MET NOTES
PORT ST. LUCIE – Early yesterday afternoon, Mike Cameron turned to assistant trainer Mike Herbst and said, “Here I go: the debut.”
Then Cameron headed out to right field.
Cameron, the Mets’ converted center fielder, has played 45 games in right field in the majors but none since 2000. Yesterday he began learning his new spot during live batting practice, tracking fly balls, scooping up a blooper hit, scooting over to the line to cut off a drive, etc.
“It was all right. Just strange,” Cameron said. “It takes time, I guess. Just like anything else. It was new, though.”
Carlos Beltran again was asked about replacing Cameron in center and, again, Beltran heaped praise on Cameron.
“He’s a Gold Glover, no matter where he plays,” Beltran said. “He can win a Gold Glove in right field. I know he has to adjust because it’s a new position for him. I’m just happy to be with him out there. It will be fun.”
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Yesterday was the Mets’ first full day of workouts, and the sessions ran about 4 ½ hours, long by spring-training standards. Clearly, Willie Randolph plans to go all out with his new team.
“It was a loooong day,” Cameron said. “Definitely a different experience. Hopefully they won’t be that long all the time. We didn’t even start games yet.”
Others, including David Wright, couldn’t get enough of it.
“It felt like it flew by,” Wright said.
“We were doing something every minute of the day and that’s the way it should be. You get a lot of work in, in very little time.”
The day started with Randolph addressing his team. The meeting lasted approximately 40 minutes, with GM Omar Minaya also introducing the staff and welcoming everybody.
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Sights and sounds of the day: Felix Heredia impressing Minaya with the way he threw . . . Braden Looper dominating the trio of hitters he faced in live BP (Mike Piazza, Marlon Anderson and Victor Diaz) . . . Jose Reyes, who enjoyed a tremendous BP session, crushing a homer to right off BP pitcher John Stearns . . . Beltran blasting a homer that bounced and hit a parked car beyond the right-field fence.
The day’s funniest moment came when Cliff Floyd smoked two liners to left-center against righty Bartolome Fortunato, eliciting a whistle from bullpen coach Guy Conti. Fortunato responded by brushing back Floyd, forcing Floyd to hit the deck. No worries, though; Floyd got up and smiled.
Reyes has shaved off his frizzy hair. Randolph, who’s instituted a number of “appearance” rules this spring, said, “he did that on his own.”
