Turn the Page !

What’s next? So Arod was doing stuff way before he said he was. So Sean Green isn’t Superman as a reliever. So JJ Putz isn’t Batman. So the Yanks will keep Joba in his starting role. So Jerry Manuel won’t bunt when he’s supposed to, so Wright can strike out at the worst possible times.

I don’t think I can overreact anymore. You just have to tell yourself there’s a lot of stupidity out there, and real heroes are as rare as hair on a cueball, especially in New York.

Jerry Manuel is really getting me down these days. Too much thinking. Way too much thinking. Especially when everything he does turns out wrong. As many things as he did right last year, he’s almost made up for it this year.

Whether he plays his feelings or the percentages, it just comes out wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Snakebit had no meaning until Jerry. Here’s a guy who just has too many options. He’s always playing the wrong card.

But here’s the good news. Things have got to get better. A person can’t be wrong all the time, although Willy came close last year. At least Manuel has a sense of humor and reasons for his actions. He’s open and honest and all those things one likes in a person, if not necessarily in a manager.

So I’m just going to wait all this bad stuff out. After all, Beltran’s starting to slide again, Tatis just hit a dinger, Delgado should get well again, Wright can’t look like a buffoon for months at a time, can he?

Things will settle down. Murphy looked great the other day on that sliding, whirling, hurling double play. And yes, he slipped again but geez, that could happen to anybody every other day.

I can’t really complain. Everything the Mets have done over the last year had been ok by me. Getting rid of Randolph, getting relief pitching, not dumping Castillo, not getting the big bat, keeping Oliver Perez. I was happy with all of that.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess. That’s all you can say. Eventually things will right themselves. Eventually they’ll stop leaving all those men on base. That’s been the real killer so far. That, and some very bad starting pitching. Oh, and then the relief pitching went south too. But who’s worried?

Maybe I should just stop paying attention for a while. It’s not as if baseball is the only sport around. Heck, the Kentucky Derby is Saturday, the NBA playoffs are going strong, the NHL playoffs are as exciting as ever, even if we have to watch with no New York/New Jersey representation.

The Jets took the football world by storm, moving up to grab Sanchez. The Giants picked themselves up a nice receiver to replace Burress, and then when they realized they still hadn’t really done that, they picked another guy who actually looks and plays a lot like Plaxico. And, just for consistency, they got themselves another pass-rusher.

Surely, with all this other stuff going on, I could afford to give the Mets a break. You’d have to agree that they’re an entertaining team to watch. And it’s beginning to look like this new CitiField should suit them just fine. I could live with lots of triples and fewer home runs. The Mets have the speed for it, and a bunch of flyball pitchers too.

And, as this is written, it’s still April. Everybody and everything in baseball gets a break in April, the slumping batters, the lousy pitchers, dumb managers, sloppy fielders, runners who don’t hit the dirt when they’re supposed to….excepting only steroids users and ticket pricers, especially if they work for the Evil Empire, now more than ever showing their true colors, mostly the colors of money.

There are still about 140 games to play, a whole heckuva lot of games. I’m literally going to turn the page, the April page on my Mets calendar that features an 8 by 11 photo of David Wright. I can’t stand to look at it anymore, thank goodness for May. May features Jose, and I can imagine him banging out another triple.

The Mets just need to turn the page too. Forget April. Forget all those lost opportunities. Forget Shea. Forget the bad pitching. Forget the record and the standings. Just look ahead. It should be easy.

There have been so many good things. Santana’s phenomenal pitching, the bats banging out lots of base hits, the good relief pitching, the seasoned manager who’s seen a little bit of everything. It’ll turn around.

The law of averages demands it.