Even though the baseball season has been underway for a week, it officially begins today in Flushing as the Mets make their home debut against the Philadelphia Phillies.

September 30th was the last time the Mets played a game at Shea and visions of Tom Glavine walking toward the dugout midway through the first with the Mets in a 7-0 hole are still fresh in the mind of the Mets fan. The Mets wound up losing that game 8-1, while 90 miles south in Philadelphia, Brett Myers threw his glove high in the air as the Phillies were celebrating their first NL Championship since 1993.

Some might say revenge is on the mind of the Mets, and they have every reason to feel that way.

The Mets struggled against the Phillies last season going 6-12 capped by a Phillies eight game winning streak against the Amazin’s.  But this is a different year and the past is the past.

Or is it…

Some “experts” might blow this series off, and say because it’s in the second week of April it really doesn’t mean much, but I disagree. Although it won’t really matter much in the standings, a poor showing against the Phillies could very well hurt the psyche of the Mets, especially after getting swept in Atlanta, where the bullpen struggled (Kelly Johnson’s pinch hit grand slam of Jorge Sosa was VERY reminiscent of a similar one Greg Dobbs hit last September).

Here are the pitching matchups:

Tuesday:      Jamie Moyer (0-0, 7.36) v. Oliver Perez (1-0, 0.00)
Wednesday: Kyle Kendrick (1-0, 7.20) v. Mike Pelfrey (making season debut)
Thursday:    Adam Eaton (0-0, 3.52) v. John Maine (0-1, 9.00)

The Phillies are coming into this series with a 3-4 record. They have yet to find their groove and scream inconsistency. Leading the offense is Mets killer, Pat Burrell. Burrell leads the Phillies in average (.435), home runs (3), and RBI’s (9). A hot Burrell is something the Mets never like to see, as he has a history of feeding off Mets pitching (134 career games, 42 HR’s, 102 RBI’s).

While the Phillies have struggled so have the Mets. They are finding ways to get on base, with Ryan Church (.381), and Carlos Beltran (.368) leading the way, but have only hit 2 home runs as a team over four games. Like some Phillies, Jose Reyes has yet to get it going (.238). You know he will, but him getting on base is what sets the table for the Mets.

We can compare stats all day, but it’s moot. Regardless of how each team is doing, both of these clubs have a recent history of stepping up and going to war when facing each other. For a baseball fan, it’ll be a great series to watch.

First pitch is today at 1:10 pm.