The Mets Are Perfect

3B coach Tim Teufel giving CF Collin Cowgill some post grandslam hide 

The Mets have a perfect record, as does pitcher Jon Niese—not just in wins, but his batting average as well. Daniel Murphy, Marlon Byrd, and current phenom Collin Cowgill, who hit a grand salami yesterday, are batting .400. One game has been played and much has changed. And yet a lot hasn't: David Wright is still the team spokesman, albeit now in an official capacity as the designated captain, a role he's actually been playing since the minute he landed in Queens. Ike Davis is hitting .000. Johan Santana's on the DL, and RA Dickey's dispensing bon mots and philosophy, only in Toronto, and we are left to ponder whether, respectively, a no-hitter and a Cy Young Award were worth the consequences.

Back to what's here, now... After the team trounced the Padres 11—2 in yesterday's Citifield opener, Wright set expectations for the season. In a word: scrappy. That evokes names like Dykstra, Backman, Mex. All good, as long as we're only talking about the baseball diamond. Solid infield as long as they're healthy; spotty outfield; unknown but promising young starting lineup led by what amounts to marquee pitcher Niese. Anything better than mediocre will surpass expectations.

Media notes: 

Cover illustration by Mark Ulriksen

• The New Yorker's cover this week shows key Yankees in geriatric mode. 
• Even The New York Times, which on purpose or not seems to favor the Yankees in daily coverage by placing them on top or ahead of the Mets, gave a nod to the Mets today by running their coverage in color, and the Yanks' in black & white. The photos of the Yankees were even embarrassing: a Red Sox (Sock?) scoring, and CC Sabathia attempting to field a play. When you're a Mets fan, you take nothing for granted.  
• Bobby Valentine is now in the booth doing the postgame shows on SNY. Yay or nay?

And you know you want one: a new Mets cap for 2013.

LGM!