never remember the schedule being like that.

Why couldn't Bud Selig use his powers of baseball to make the Padres play a day game? Why couldn't the Mets play Tuesday and risk the rain-out? It's not like they won't make us sit there for hours anyway. (See Yankees, Opening Day 2008.)

As we discussed yesterday, the Marlins finally got the OK to start constructing a new stadium in Miami. The stadium for the new Miami Marlins should be complete by 2012, which means that Marlins fans only have to suffer the horrid humidity and pouring rain of South Florida in a football stadium that has business acting as a baseball stadium. Rejoice!

And rejoice, they have. And not just the fans either, but the players have been rather vocal about their excitement for the new stadium.

Yes, the Mets will finally hold off the Phillies to win the NL East this year, I swear.

As the waning weeks of spring training come to a close, we are reminded of the troubles that Philadelphia Phillies have trying to fill openings in the starting rotation, and bullpen.

A lot of players' major league lives are on the line. A bad outing here, a blown game there, and the next thing you know your back to triple-A trying to figure out what exactly went wrong, and how to fix it.