BATTER UP

There are several reasons for Mets fans to have hope this year. After a disastrous beginning last season, Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (aka Dice-K) seems to have changed his mechanics. In his final four starts, he gave up only four earned runs and the Mets won all four games. Bartolo Colon may be 40, but he had a 2.65 ERA last year. Jon Niese has had two MRIs come up negative, Dillon Gee is back, Zack Wheeler was 8-8 last year, (not bad for his first year in the bigs), and Noah Syndergaard may be the third coming of Wheeler and Matt Harvey, who is talking about coming back after Tommy John surgery (unlikely, but good for team morale). At-bat, having Curtis Granderson adds much-needed power, and batting behind David Wright is a good thing. The Mets finished third in the NL East last year behind the Nationals, so this may shape up to be a good rivalry.

Sat., March 29, 1 p.m., 2014