2014: Is Anticipation For Spring Training Higher Than Usual?

Maybe the long tunnel of snow the Northeast has been living with this year has unusually whetted the appetite of its baseball fans. Every day, there’s a countdown number, correlated to a uniform digit. On various websites yesterday, we saw a plethora of Ron Darling and John Stearns jerseys, telling us there were a mere twelve days until pitchers and catchers report. The Pastoral Season of Spring Training – the romanticized throwback time of green grass, wood bats and freshly oiled leather – is, indeed, merely days away. Once March ends, of course, the Pastoral gives way to the Urban: the big cities reclaim their squads and teams play “for keeps.” But first, the training season has to reveal its own surprises, pleasures and disappointments.

For fans of the Mets, there seems to be more giddiness at the prospect of seeing Lucas Duda stretching and Dillon Gee simulating a scoop-throw to first than ever. We want the summer to come quickly, despite what that pesky Ground Hog had to say. We want to get on with the business of applauding Zack Wheeler as he tries to step into Matt Harvey’s considerable shoes. We want to hustle the days along to push Noah Syndergaard past his Super Two status and see what he really has in the arsenal. We want to know who the regular first baseman is. We want to see what a camp free of Jordany Valdespin and his antics is like. We want to hear Terry Collins dash our hopes and hand the starting shortstop job to Ruben Tejada, rather than Wilmer Flores. We want to see who really is “in the best shape of his life” — secretly knowing that it probably won’t be Bartolo Colon. We want to get a look at Curtis Granderson in Mets mufti and see what we really have in Chris Young. Bring it on. Your intrepid columnist is tired of parking lot mini-Matterhorns, tired of white crunch where there should be green grass.

It’s Tim Teufel days until Spring Training.

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