Mets 8 Marlins 1
Met fans who have been waiting since October to see Mike Piazza were disappointed not to see their injured hero hit yesterday, but they got something even better. The Opening Day sellout crowd saw what the Mets have been proving over this eventful opening week, that this is not a one-man team.
A uniformed Piazza came out for a rousing cheer during pre-game introductions, then sat and watched from the bench as the players who were brought in to provide protection and support around him, players like Bobby Bonilla and Robin Ventura, led the Mets to an 8-1 win against the Marlins.
But no one ever expected Bobby Jones to be part of that offensive package. Jones not only pitched his second terrific game of the season and second good home opener in a row, he also hit his first major league home run, a line drive shot to left field.
On a crisp, sunny day with the bunting flapping in the wind and the new, slightly refurbished Shea Stadium gleaming almost as much as the 6-2 Mets, Jones broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning and trotted around the bases holding back the smile from his normally expressionless face.
He held it long enough to get into the dugout where Piazza and the rest of his teammates greeted him with lots of hand-slapping and good-natured ribbing. But the fans would not let it rest there, and summoned Jones for a well-deserved tip of the cap.
“It’s always special pitching on Opening Day,” Jones said. “You look around and see the bunting and feel the electricity and hear the fans chanting. It’s fun and it all feels better on Opening Day. And then you have the curtain call. It’s a hard feeling to explain.”
What is almost harder to explain is how well Jones has pitched after coming off an entirely unimpressive spring. Yesterday Jones went seven innings and gave up four hits and one run and walked one. In two starts he has pitched 14 innings and allowed only one run on nine hits for a 0.64 ERA. All of this came after he went 1-1 in the spring with a 6.30 ERA in 20 innings.
“Obviously Bobby Jones was really on today,” Bobby Valentine said. “That’s another note for all that spring training stuff [being irrelevant]. He was hitting his spots and had a really good fastball. And he swung the bat pretty well.”
Perhaps Jones, who was the Opening Day starter last year when it was the first game of the season, was inspired by being on the mound with fellow Fresno native Tom Seaver, who threw out the first pitch to mark his return to the club as an announcer and pitching instructor.
Jones said Seaver mentioned to him how amazing it was that two guys from Fresno would be standing on the Shea Stadium mound on opening day.
“I laughed,” Jones said.
Then he wiped the smile off his face and went to work on the Marlins. Jones had great assistance from Robin Ventura (hits in all eight games), who not only had two hits and two RBIs but made four great plays among his five assists and one put out.
Twice he robbed leadoff hitter Luis Castillo by bare-handing two near-perfect bunt attempts, which led Marlins skipper John Boles to say that only Ventura could have made those plays.
Bonilla made his Met return to Shea for the first time since 1995, and finally came through with some offense, getting hits in his first three at-bats and then walking. In all he was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Bonilla was greeted during pre-game introductions with a combination of cheers and boos, but after his third hit, the Shea crowd was chanting his name.
“That was cool,” he said. “I played here four years. I fully understand that when I’m horse[bleep] they’re going to boo the [bleep] out of me and when I’m good they’re going to cheer me.”
After getting off to their best start since 1991, all the Mets are being cheered.
