Today is February 2, also known as Groundhog Day, the day made famous by Punxsutawney Phil and Bill Murray. For Mets fans who remember a time when their beloved team was still competitive, February 2 is significant for another reason.It was on this day only two short years ago that Johan Santana was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Mets for Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kelvin Mulvey, Deolis Guerra, two turntables and a microphone.
Of course, at the end of his first season in New York, 'Han the Man was pitching with a torn meniscus in his left knee. He was also forced to miss the final six weeks of the 2009 season after having bone chips removed from his left elbow.
Last season, the Mets were not able to cancel their subscription to the Injury of The Week. Will the same thing happen again this year? After all, the aforementioned Bill Murray was forced to repeat the events of February 2 in the "Groundhog Day" movie. With Carlos Beltran already out for at least the first month of the 2010 season, it looks like history may indeed be repeating itself for the Mets.If the Mets do continue to succumb to injuries, it'll be up to the Wilpons to come up with the cash for less fragile players, better trainers and/or an exorcist for Citi Field. Punxsutawney Phil might have seen his shadow today, giving us six more weeks of winter, but Flushing Freddy can't do the same.
Mets fans cannot be subjected to six months of baseball winter at Citi Field. Otherwise, another Bill Murray movie might become more appropriate to describe what Citi Field will be like.For the astute Studious Metsimus readers who know which movie I'm referring to, you might recall that our beloved Mr. Murray suffered an injury of his own near the end of his cameo appearance in that film.
Let's Go Mets. Just don't hurt yourselves while doing it.
Shameless plug: Go buy Zombieland, out on DVD today. You'll be glad you did!
