After taking off the Florida series (because I’ve never met a Marlins fan), the guest prognosticator feature is back. This week it is a privilege to have Eric McErlain of Off Wing Opinion answering some questions about his New York Mets who host my Washington Nationals this weekend, starting at 4:10 this afternoon. McErlain is a pioneer in sports blogging who was instrumental in getting bloggers into the pressbox.

WFY: How did you feel the Mets were going to do going into the season? Have you changed your view after the first week of the season?

EM: I never thought the team was as bad as others made it out to be. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe they have the horsepower to even challenge for the Wild Card, but this team won almost 80 games last year even after being crushed by injuries. As for my impressions of this week, seeing them win 3 of 4 was nice, but I don’t have any illusions that the team isn’t anything more than 5-7 games over .500 this season.

WFY: I always got the impression that Mets, Jets and Islanders were Long Island’s teams. Was that accurate when you were there and do you believe it is still true?

EM:It was true when I was a kid, but less so now. The success of the Yankees since the mid-90s has been so overpowering. So while Long Island is still something of a Mets powerbase, there are plenty of Yankees fans around. The Islanders haven’t won a playoff series since 1993, so their support is off too. The Jets are better off with their recent success, but their connection to the area was severed when they closed their training facility at Hofstra and moved to Florham Park in New Jersey. Over time, that bond will weaken too.

WFY: A colleague from Upstate New York, upon leaving RFK Stadium in 2006 said, “I finally found a stadium worse than Shea.” Now, I never made it up to Shea, how much did I miss out on? How is Citi Field?

EM:Paraphrasing former Mets catcher Todd Pratt, Shea Stadium was a dump, but it was our dump. It’s impossible for me to be objective about the place because it held so many warm memories, and that includes being in the stands for Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 of the 1986 World Series.

As for Citi Field, I’ve been there twice and I think it’s a great ballpark. One trip was all it took for me to get Shea out of my system. That being said, I think Miller Park in Milwaukee is easily the best park in baseball.

WFY: Why do the Mets wear black in their uniforms?

EM:The need to move merchandise and nothing else. I was fine with the white unis with the pinstripes, but the club seems to think otherwise. Historical footnote: the Mets original uniform was intended to be a tribute to all three original New York Baseball teams: blue from the Dodgers, orange from the Giants (as well as the old English script NY on the cap) and pinstripes from the Yankees.

WFY: You’ve seemingly converted from Islanders fan to Capitals fan, so might the battle for 4th place in the NL East also be a battle for your loyalties?

EM:No. I’m glad the Nats are in DC because Washington has great baseball fans and they deserve a team. But the Mets are my first love in professional sports. I can’t leave them.

As for the Islanders and the Caps, you need to know that I only attended a grand total of 2 Islanders games in my youth because the seats were so tough to score. But when I got to DC, it was the first time in my life I could actually expect to get hold of hockey tickets. Before I knew it, most of my history in a seat at a hockey rink was at the Capital Centre. By the time I went to the Nedved Game, I was stuck with the Caps.

WFY: Who takes this series, the Nats or Amazins? The season series? How do you see the NL East shaking out in 2011?

EM:It’s not secret the Nats are much improved. But the Mets are no pushovers and this 3-game set includes their home opener. I’d say the Mets take 2 of 3 from the Nats and edge them in the season series, 10-8. As for the NL East, I’m going with the Braves.

WFY: True or false, the failure to retire Chico Escuela‘s number is a bigger curse on the Mets than the Bernie Madoff issues the Wilpons (the Mets owners) are dealing with right now?

EM:I wish I could laugh about the Madoff situation, but the whole mess is going to hang over the Mets for as long as the Wilpons own the team. There’s no way anyone is going to purchase a minority interest in the team when it’s in this sort of legal jeopardy. I don’t think the Wilpons will have any choice but to sell the team, but my gut tells me they’ll fight it till the bitter end—with the ballclub and the fans paying the price.