ESPN picked WHO?

Or is it whom? Fuck grammar.

Apparently, just about everyone over at the world wide leader picked the Braves to win the NL East. Not the Mets, not the Phillies, the fucking Braves. I feel like we've traveled down that path, and it leads to an early round flame out in the playoffs in front of a stadium half full of apathetic fans. Do we REALLY need to revisit all of that? Why not have dynamic, exciting players who have a chance to succeed in October? Or at least fail spectacularly.

Anyway, the front end of the Atlanta rotation is old and an injury risk. For that matter, most of the back end of the rotation is as well. They have an embarrassment of wealth in the bullpen, but middle relievers especially, with very few exceptions, tend to see their performance fluctuate drastically from season to season. Their offense, led by catcher Brian McCann, first baseman Mark Teixeira, and third baseman Chipper Jones (Fuck you Larry!) will be tremendous, but as always health in the starting rotation will be key for their success.

In more important news, Johan Santana makes his debut this afternoon in Florida, as the Mets kick off their season against the Marlins. Perhaps I'm asking for too much, but is a perfect game with 27 strikeouts an unreasonable request?