The Prayer Of The Shea Faithful

Divine Judge of the Realm of Strikes,

We Mets fans appeal to you on the eve of the Subway Series with a humbler mindset than years past. With no pre-conceived notions of entitlement to glory, no reliance of individual revitalization to put the wrong things right, nor even the lowered expectation of keeping up appearances in a tumultuous time, our beloved Mets arrive at this weekend's Subway Series on a wave of goodwill and at the cusp of baseball mediocrity while the Bronx barbarians known as the Yankees exude signs of dysfunction and aging.

The Shea Faithful cannot recall the last instance of entering a Subway Series with the peace of mind culminating from our team's place in the world. And while we offer a sign of our gratitude for the team's recent good fortune, we recognize that the battle ahead is long and far from won.

So we again ask your grace in these waning hours preceding the 2011 edition of the Subway Series.

Please bless tonight's starter, R.A. Dickey, with the patience and discipline to throw his signature knuckleball with great consistency. Dickey has struggled to muster much success this season after wooing the Shea Faithful with his pitch's delicious dance in 2010. Please know that the Evil Empire embraced by the quiet Tennessean is not the same Evil Empire the Mets look to vanquish this weekend, though the redemption sought by Dickey can come about by rupturing the Death Star that consumed the South Bronx.

Reinforce the right knee of Carlos Beltran and the back of Jose Reyes so that our much-maligned stars can continue to silence naysayers with actions instead of derisive memes. Permit Beltran to continue his torrid pace and allow him to leave an indelible mark on his contributions by leading the charge on the Bronx ballpark. Give Reyes so momentous a performance that the Shea Faithful can dissuade fears of the departure of our spark plug.

Watch over the young souls like Jason Pridie, Daniel Murphy, Fernando Martinez and others who will be asked to step in for those who can't join the Mets this weekend. The success of these promising prospects continues to contribute to the Shea Faithful's humble, forward-looking attitude. And that success starts with a reminder for our young guns to use two hands on all fly balls.

Finally, help dissuade the paranoia that creeps into the psyche of Mets fans by reminding us what it once meant to be Shea Faithful. It meant a world without blaming the victims for Madoff, a team without overseers doubling-down on bad bets, and a fan base that can aspire to move forward instead of waiting to regress. The Mets can reward us by exiting the Bronx above .500, which hasn't looked likely to any of us at any point since the arrival of Sandy Alderson. We're going to second guess every decision Terry Collins makes regardless of this weekend's outcome, but we even want to root for him despite his curious bunting habits.

We want to believe. We just enjoy it a bit more when it comes at the expense of the insufferable Yankees and their fans.

We ask this in the name of Tom Seaver. Amen.