Spring Training is about hope.  Its that time of year where you see all the pieces of your team put together for the first time and wonder what if.  I know its a cliche, but its true.  It like the first date with someone you just met, but who made your stomach jump in the first meeting.  You know from experience it might not work out the way you hope, that stomach has led you astray before, but yet you can’t help and think “what if…”

And we have seen stranger things happen, right?  We have seen teams like the Rockies and the Rays head to the World Series when back in March, we never would have thought that would happen.  If everything breaks just right, if our team stays healthy and that one does not. If each of these pieces turns out to be as good, or better, than promised- at least for awhile, well maybe….

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are the days where are hope becomes manifest.  Players are cut, and final starters are named.  Kevin Millar is released while Chad Tracy is kept.  The Twins will keep Francisco Liriano, the Orioles will use David Hernandez as their fifth starter.  The Marlins traded for the Tigers Nate Robertson.

These are the days of anticipation, the days where are hope can be described.  It almost has 25 guys.  And it may not look like much, but there might be more there than we thought.  And then there is the reality.  Mike Francessa, a New York talk radio guy, spoke yesterday with a fan who couldn’t understand any Mets fan’s loyalty these days.  Said Francessa, “Sometimes we fall in love with women that are bad for us, we can’t help it, we love them.  We stay because we hope that this will be the time they don’t let us down.- Fans of the Mets, and the Orioles and a few others sit today and think about those Rays and Rockies and wonder if this could be them this year.  Maybe this year….