Tomorrow will come soon enough.
Today is Opening Day, and even the Mets — and especially their fans — should be able to have this sports holiday in a way it is being experienced in say Boston and Philadelphia and The Bronx.
One pure day of joy — before the likely inevitable.
Sure, that is difficult in the Mets’ world when even the season opener is cloaked by Madoff; when even on the first day of the schedule the regular lineup cannot get on the field due to the disabling injury to Jason Bay; when even the guy who is being paid to start this game (Johan Santana) is still in St. Lucie tying to rehab from shoulder surgery.
But let’s put all that off until tomorrow — with Carlos Beltran’s knees, Jose Reyes’ contract status and the lurking problems caused by Francisco Rodriguez’s vesting option. Today is about the possibilities, slim as they might be, that so much more goes right than wrong. That somehow this is the first day of a season to remember — and not for bumbling on and off the field. That a franchise that apparently has run afoul of the baseball gods is due for a run of good fortune.
IMPROVEMENT IS METS’ PRIMARY GOAL
KEVIN KERNAN : WRIGHT EMBRACES LEADERSHIP ROLE
REYES STAYING FOCUSED ON PRESENT
So Ike Davis graduates from 19 to 30 homers, which definitely is within his reach since every fence is within his power. Brad Emaus is no long-term answer at second, but in the short term he is not a disaster on defense while providing a .350-plus on-base percentage on offense with a touch of extra-base heft.
The carrot of free agency motivates Jose Reyes to 2006-08 performance, which makes him one of the most entertaining players in the sport and a run-scoring force. David Wright hits 30 homers, drives in 100 and does not again morph into the spokesman for the inexplicable late in another heartrending season.
Bay distances himself from the shackles of post-concussion syndrome, a ribcage injury and the mind-warping impact of the far fences at Citi Field to join Davis and Wright in the first-ever Mets three-man class of 30-homer hitters. Angel Pagan makes an All-Star team. Carlos Beltran plays 120 games, enough to remind that there still are skills in his crumbling body. Josh Thole continues to treat each at-bat as a religious holy war, joining Mike Piazza, Todd Hundley and Paul LoDuca as 30-double Mets catchers.
No one is an ace like Santana, but no one is a rotation dud. The starters are competent and healthy, forming a quintet of No. 3 starters who constantly give the Mets a chance to win. Chris Capuano and Chris Young each make 25-plus starts and suddenly the Mets have something that looks like rotation depth behind R.A. Dickey’s knuckleballs, Jon Niese’s growth and Mike Pelfrey’s steadiness.
K-Rod is so good, and well-behaved, that teams want to trade for him despite the poison pill of his $17.5 million option if he finishes 55 games. Bobby Parnell’s slider slices up hitters in tandem with his heat, and suddenly he removes tags and looks like a closer of the present.
Jenrry Mejia comes for 10 late-season starts that leave Mets fans salivating for 2012. Lucas Duda finds a role as lefty muscle. Sandy Alderson’s acumen is praised as the bit pieces he obtained in the offseason — D.J. Carrasco, Scott Hairston, Ronny Paulino, Willie Harris — provide depth and professionalism. Despite their financial problems, the Wilpons permit the team to draft aggressively in June and make a trade or two in July.
There is meaningful baseball at Citi Field in August and September — a gift when such doubt existed on April 1.
But let this not be a day for Fools, but dreamers. Tomorrow is coming soon enough. Enjoy today, a baseball holiday even for the Mets and their fans.
joel.sherman@nypost.com