It took four years but today Citi Field finally felt like home. I sat in “my” seats and I got to see Santana warm up to Smooth just like I imagined all summer.
It was beautiful out, the Mets dressed like a professional baseball team for the first time since my 20’s, the blue fence feels just right (congratulations to @readtheapple for encouraging the Mets on that one), and the Kid8 on the fence is a nice touch.
I thought the pre-game ceremony was perfect. Howie passing to Kiner felt just right. I haven’t loved all the ceremonies the Mets have had over the years but between this and 9/11/11 it seems as if they are finally getting the hang of things.
For a blog that started out as a complaining blog (“calling the Mets on the carpet for the stupid things they do”) today felt just right. It felt like the home of the Mets. I had a rhythm I haven’t had since the move to the old parking lot.
Mets win, Santana looks good, all is right in the world for one day. Here’s a video of the day…lots more tomorrow.
very well put. i was there yesterday and i agree. it felt like home again. i was at the last game at shea, and the first game at citi. i’ve gone many times in the last 3 years, this time, it felt right.
After reading this and the feelgood MetsBlog entry that referenced it, I’m left wondering how much even better the vibe would be today had we actually gotten some pitching in exchange for Reyes.
That assumes they could have gotten some pitching for him.
Yep, pitching would have been the best case, no doubt, but even another body for the outfield would be coming in handy right about now compared to what we got, which was to watch him bunt once and hop on a plane to South Florida.
Well that’s slightly over dramatic he got up more than once after the deadline. Either way they clearly felt they were getting no competitive offers for him and whose to say how the supplemental and 2nd round pick work out. Trading him for just a body would have lacked foresight.
It’s true we don’t know what went on behind the scenes, and all the stuff you speculative about might have in fact happened. But what was likely more important was that Reyes’ injury *after* the deadline, and the subsequent sharp decrease in triples and stolen bases because of his fear to run, spooked the front office. As well it should! If he’d completed the season with a second half equal to the first half, who knows, he might have merited a contract like he got from Florida. But in the end he didn’t, and unfortunately the Mets only got their reality check after the deadline.
In the end, they got screwed by circumstances, but I’m not sure I can pick a point at which they made a clear mistake that doesn’t require a healthy dose of 20/20 hindsight to point out.
I really doubt his triples out put had any bearing at all on signing him or not signing him.
What likely had the biggest impact was the ownership groups failure to complete a sale with Einhorn, and the complete lack of understanding in direction that existed from that point until mid March.
As far as being spooked by him not running, at that point the team was likely placing less emphasis on his steals and more on him being on the field.
He merited the contract he got from Flordia. He performed during his five year deal with the Mets at a total of $96MM with fangraphs salary equivalency, which excludes 2006 which was not part of the deal.
The Marlins got a steal compared to other teams.