The Moster Is Out of the Cage, and Back Where He Belongs

Hey everyone, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. So you all know what this post is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about the man, the myth, the Monster, Mike Piazza.

The man who snapped our beloved franchise out of its mid-90s rut and made the Mets relevant again.

And I promise you this post will be about that, but first I've gotta spend a little time talking about the parking situation at Shea Stadium.

The parking situation at Shea is absolutely abysmal, and it's only going to get worse. It wasn't always this way, but construction on the new Mets ballpark has wreaked havoc upon the parking lot, particularly in the area beyond the center field fence.

We all love the comfort and convenience of driving to the game, but I'm here to tell you that unless you're certain there will be less than 30,000 people at the ballpark, going in the car just doesn't make sense.

Let me put it to you this way. Me and B.O.A.F.O.M.G. rolled off the highway between 7:05 and 7:10. I did not get to my seat until just before 8, probably like 7:55 p.m.

In between, I crawled through standstill traffic to a parking lot at the Arthur Ashe tennis center. I then took a bus a little ways (transport courtesy of Fred Wilpon) and had to go it on foot for about the equivalent of four city blocks. It was an absolute nightmare.

So the parking situation at Shea sucks right now, and between the impending U.S. Open and further construction at Shea, it figures to only get worse.

Moral of the story? Drive only if you have a season parking plan. Get your ass on the subway like the rest of the rabble and console yourself with the thought, hey, at least I'm doing something for the environment.

But back to Piazza. Needless to say, I didn't see the video tribute to the Mets legend. Nor did I see his first at-bat. I was still in my car, listening to Howie Rose on the radio as Mike Piazza doffed his helmet and, evidently, misted up as the crowd gave him a 70-second standing ovation.

I wish I'd seen it in person, but I suppose that's what YouTube, Mets.com or SNY are for. And at the end of the day I can't get too bent out of shape because I missed it. The electricity was still in the air when Piazza came to bat in the 3rd, and then again in the 6th, and then once more in the 8th, even with the game on the line and the home team a base hit away from a tie ballgame.

Each time he came to the plate he was greeted with a standing ovation and a rousing cheer of "Mike Pi-azza (clap-clap-clapclapclap)." It reminded me of how the crowd used to cheer that much harder when his name was announced back when he was a Met, only his reception now was much, much more.

It was the reception reserved for wayward former heroes who have finally come home. It was a reception 7.5 years in the making. A reception built on countless iconic moments from the franchise's most iconic figure since Doc Gooden or Tom Seaver, depending on your perspective.

Really, it was a reception built upon the shared history of Mets fans. I mean, we've all got our favorite Piazza moments, don't we? What was yours? Was it the home run against Trevor Hoffman? How about the many home runs against Roger Clemens? Or maybe it was the bomb he hit in the first game in New York after 9/11 to beat the Braves?

For me, the 9/11 home run takes the cake easily. But I'm willing to bet that if it wasn't that, or if it wasn't one of the ones I listed, you've got yours. You've got the whole thing hardwired in your brain, the entire sequence plotted from situation when he came to bat to the trajectory of the ball in flight.

And last night the fans showed that they hadn't forgotten those moments, and that they never would. Just as they stuck with Piazza through the hitting streaks, the slumps, the pennant chases, and, god help us, questions about his sexuality, so too are they sticking with him now.

After the game, a humbled Piazza tried to put the experience in to words, but understandably, even an intelligent ballplayer like him struggled to do so.

"It was just one of those amazing moments that I can't explain in sports," Piazza said. "You just don't see that a lot. For them to give me that privilege and honor is something I can't explain. The people were amazing."

And on a night in which Mets fans paid respect to their past, I couldn't help but find it altogether fitting that David Wright and Carlos Beltran featured so prominently in the Mets' 3-2 win.

Those two are the guys who are here to pick up where Piazza left off. They're the faces of the franchise now. And when Wright cracked that single to left field to score Beltran, who touched home plate as he passed Piazza, it seemed to me that everything had resolved itself most appropriately.

Piazza heard his cheers and everyone in the stadium got goosebumps. Wright went 3-for-4 and drove home the winning run. Beltran went 3-for-4 and scored the winning run. The Mets won the ballgame. One era has ended and another has begun.

You really couldn't ask for much more.

Except maybe better parking.

- A.F.O.M.G.