Mets Opening Day Notes

And we’re back..thanks to Goon for covering.  I have to run out the door now..got my $45 tickets in hand (really Mets?  and I know I did a lot better than a lot of you)…

Junior came down here with some black tinged merch and I told him no way.  He does want to be warm though so after declining his first 3 outfits I told him he could wear his blue and black non-baseball jacket.  I try but I’m also a dad.

I’m in Mets coat, Mets Police 12, Mets sweatshirt and Mets “Franchise” cap because the crown on the 5950 is 10 feet high.

METS ARE THE BEST ON OPENING DAY: In the history of Major League
Baseball, the Mets (32-18, .640) have the best winning percentage on
Opening Day…Below is a list of the top records on Opening Day, courtesy
of the Elias Sports Bureau.

METS 50 32 18 0 .640
Yankees 112 65 46 1 .586
Baltimore 111 63 47 1 .573
Seattle 35 20 15 0 .571
Note: W-L records for Orioles and Yankees include entire franchise history.

PRE-GAME CEREMONIES

METS TO HONOR GARY CARTER: To honor the memory of Gary Carter,
his family will participate in a special pre-game ceremony…Carter passed
away February 16 after a courageous 10-month battle with brain cancer
…Gary’s wife, Sandy, son, D.J., and daughters, Kimmy and Christy, and
their families will be on the field during a moment of silence for their father
and for the ceremonial first pitch.

NATIONAL ANTHEM: Representatives from each branch of the U.S.
Armed Forces will sing the National Anthem, marking the first time allfemale singers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard have sung together at a major U.S. sporting event. Army Master Sergeant
MaryKay Messenger, Navy Lieutenant JG Yvonne Zirrith, Marine Staff
Sergeant Terri Kopetzki, Air Force Staff Sergeant Samantha Johnson and
Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Kristine Rommel will perform the
National Anthem on the field.
GOD BLESS AMERICA: American Idol’s Heejun Han will sing God Bless
America…The 22-year-old from Flushing finished in the Top 10 in the 11th
season of television’s No. 1 rated show, American Idol.

PATCHES: The Mets 50th Anniversary logo will be affixed to player
jerseys on the left sleeve, replacing the primary logo for the anniversary year,and on the back of blue game caps…The Mets will also wear a “Kid 8” patch to honor Gary Carter during the 2012 season…The Carter patches will be available in the Mets Team Store with the Mets Foundation donating net proceeds to The Gary Carter Foundation.

OPENING DAY HOME RUN NOTES: The Mets have hit at least one home
run in 21 of their last 28 Opening Days (dating back to 1984)…The only
exceptions are 1986, 1991, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2011.

LEADOFF: Kazuo Matsui is the last Met to hit a leadoff home run on
Opening Day when he took Atlanta’s Russ Ortiz deep on April 6, 2004 at
Turner Field.

GRAND SLAM: Todd Hundley has the only Mets grand slam on Opening
Day…Hundley’s slam came on April 26, 1995 at Colorado off Billy Swift.

TWO HOME RUNS: Robin Ventura, Bobby Bonilla, Cleon Jones, Darryl
Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds are the only five players in club history
to hit two home runs in an Opening Day tilt…Ventura was the last to
accomplish the feat on April 3, 2001 at Atlanta…Bonilla cracked two home
runs in his first game as a Met on April 6, 1992 at St. Louis, Jones belted two
home runs on April 6, 1975 vs. Philadelphia and Strawberry and McReynolds
each hit two home runs on April 4, 1988 at Montreal in a 10-6 triumph.

The 2012 Mets: Why not?

After all the pessimism, after all the negativity this offseason, I am truly excited for Mets baseball.

Johan Santana is back. Anything the Mets get from him is a bonus, and I will take my chances with Johan on the mound any day. He forever earned my respect when he tried to save the 2008 season by throwing a gem on the second to last day.

Ike Davis is back. You may recall he was off to a great start last year.

David Wright is back.

Daniel Murphy hit .320 last year.

Lucas Duda is a moose and hits bombs. Much of the fanbase took their eyes of the second half last year and didn’t get to appreciate this guy’s potential.

One major player is gone. Nothing can be done there.

Giants fans loved Andres Torres. Jason Bay can’t be useless again, can he? What if the Mets ever got a Jason Bay Season out of Jason Bay?

Dickey eats innings for you. Hopefully Niese matures.

The rest? Wishes and dreams. Isn’t it always? The 1990 Mets took a rotation of Viola, Gooden (imagine mentioning Gooden second?), Cone, Sid and Darling and won “only” 91 games. You’d take that rotation in a heartbeat and expect to win it all.

That’s why they play the season. Let the mainstream media be negative. I’m choosing to enjoy this season. I will be in the stands with my son today, and again on Saturday.

There’s a second wild card this year. Maybe Terry can push all the right buttons and Santana can throw a gem in that play-in game and we can all try our luck from there?

Don’t be negative. Don’t cost yourself a season. Enjoy baseball. See you in a few minutes at Citi Field. Let’s Go Mets!

 

I will live blog (as long as AT&T works) and be live on twitter @metspolice throughout the day.  If you see a chubby guy in a Mets Police jersey say hi!

Update– Media Goon here, I will be at the game too. I will either be wearing a Media Goon jersey or a Blacknick jersey. If you see me say hi also…

 

New respect for my 3930 Mets cap

I took this cap on vaca with me because I wasn’t crazy about the BP design and didn’t want to destroy a “good” cap with sweat stains.

Well I will tell you whatever 3930 caps are made of they are great “sweaty-wear” and look – no stains! I gave it plenty of reasons to get beat up and it still looks good.

It also looks much better paired with civilian attire than it does with a Mets jersey.

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Now some words of wisdom for my buddies out in Queens. I have been at away from Metstropolis (and still am) and as you know spend about 4 hours a day blogging and tweeting about my favorite baseball team. It has been shockingly easy to disconnect and not care at all what’s happening. I could log in right now and listen to mets-yankees on the app but I don’t care.

Always stoke the fires with this fanbase. Take nothing for granted.

Another thought I will flesh out when I get back: have the Mets effectively communicated the ticket options? Pop quiz: how does someone get one of those $5 seats in LF? I think I know but if I don’t know I bet 99% of you don’t know. (and I think the answer is its a season ticket but I’m still not sure).

Anyway back to sun and beautiful terrain for me. See everyone at the park tomorrow around 11.