The last two seasons have begun with a tremendous sense of hope for the New York Metropolitans.  The last two seasons have ended with a sense of utter despair for the team, and more acutely, the fanbase.   Changes to the equation that had failed us the last two seasons were needed and made.  Whether the new equation, consisting of a new ballpark that couldn’t have come at a better time and, more importantly, a revamped bullpen with a dominating closer at the back end, will serve to erase the failures of the last two years is yet to be seen.  On this day in rainy Cincinnati, the second part of the new equation held up their end of the bargain.  May it always be thus.

Johan Santana is possibly the only Met who could be held blameless for last season’s disaster.  Ace in both name and performance right from the start of the season all the way through his maginificent effort in the next to last game, Santana was everything we had hoped for and wanted.  He won his last nine decisions and had not lost a decision in his last seventeen starts.  In 2009, Johan picked up right where he had left off, tossing 5 2/3 innings of 3 hit, 1 run ball.  He appeared to struggle with his command at the start but was masterful as the game continued.  He left with two outs in the 6th inning staked to a 2-1 lead courtesy of Daniel Murphy.

Murphy burst on to the scene last year thanks to corner outfielders who could not stay healthy.  Murphy stayed on the scene thanks to a keen batter’s eye and a plate presence beyond his years.  Both of those qualities were on display as he worked the count, waited for a pitch he could handle, and then deposited it into the right field stands for a solo home run.  He would later drive in the second Met run on a groundout.  Perhaps just as importantly, the converted infielder turned left fielder looked reasonably comfortable defensively.  He certainly looked better in the field than his counterpart on the Reds, Jerry Hairston Jr., also a converted infielder.

All of Murphy’s efforts would have been for naught had the new Mets bullpen mirrored the much maligned bullpens of the last two years in performance.  Enter Sean Green in the 6th inning with the tying run on and two outs in a 2-1 game.  Exit Sean Green after 7th inning with the same score.  Enter J.J. Putz, closer turned 8th inning stopper.  Exit J.J. Putz after the 8th inning with the score still at 2-1 in favor of the Mets.

Finally, enter Francisco Rodriguez, he of the record breaking 62 save season, in the ninth inning.  It is quite possible that no single save Frankie made last year was as important as the one he went for today.  Lest you think I am giving in to a fit of hyperbole, flashback to Opening Day 2005 in this same ballpark and consider what blowing Pedro Martinez’s first start as a Met did to Braden Looper’s relationship with the Met fanbase.  Consider for a moment how blowing the second game of the 2006 season tainted Mets fans’ perceptions of Billy Wagner, even with some of the dominating stretches that would follow in his abbreviated Mets career.  This is a franchise whose fanbase has long had a love/HATE relationship with its closers.  We fans desperately want the emphasis in that equation to change.  For one day at least, the balance did shift.  Rodriguez set the Reds down in order.  Game One for the new Mets bullpen would have a final boxscore of 3 1/3 innings pitched, 0 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, and most importantly, no drama beyond what is innate to a one run lead.

I could get used to this.

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