Ah, yes, fellow Mets fans, another rollercoaster baseball season has begun.

Our team has already managed to get themselves into last place and then into first place and then back to last place within the first month and a half of the season.

And now, mid-May brings two of the Mets starting pitchers missing from the roster.

Guess we should be used to that.

Oliver Perez picked up where he left off last season, walking the ballpark.  And he’s in the second year of an unimaginable $36 million contract.  (Scott Boras is GOOOOD)  Now Ollie has been shipped off to the bullpen rather than going down to Triple A where he SHOULD go.  And Jonathan Niese who thus far has been pretty good has reinjured the hamstring that cut his season short last year

But don’t worry Mets fans.  We will now be treated to the 35 year old knuckleballer named R.A. Dickey as a starting pitcher.

And Japanese pitcher Hisanori Takahashi who has never started a game here in the States but has been an effective arm in the Mets bullpen this year is now also a starting pitcher.

Jose Reyes, who many consider the key to this team, is back on the field as our starting shortstop but has yet to get his bat in gear.

New acquisition and alleged “big bat” Jason Bay can’t get a hit with guys on base.

Right fielder and dreamy guy Jeff Francoeur got off to a blazing start but has since gone cold and was actually benched the other night.

(note: my first Citifield purchase of the 2010 season if you don’t count a beer and a pulled pork sandwich from Blue Smoke was a Francoeur tee shirt).

David Wright is swinging at some pretty awful pitches although at this writing he has 8 homeruns equaling the total number of homeruns he hit for the entire 2009 season.

Some guy named Carlos Beltran is supposed to show up at some point before October to play centerfield.  Can’t wait to meet him.

On the upside, the Mets have two pretty good hitting catchers in Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco.

And 22 year -old rookie first baseman Ike Davis has been a ray of sunshine…he can hit AND he can play first base!

At the end of April the Mets won, I think, 10 out of 11 games on a long home stand that propelled them from worst to first in the NL East.  For a week or two sports reporters applauded the Mets and their remarkable turn around.

But then they went back on the road and started losing again.

Perhaps the Wilpons can arrange to put large photos of Citifield around whatever ballpark the Mets are playing in.  Or paint a view of the field of Ciifield on the inside of the Mets players’ sunglasses.  If they think they’re home maybe they will play like they are.

And now the talk of when manager Jerry (umm, ahhh, umm) Manuel will be fired and/or when general manager Omar Minaya might meet the same fate has heated up again.

I, for one, never wanted to see Bobby Valentine leave but I think the chances of the Wilpons bringing him back are about as slim as there ever being an honest politician.  For one thing, he’s too expensive.

For my May 9 birthday this year, we spent the day at Citifield (when I bought the aforementioned Francoeur shirt) hoping the Mets would sweep their series against the Giants.  They didn’t.  It was sunny but brutally windy at Citifield and we were bundled in multiple layers of clothing.

Our next Citifield adventure happens this Saturday night when we will watch the Mets play the Yankees.  There are two real pitchers pitching: Mike Pelfrey and Phil Hughes.  Maybe we’ll see a good game.

It’s gonna be a long season but I love it.

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