Groundhog Day pretty well sums up what it’s been like being a Mets fan since the Madoff scandal a/k/a the Wilponzi Scandal. It was nothing but a series of cost-cutting measures and insulting fans intelligence telling them they would spend if fans came to the park to watch what was a pretty terrible product. 

Sandy Alderson was running around like Ned Ryerson . . . BING! . . . telling us about the D.J. Carrascos and Shaun Marcums of the baseball world inviting us to come down to Citi Field.  Mets fans ran away tripping into a puddle while everyone seemed to laugh at us. We went about every offseason saying, “Well, the Mets won’t spend money . . . Again.”

Seriously, nothing could go right. Even when something good happened, like Matt Harvey‘s 2013 season, we closed our eyes and *poof* it was all over. The next season rolled around with no Harvey. No hope. Just the same old song with the same old stinging cold shower trying to wash the pain away of another lost season. 

BING!  We’re all wet and embarrassed again. We took off from Citi Field being told, “Don’t drive angry. Don’t drive angry!”

Yet, everyday things got better. The Mets made shrewd trades for the future. In 2015, they made in-season trades to improve the team. Jacob deGrom won the Rookie of the Year. Harvey was coming back from Tommy John Surgery. Noah Syndergaard fulfilled his promise. The Mets actually made in-season trades to get better. Like Phil Connors wielding a chainsaw, things were taking shape. 

After the Mets lost the World Series, it seemed like the Mets fans were going to go to sleep and all the good will gone the way of Alejandro De Aza. Then Jeff Wilpon crawled out of his hole with enough money to re-sign Yoenis Cespedes. 

It’s a new day for the Mets. They’re going to go and give it their all to win the World Series. It’s a new feeling in the – BING! – Sandy Alderson Era. Why it’s almost like being in love.