Catch the Energy

What's up guys, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. Lot to be happy about after today's 3-2 win over the Nationals; it was a great day out at the ballpark.

My buddy Sepa was up to no good, offending women and scaring children as we sat in the second to last row of the Upper Deck on a cold April day at Shea Stadium. Steamin' Mikey Lehman unveiled his trademark boo a few times on the afternoon, but cooled it with the "Yankeeths Thstink" chants for one day. All in all, it was the kind of day that reminded you why you love watching a ball game with your buddies.

But there was something greater going on at Shea today than the good feeling among friends. There was a buzz, an excitement about the 54,000-plus people who showed up at Shea in spite of skies that threatened rain at any moment, and inbound traffic that was, evidently, horrible after 11 a.m.

This buzz was especially tangible when the crowd broke into M-V-P chants for David Wright late in the game and when Billy Wagner appeared on the hill for the top of the ninth.

The fans have the kind of confidence in Wright that you don't see very often. It was on display in 1999 and 2000 when Mike Piazza was still a dominant offensive presence, but before then you'd probably have to go back to Darryl Strawberry to find another position player who so inspired the fanbase.

Since Piazza went into decline, which really began following the 2000 season, although he still had some fine seasons thereafter, we haven't had that kind of player. We haven't had a guy who we expect great things from and who manages to translate those expectations into results.

Given the fever in the air when Wright's name was announced during the player introductions or whenever he came to the plate or when the crowd saluted him with M-V-P cheers, it seems that Wright is becoming that kind of player.

It's tough putting a guy like Wright, with all of 1 and a half seasons under his belt, in the same category as Piazza or Strawberry, but certainly that's the kind of player he's shaping up to be. The crowd senses it, and responds to it, and I've gotta say, it's really refreshing to see. For a fanbase that can't help but exude a little negativity, to have unerring confidence in a guy is a nice change of pace.

The excitement generated by Wright was matched by the way the crowd responded to Wagner (and to Pedro during the opening introductions, but that's a little different). When Wagner came on, it was unlike anything you've ever seen before during the years of Braden Looper, Armando Benitez, or John Franco.

With each of those guys a sense of dread hung over the crowd. It was like, you wanted to get excited, but you knew better than to do so. So instead you split your ninth innings watching the game and begging whatever higher power you're in to that Looper/Benitez/Franco wouldn't screw it up.

With Wagner there was never any sense that things could go wrong. The crowd knows how dominant he's been in his career, and it expects nothing less of him now. Would we all have said a prayer if Vidro had been safe at second? Probably. But he was called out at second, the game ended, and 54,000 Mets fans at Shea went home believing that all those prayers they ever uttered while Looper/Benitez/Franco were on the hill had finally been answered.

And it's a good thing too. As I said to Mikey before the ninth inning, nothing would be more deflating for the crowd than if Wagner came in and blew the save his first time out. But it didn't happen. Unlike last year, when Looper imploded and sent the Mets' opening week into a tailspin, Wagner came in, shut the door, and sent the fans home happy.

So it's great to walk away with a win, but the thing that sticks with me the most is the anticipation in the air at Shea this afternoon.

Before the game, Sip was saying how much he hated the Mets' "The Team. The Time." slogan. That got us talking about past slogans, and he mentioned how much he liked "Catch the Energy" from 2004 I believe it was.

Well there was a new energy in the stands at Shea today. You could feel it in the way they cheered for Wright and Wagner, but also the way they cheered when Lo Duca came up with that ball, or when Glavine got those big strikeouts. People are expecting big things this year, and at least for one day, the team met the expectations.

Mets 3, Nationals 2. First place Mets. Le's go.

Additional thoughts:

1. The honeymoon is over for Carlos Beltran. Sure, he heard some boos last year, but after every at-bat today the crowd really let him have it. I'm trying to think positive with him, and I still think he's going to have a good season, but that kind of booing can reach a point of no return, and when it does, that player is essentially done in New York. Kaz Matsui is a good example of this phenomenon.

For Beltran's sake (and given that we're stuck with this guy for the next 6 seasons, for our sake as well), he'd better get things going quickly or things are going to get really ugly for him. Pop outs with runners on third and 1 out won't help.

2. It's a good thing I went to the game today, as the rumor is SportsNet New York had yet another terrible technical day. Now I know nothing about the broadcast industry, but I have never seen a station with this many technical difficulties.

I wrote about them during my recap of SNY's first night on the air, saying they were distracting but that it was fine so long as they worked all the kinks out by Opening Day. It is shameful that the Mets' new network didn't have its shit together in time for the first game of the year. I don't know whose fault it is but it's just embarrassing by this point.

3. Mike and the Mad Dog need to come to grips with Bally Wagner using Metallica's "Enter Sandman" as his entry song. Listening to those two blather about how it was Mariano's song you'd think Rivera wrote the damn song himself.

Look, it's a little weird for all of us hearing a Mets closer come into the game with that song blaring in the background. But it's also a little weird for us to have anything resembling a lights out closer, let alone one of the premier closers in baseball. No matter how closely we associate Rivera with that song, the fact is that "Enter Sandman" is used by several of the best closers in baseball, so assigning dominion over it to any one of them in particular is a little unfair.

Wagner's been using it the past decade. Eric Gagne uses it in Los Angeles. And yes, Rivera uses it. Is he the best of all time? Maybe he is. Is he in a different league than Gagne or Wagner? I think if you can cut away from all the Yankee mystique bullshit you'd conclude that he isn't (at least in the regular season context; Rivera's postseason successes (and failures, hello 2001 and 2004) speak for themselves).

4. Why in the hell did Willie run Aaron Heilman out for the 8th inning? I mean, maybe that seventh inning when Heilman got knocked around and allowed a run looked better from the dugout than it did from the Upper Deck, and in truth he didn't surrender a lot of hard hits from the look of it. But still, it seemed odd that Willie wouldn't establish his bullpen routine right from Game 1.

Does Willie intend to use Heilman in 2-inning stints? That's possible but very, very doubtful. Maybe he's got the most confidence in Heilman, and perhaps that confidence plus tomorrow's off-day convinced Willie to stick with him for a second inning.

But still, Heilman didn't seem to have his best stuff today. I haven't yet read anything about this, but if anyone knows what the rationale was for running Heilman out for 2, please leave a comment and clue me in.

Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry if this post is a little scattershot, but I wanted to get something up before dinner. Regular updating schedule tomorrow.

- A.F.O.M.G.