THE Mets provided a home opener of pomp, circumstance and raw sewage.
In the pregame, they welcomed back Tom Seaver – was that pomp or pompous? During the game, they showed the completely different circumstance they are in from the rebuilding Marlins with an 8-1 rout. And after the game, they demonstrated that throwing a couple of bouquets of roses on a garbage dump changes little.
This place should be renamed Shame Stadium. The latest sad chapter for this depressing facility came when the players returned to the clubhouse following their victory to find a flood of goodwill tempered by a flood of raw sewage due to a main water pipe bursting during the game.
Fortunately for the Mets, they invested about 1,000 times more on renovating their roster (around $200 million) than their clubhouse (around $200,000). Because if they were 2-6 today rather than 6-2, the demoralizing Met-aphors would have been unstoppable: The Mets can’t keep themselves above water on or off the field. The Mets are all wet. The Mets stink.
But the Mets, to date, are proving, well, waterproof because of the ability of their players.
Like last season, the Mets arrived to their home opener with a star catcher sidelined, Bobby Jones on the mound and a right fielder who was husky if not Huskey.
Yet, the feel of the team is different. Perhaps, it started from the very first pitch. In 1998, the Mets had Ed Burns – not even a star in his own movies – throw out the first pitch because he is friends with one of Nelson Doubleday’s children. That was Norfolk Tides thinking, not the thinking of a club that really wants to compete in New York with the Yankees.
Whatever level of groveling and McCarver-cide they had to go to, the Mets’ ability to return their greatest star, Seaver, to their family was emblematic of an offseason in which they made the necessary moves despite it costing them big bucks and the wrath of other clubs.
The Mets directed their energies in the offseason toward upgrading the hitting eye of their lineup, the defense of their infield and the depth of their bullpen. So far, so great, as the home opener exemplified.
It is fitting that patience has finally come to a lineup just as patience was running out on this team to change its non-playoff ways. The brevity of at-bats has been debilitating over the past few years as the Mets neither worked opposing pitchers nor gave their own sufficient dugout rest. But the shift of just a few characters – notably Rickey Henderson and Robin Ventura in place of Butch Huskey and Carlos Baerga – has been dramatic.
The Mets drew six walks (one intentional) compared to three strikeouts yesterday. They forced Florida starter Livan Hernandez to throw 86 pitches in just 42/3 innings, including 31 when he could not get out of the fifth. Ten of the 23 hitters Hernandez faced went to at least a three-ball count. For the season, the Mets have 47 walks compared to 49 strikeouts.
Defensively, Ventura at third has solidified the whole infield with Edgardo Alfonzo moving to second. Ventura made three excellent plays yesterday, including two bare-handed to steal bunt hits from Luis Castillo. The ramification is that Met pitchers know they can throw strikes and get the ball caught. That lengthens starters’ outings.
When they are not as long, though, the Met bullpen looks to be terrific. Yesterday, by the time Turk Wendell and Rigo Beltran combined for two shutout innings, the Mets already were ahead 5-1.
Now long at-bats, impenetrable gloves and strong bullpens are not exactly glamorous. But they were all instrumental in the Yankees winning 125 games last year. They should help the Mets weather the loss of their No. 1 star (Mike Piazza) and No. 2 starter (Rick Reed), who both went to the DL yesterday. They might help bring the Mayor of Steinbrenner back after Rudy “Pinstripes” Giuliani witnessed the Shea home opener while covering up his usual bad hair day with a Met hat.
And it should keep the focus on the depth of talent and not the depth of water that is in the Met clubhouse. These days the Mets are too good for their stadium.
