Opening Day!

Hard to believe but Opening Day is finally here - the Mets will take on the Florida Marlins today at 4:30 p.m., and Johan Santana will be on the mound in his Mets debut. Sure, he's been with the team throughout spring training, but now it's for real, and seeing him on the hill in a regular-season game will be amazing.

Here's hoping the Mets put a hurting on Florida and get the season off on the right foot. No Tom Glavine around to give up eight runs in the first inning.

Here's the starting lineup:
Jose Reyes, ss
Luis Castillo, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Carlos Beltran, cf
Carlos Delgado, 1b
Angel Pagan, lf
Ryan Church, rf
Brian Schneider, c
Johan Santana, p

So the switch-hitting Pagan will bat in between Delgado and Church to break up the lefty brigade against the Marlins' lefty starter Mark Hendrickson.

The Mets finalized their roster, not surprisingly, by putting El Duque and Duaner Sanchez on the DL. Both will likely be back, unless Mike Pelfrey and Joe Smith pitch lights-out and force the team to make a tough call. It isn't likely with Pelfrey, who should spend the season in AAA trying to figure out how to pitch after a brutal spring.

A little surprising to see Brady Clark make the cut, but he's the last guy on a pretty experienced bench, so not that big a deal.

An interesting post on Metsblog.com, referring to a Jayson Stark interview where he claimed to have overheard someone on the Phillies assuring that at some point this season, there will be a brawl between the Mets and Phillies. Check it out here, particularly Pedro's reaction. I say - bring it ON!

More Jayson Stark -- even though he picked the Braves to win the World Series -- can be found here with a terrific story about the Mets' former spring training home, Al Lang field. Outstanding story and a real must-read. It's a shame that baseball is leaving that truly historic site.