This was the first Opening Day for the Mets I have ever gone to, and it was wonderful to see Citi Field filled with so many Mets Fans. My Uncle and I got to the game early to explore the stadium and watch some Mets Baseball.
In terms of PR, the Mets did a good job today. A lot of people have already talked about how it was a good move for the Mets to put the patch on the outfield wall, so I won’t go into that more. What I really enjoyed about today’s game is the class that the Mets had with the Opening Day Ceremonies. If you follow this blog, you know I’m from Baltimore, so the Opening Days I have been to in the past have been for the Orioles who have the players run out from Center Field at the start of the season. It’s fun, I won’t lie, but it’s not really classy. Having Howie Rose and Ralph Kiner introduce the clubs? That’s classy, and how it should be done.
Normally I wouldn’t care enough to write about an issue of class during Opening Day introductions, or even think about it, if it wasn’t for the Marlins. It was already odd enough that the Marlins had dancers bring out the players to the field. The progressive in me was angry at the reinforcing of objectifying women and patriarchal structure of sports. However, trying to have Ali, the Greatest of All Time, throw out the first pitch, was overboard and distasteful. Even if this was done with good intentions, and I believe it was (I’m a believer of people are stupid and benign on average, not mean), it ended with a strong mental image of how age and illness has impacted the life of the one greatest athletes ever.
Anyway, back to actual baseball.
It was incredibly refreshing to see Johan Santana on the mound. His outing was a great showcase to his progress and provided a glimmer of hope for this season.
Same goes for the bullpen. This game could have easily gone the other way, thanks to a lack of offensive support. Everyone in the pen did their job and got the Mets the W today. Well done, especially Frank who has struggled in Spring.
The offense could not get it done today, which to some extent was expected. Despite last years numbers, Hansen has done well against the Mets in his career and the Mets have not fared well against the Atlanta pen. The Mets did get a lot of runners on base, so it is disturbing that with all of those hits, the Mets only pushed one run across. Alas, it is only game 1.
Finally, a word has to be said about Andres Torres. This team needs a CF’er. Hopefully we find one. (Yep, that’s it for that topic).
