Ted, after all the time you devoted to the concept, to have the roster miraculously shake out the way it has, I am surprised to see that you haven’t gone back to the concept of the 7 Nation Army.

Plus, I am not sure if you noticed, but during Dan Warthen’s visit to the mound in the 4th inning the organist actually played 7 Nation army (I immediately thought of your post and remembered that Tejada actually did make the team), and still no mention?

– Joaquin, via email.

That is an excellent point, and my bad. The Mets currently have players from seven sovereignties: the U.S., Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Panama.

Until, presumably, Jose Reyes returns from the Disabled List and Ruben Tejada heads to the Minors, the Mets will battle as a 7 Nation Army. And if by some chance Cuban lefty Raul Valdes ends up with the big club, recently claimed Panamanian reliever Manny Acosta finds his way to Queens, or German-born Tobi Stoner winds up back with the Mets, they’ll again represent seven nations.

So here’s this. Sorry I didn’t bring it up sooner:

The 2010 Mets are undefeated. Alex Cora grittily took one for the team in the bottom of the first, then Luis Castillo avoided being doubled off at first base on a ground ball, then David Wright smacked a home run just inside the right-field foul pole to give the Mets a lead they would never relinquish in their 7-1 Opening Day win over the Marlins.

Johan Santana held the powerful Florida lineup to four hits and one run over six innings, striking out five. Fernando Nieve tossed two shutout innings in relief, and the Mets tacked on a slew of late runs thanks in part to a Marlins club clearly working as a unit to make Dan Uggla feel better about his defensive inadequacy.

In the press box after the game, reporters — no kidding — compared the 2010 Mets to the 2009 Mets, and stressed how last year’s version never would have blown the game open in the sixth. They would’ve missed those opportunities. Apparently the 2009 Mets never played in strong wind.

Jerry Manuel was more realistic about the win.

“We’re out of the gate,” he said. “But we haven’t gone anywhere.”

Not technically true. The Mets are one percent of the way toward 100 wins and a sure ticket to the NLDS.

“We have to continue playing the game the right way,” said Santana. “Pitching, playing defense, and having the guys hit the ball.”

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Pitching, playing defense, and hitting the ball are important elements of winning baseball. This is another important distinction between the 2010 Mets, to date, and last year’s squad. The 2009 Mets didn’t often pitch, play defense, or hit the ball.

Today — and at least until Wednesday — the Mets stand unblemished. A team that pitches, defends and hits.

And though someone — me, for example — could probably lament their bizarre batting order or flawed roster or warped set of organizational priorities, it seems like bad business as long as their record remains perfect.

Not actual rapping, sadly. Pretty impressive crew I ran into. The first guy told me about how the Mets shouldn’t have signed Alex Cora, the second gave me bacon.

Having some tech issues, so apologies for the lack of text-based posts. Also, watching a baseball game. And about to get food.

Not only did Jerry Manuel opt to start Gary Matthews Jr. over Angel Pagan today. He’s also batting Alex Cora leadoff.

There are so many jokes I want to be making here about Jerry speeding up the inevitable or ultimately reading the lineup card at Cringe Night at Freddy’s Bar in my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, but I’m really, really trying to remain optimistic.

And the game hasn’t started yet and I’m trying to keep to my promise of no Alex Cora rants until the season begins.

Plus, as has been discussed this offseason, batting orders don’t really mean a whole ton, especially in one-game samples.

But I mean c’mon. The leadoff hitter should be the guy in the lineup who gets on base the most, and Alex Cora has a .313 career on-base percentage.

The terrifying thing, incidentally, is that Cora’s .313 is actually the median on-base percentage of the nine guys in the Mets’ batting order.

OK, sorry. Optimism. It’s Opening Day, and it’s beautiful out, and the press box is abuzz with old-man sportswriter voices.

I’m at Citi today. I’m doing video stuff for SNY.tv and should still be able to write a little before the game, but I figured I’d throw up one of these Twitter-post things so you could follow here what I’m saying there.

Also: !!!

To follow me on Twitter, go here.

Right-hander Kiko Calero, who failed to make the big-league club despite posting a 1.95 ERA with the Florida Marlins last season, is expected to remain with the organization. Calero did not have an “out” in his minor-league contract, but the Mets were not going to force him to pitch at Triple-A Buffalo against his will. Calero was 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA in seven Grapefruit League appearances spanning 6 1/3 innings.

“All indications are he is going to come back,” a team insider said.

– Adam Rubin, ESPN New York

Phew.

Today is Easter. On this day, Christians believe, Jesus came back to life after being executed on Good Friday.

(This is not a post about religion or religious beliefs. I’m not interested in discussing any of that here, nor in setting off the type of comments-section flame war that always seems to follow any hint of that talk. The Bible means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but it is inarguably a collection of interesting stories. Do not mistake any of the following for me thumping the Bible in anyone’s direction. Trust me, that’s not my bag.)

Because it’s Easter, and because I am with my family today enjoying some of the delicious trappings of the holiday (ie Cadbury Creme Eggs), and because absolutely everything makes me think of the Mets, I planned a brief post vaguely linking the Biblical tale of Thomas the Apostle to the modern-day Mets fan.

According to the story, Thomas, or St. Thomas, or Doubting Thomas, did not believe that Jesus came back to life on Easter. A bunch of people tried to tell him it happened, but Thomas basically said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

So my original point was going to be about how so many Mets fans, with Opening Day a day away, are Doubting Thomases. We are skeptical of our team’s ability to compete. We are unwilling to commit blind faith. We will believe it when we see it.

But I realized it’s a terrible metaphor.

In the story, Thomas’ doubt is notable because Thomas knows Jesus to have healed the sick and turned water into wine and all that. Certainly, returning from death is above and beyond the things Thomas knows Jesus is capable of, but Thomas knows Jesus is capable of some remarkable things.

The Mets have performed few miracles in the last couple of years, and done little to inspire faith in their fanbase. Those among us that doubt their ability to succeed in 2010 are not skeptics at all, merely realists. We watched the bitter ends of the 2007 and 2008 campaigns and endured the misery of the 2009 one. We read the reports recapping every baffling trade and misguided free-agent pursuit. We lamented all the vesting options.

We hear the talk that this club features many of the same players that ran away with the N.L. East in 2006 and fell one game short of the playoffs in 2007 and 2008, but we know that the last three seasons exposed warts and occasional inadequacies in those players, and fluctuations in their performances that justify our tempered expectations. And we realize that the team’s opponents in the division have only gotten better over that time.

So we are not capital-d Doubters. We are just reasonable baseball fans with a solid sense of what makes a winning ballclub, and a strong feeling that an Opening Day lineup featuring Gary Matthews Jr., Mike Jacobs, Alex Cora, Jeff Francoeur, Luis Castillo and Rod Barajas is not that.

And it’s funny to me, then, that the Mets’ traditional lexicon is all wrapped up in near-to-downright religious terminology: Magic, Faithful, Believe, Amazin’, Miracle.

That’s the type of stuff, it seems, this club is relying on to carry it through until the injured players return and the starting pitchers work out their kinks and the bullpen roles settle into place, and until all the little things that the Mets need to happen to compete in the N.L. East that no one’s sure will actually happen finally happen.

And the messed-up thing — and I’ll stop writing in the plural now, because I don’t want to speak for all Mets fans here — is that I’m relying on all of it, too.

Opening Day is tomorrow, and somehow, despite all my realistic concerns about the Mets’ 2010 outlook, I’m clinging to the hope that there is some immeasurable intangible — some magic — that can thrust the Mets’ particular collection of underwhelming ballplayers to greatness.

I am the opposite of Doubting Thomas. I am the king of wishful thinking.

I mean heck, the Mets have stars, right? There’s Wright and Santana and Bay, and when they return, Beltran and Reyes. Can’t I hold out hope that five really good players can carry a team to glory, even without complementary performances from their teammates and even despite inevitable mismanagement from their bench and front office?

And the Mets, for the first time in a while, have prospects too! Can’t I believe that Niese and Mejia will succeed, and eventually Davis and Martinez and Tejada can come up and propel the Mets to victories?

Of course I can. Baseball, more than any other sport, inspires in me a sense of spirituality. I love football and basketball too, but those sports provoke a more visceral, emotional response. Baseball evokes something deeper, more meaningful — like those words Mets fans bandy about. Faith and belief and amazement.

So maybe they’ll amaze me this year, is all I’m saying. The day before Opening Day, that’s the most I can hope for.

Would I trade all that for a decent starting pitcher and a second baseman who could field the position? Of course. But this is where we’re at. This is why the realists have no faith in the Mets.

But baseball’s a funny game, and way crazier things have happened than a Mets team that looks downright crappy at the outset of the season looking outright dominant at the end of it. I’m not betting on it happening , but Opening Day is a time for optimism. Blind optimism, maybe, but optimism regardless.

And if all else fails, we can enjoy Citi Field’s new rum bar, and Sonny Rollins: