2004 Baseball

Orioles 7 Red Sox 2

Sunday Night
Camden Yards
With Jamie, Bill, Rick, Mitch, Mitch’s Dad

Way too cold. Stone Groove sat this one out so it was just Jamie and me who decided to brave the conditions. We met up with Bill and Rick after the 6th inning and finished the game in the box seats with Mr. MLB and his dad with the firm handshake.

Baseball should start on Monday afternoon in the bright sunshine. At the very least, it should start on Monday afternoon. The long suffering Orioles faithful turned out in full force for Opening Night. It was nice to see so many Oriole fans at this game. The past few years, Camden Yards has been chockful of opposing teams’ fans. In fact, two days later, I watched Curt Schilling dominate the Birds on T.V. and it sounded like the whole park was from Boston.

The night was too cold to fully enjoy the returns of Rafael Palmeiro and Sidney Ponson and the debuts of Javy Lopez and Miguel Tejada but it was nice anyway. The 43 homer hitting (in 2003) Lopez spanked a Pedro fastball for his first Oriole homerun right as I was in the midst of predicting that he would only hit about 22 homers in 2004. Jamie predicted he would hit 25. (He hit 23.) The new 3-4-5 hitters went a combined 7-11 with 4 RBI’s. An Opening Day victory is so sweet. The possibilities are endless. Maybe Ponson will win 17 games again. Maybe Eric Dubose will be this year’s Dave Johnson. Bedard for Rookie of the Year? Matt Riley dominates the league? Sadly, it will probably be a year with a lot of offense, a lot of blown leads in the middle to late innings, and a 4th place finish. (How about a 3rd place finish?)

An interesting tidbit- Apparently, new skipper Lee Mazilli has banned loud music in the clubhouse before games so Sir Sidney had to get his Metallica fix through headphones. I wonder if Art Howe will let Scott Erickson blast Lars and the boys in the few days that Erickson remains a Met.

From Jamie’s blog:

i've gotta stop going to early season games in outdoor parks in the northeast. sunday night's RedSox-Orioles game was in the high 20s with a whole lotta wind. just completely uncomfortable. the pretzels we bought outside the stadium were rock hard by the time we sat down to eat them. the grease from my cheesesteak congealed so fast that i almost couldn't finish it. after sitting for 6 innings, Dan and i were both amazed at how stiff our knees were when we got up to meet some other friends. Dan's grandmother kiddingly told him before the game to brink some whiskey - he really should have. still, it was nice to be at the opening game, but the temps at Shea next Monday better be a little more hospitable.

Yankees 3 White Sox 1

Thursday Afternoon
Yankee Stadium
With Mitch

A nice day, another home opener. Mitch and I headed to the Bronx so he could meet up with his latest Yankeeography subject Whitey Ford to pick up some pictures from his collection. Ford was throwing out the first pitch along with Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra. On the way, we were bombarded by a commuter on our train mightily impressed by Mitch’s carrots and celery in a small plastic baggy. He kept telling us how delis should sell them pre-cut and how they could make a fortune. He wouldn’t stop talking about all of the money that could be made with just a few vegetables.

When we arrived at the game, I waited outside the press gate for awhile as Mitch tracked down Whitey inside. I read the paper, I gawked at Mayor Bloomberg and his entourage as they entered the stadium. I snapped a picture of Dwight Gooden as he sauntered into view.

When the game started, I listened to the first half inning on my walkman before Mitch and Whitey made an appearance. Mitch introduced us and Whitey extended his hand. I’m not sure if I’ve shaken a Hall of Famer’s hand since Chuck Thompson during Fan Fest ’93. Whitey was very polite and we headed to his car so Mitch could pick out some photos for the documentary. On the way to the car, a parking lot attendant commandeered Whitey’s attention, “What you don’t say hi to me no more, Whitey?” Ford said hello and mentioned that this was his 55th straight Opening Day to which the attendant replied, “This is my 56th! Can you believe it? Looks like I’m number one and you’re number two, Whitey!” Um, yeah, whatever gets you through the day, pal.

Whitey and Mitch took a few minutes in the car looking through photos and then it was time for Whitey to go play golf and for Mitch and I to catch a few innings of the Evil Empire battle the Good Guys. When I relayed how nice Whitey was a few days later to Dave, he responded, “Fuck him. Asshole. What? Don’t get mad at me that he pitched for the Yankees.” See? I’m not the only one who hates the Yankees.

The Yankees already had a 2-0 lead as we found seats in the 2nd inning. Not much else happened. Javier Vazquez was magnificent in his Yankees debut throwing 8 innings of two hit ball.

The most exciting moment of the day came when Mitch got a call from a co-worker who told him that he needed an opening for John Sterling to read for the Whitey Ford piece. Apparently, Sterling was going to be heading to the YES studios to shoot in the next day or so. Mitch was not aware that he had to have a script ready so soon and was not very happy. He took the next few minutes of the game as we relaxed in our cushioned box seats behind first base to tell his co-worker on his cell phone what he thought Sterling should be saying. “Yeah, I don’t know. How about something like ‘Whitey Ford, no make that Edward Ford, was born in Manhattan, raised in Queens, but made his name in the Bronx as Whitey Ford, the Chairman of the Board as the winningest pitcher of the winningest team in professional sports.’ You got that?” Okay, something like that. What? I don’t know. I don’t even know if they like the treatment. I just turned that in last week and haven’t even heard any feedback.” And so on. I felt like I was a witness to a high powered business call. Coming to a YES affiliate near you.

Mets 10 Braves 6

Monday Afternoon
Shea Stadium

With Jamie, Dave, Sujan Alex B.

My third home opener in eight days. Hot damn! While this game wasn’t as cold as the one in Baltimore, it was pretty damn frigid. Dave wasn’t bothered though and had plenty of carrots and edamame to go around. The edamame was supposedly to welcome Kaz Matsui to Flushing. If that wasn’t enough of a welcome, Sujan’s scream of his name had me in stitches. It has to be heard to be believed.

So again, the drama on every Opening Day at Shea, (other than what idiotic new pattern they will carve into the grass) is what will the new players’ nicknames be on the scoreboard? Last year’s “Cliff Banger” and “Glaviator” additions were disappointing to say the least. What would Matsui’s be? Sujan came up with these three gems: “Kaz-Tastic”, Matsui-eeet” and “Kami-Kaz-Ee.” Dave came up with “Bat-Sui.” We were all wrong. All the Mets could come up with is “The Great Kazu” with a graphic of the Great Gazoo from The Flinstones with a picture of Kaz’s face superimposed. Mike Cameron, on the other hand, is the proud owner of my new favorite (next to Leit’s Out, of course) “Lights, Cameron, Action.”

The day before the game, Piazza and Floyd were injured in Puerto Rico. That, along with Reyes’ lingering injury led Art Howe to pencil this combo in the 2-3-4 slots: Ricky Gutierrez, Shane Spencer, and Todd Zeile. Ugly. But, it didn’t matter. The Braves were missing Adam Laroche, Chipper Jones, and Rafael Furcal. The Mets pounded turncoat Mike Hampton to the delight of the delirious fans chanting his name derisively. Zeile and Spencer went a combined 5 for 9. New Mets Cameron and Matsui each contributed two hits and each played sparkling defense. The Mets took a 10-0 lead after 6 and then coasted. Maybe the Mets will contend this year!

Most interesting topic of the game- ballplayers with food as a name.

From Jamie’s blog:

on a lighter note, at this week's Mets home opener, i started talking with Sujan about baseball players and managers named after food. my tangential brain picked up the task today and here's a pretty decent list:
Cookie Rojas, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Lamb, Jim Rice, Bill Bean (not Billy Beane), Chet and Bob and Jim Lemon, Johhny Oates, Zack Wheat, Bobby Wine, Clarence Beers, Sweetbreads Bailey (real name Abraham Lincoln Bailey), Pepper Martin, Ginger Beaumont, Peaches Graham (2 foods in 1), Peanuts Lowrey, Tom Butters, Noodles Hahn, Candy Maldonado, Bake McBride, Tim Crabtree, Dizzy and Steve Trout, Felix Pie (Cubs OF prospect), Tim Salmon, Pork Chop Pough (1995 Eastern League All-Star), Vinegar Bend Mizell, Sugar Cain (really!) David Cone, Chip Hale, Kevin and Randy Bass, Rob Deer, Eddie Bacon, Eddie Mayo, Pickles Dillhoefer

For even more, check out the comments page of Apes.

Jamie (before he decided to jump on the Red Sox bandwagon) and Dave (before he decided to arrive at every game in the 3rd inning and leave in the 7th).

Pirates 8 Mets 1

Sunday Afternoon
Shea Stadium
With Sujan, Alex J., Anne, Marc, Mitch, Caryn

So much for the euphoria of just a few days prior. Before the weekend, the Mets were one game above .500 and things were looking up. A three game sweep to the lowly Pirates didn’t help matters. The Mets desperately need Reyes and Floyd back. The Mets looked listless in this game. The 1-0 lead that the Pirates took seemed insurmountable and when they poured on five runs in the 5th to make the score 7-1, it was only a matter of counting down the innings.

Jae Seo made his first start of the season and didn’t look too good. The Pirates had 17 hits and it was ugly. Typical Mets: With two runners on in the 8th, down 8-1, Lloyd McClendon took out his pitcher with a 2-0 count on Piazza. New pitcher throws one pitch, Piazza grounds into a double play, end of inning.

Marc took 150 pictures of players on his fantasy team, Mitch pontificated on the brilliance of strawberry milk, made a vow with himself to drink more chocolate milk by remembering to leave the chocolate syrup right by the milk in his refrigerator, and then left a voicemail to himself to remind himself to pick up some Strawberry Quick potion. We were all drunk on boredom… we were so bored that the 17 year old kid near us amused us to no end by repeatedly telling all around him, “When I say ‘Mets” you say ‘Yeah.’ When I say ‘Pirates’, you say ‘Boo.’ I can not tell you how amusing this was on such a day.