Sunday Mets Notes: The "West Coast" Edition

By David Rubin

Happy Sunday, fellow Mets fans! With a 4-2 record so far on their current West Coast swing, it becomes a bit more rewarding for East Coast-based fans to stay up so late. For me, it's right in the ole wheel-house, as I usually have to watch most games before and after dinner, with a 40 minute interruption in the middle (yes, the wife usually prefers to have dinner at the kitchen table and NOT around the computer in my office- she's "funny" that way - lol) so these 7pm games (PST) make for nice prime-time viewing. Having been to Dodgers Stadium too many times to count these past 18 years, as well as attending dozens of games up in San Fran (at both old Candlestick Park and new AT&T Park), it's almost like I can shuttle between representatives of both Shea Stadium (Dodgers) and CitiField (Giants).

Sadly, Dodger Stadium used to be a really nice place to enjoy a ballgame. Dodger Dogs were tasty; the restrooms, while older, were clean; fans were friendly, even those who arrived in the 2nd inning or later (about 1/4 of the stadium); gang-bangers represented a small portion of those in attendance; indeed, most seats were filled once the freeways cleared up, even for a week-night, non-bobble-head doll game; and, most of all, the team on the field usually consisted of more than a handful of well-known stars. Now, the place is more of a ghost-town; Dodger Dogs not only don't taste as good, they take up to 2 innings to acquire, even on slower nights; the restrooms, well, the less said, the better; gang-bangers sadly make up a huge percentage of those in attendance, treating Dodger blue like their personal colors (we won't rehash the beating at the Dodgers-Giants game right now); attendance is down to the point that the announced number is usually 2- 3 times the actual fans in attendance; and, other than Kershaw, Kemp and Ethier, there aren't any other names that make a Dodger fans' heart go pitter-patter.

The days of "Fernado-mania" are long gone; heck, the days of "Gagne-mania" or even "Manny-mania" are long a thing of the past. The team is in total disarray, starting with the ownership, and it makes one feel sorry for a great baseball man like Don Mattingly, who has to be questioning his decision to take over this mess of a team every day. I hate to think about what might happen once Ethier and Kemp hit free agency at the end of the 2012 season; Dodger fans will be in the exact same place Mets fans are right now with the upcoming free agency of Reyes and Beltran and the contract situation of K-Rod.












The similarities between the Dodgers problems and the Mets problems are, on the surface, very similar and equally distressing; however, although admittedly I am not a fan of the majority of the Wilpons' ownership decisions of the past 11 years, at least they don't view the team as one giant ATM Machine for their own personal use, at the cost of their fanbase. The Wilpons have made some horrible decisions over the tenure of their ownership, not the least of which was getting involved with Madoff; however, they are certainly fans of their team and above all else want the team to be competitive. The same cannot be said of McCourt, who simply views the Dodgers as a way to become the billionaire he always thought he deserved to be. Sadly, although he deserves all the crap that comes his way (and by extension, his ex-wife), the fans, as always are the ones who suffer and, for that reason, once again, Dodger fans and Met fans can commiserate over the similarities to our situations. However, anyone thinking that the Wilpons are going anywhere is, sadly, mistaken...

Notes:
*Like Jack Flynn stated in his excellent piece this past Friday, Jose Reyes should one day become another Met great to have his number retired on the outfield wall at CitiField. Unlike many fans lately, I truly hope that David Wright will one day join him there, as a result of their BOTH remaining Mets for the entirety of their careers. Forget about the almighty $$ for a moment, and think about this: THE METS HAVE ONLY ONE PLAYER IN THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME, but the PADRES & EXPOS BOTH HAVE TWO PLAYERS ENSHRINED IN THEIR CAPS!! Yes, Gary Carter wanted to be enshrined as a Met, but baseball made the decision for him; and, most likely, Mike Piazza will be enshrined in the orange and blue, NOT the blue and white. Just the fact that there's such a dearth of enshrined AND those that are worthy of the honor is upsetting within itself after 50 years in existence; it's adding insult to injury that once again, there are 2 homegrown talents either at or close to being potential future Hall entrants and it's very likely that one or both might not wear our pinstripes after this season...

*The bobblehead doll that the Dodgers passed out on Thursday of Andre Ethier featured their All-Star in a 1940's era Brooklyn Dodger uniform- now why hasn't Fred thought of that? I know, I know- don't give him any suggestions!!!

*The "player development" portion of Omar's tenure looks better by the day; it's too bad that he didn't have an ace administrator like Sandy Alderson reigning him in during his stay with the team- imagine how things might have been different, for the better!

*The All-Star game used to be my favorite day of the year. I even had my folks take me out of 4H Camp and head over to a local restaurant that showed the game on TV in 1973. The game was the only time we'd be able to see the two leagues play each other, and meant that all the stars in the game would be in attendance, even when injured, making for a truly magical night. The advent of inter-league play combined with players who no longer rely upon making the All-Star game in order to receive their much-needed bonus has led the game to "also-ran" status. I still get a thrill before game-time, but the majority of its' luster is, sadly, long-gone.

*Speaking of the All-Star game, it's been 47 years since the last time the game was played in Flushing; do you think the anti-Shea feelings played SOME part in this gap of time??? You betcha! Now that CitiField is in line for the game, let's hope it's not another 50 before it comes back again!

*Finally, being that it's All-Star weekend, there's still ONE place that's not only filled to the brim with the greatest players in the game, but continues to get even more wonderful with each passing year, and that's the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. My buddy just came back, and no matter how "old" you might be, when you walk inside those hallowed halls, you can't HELP but be a kid again...and THAT, indeed, is certainly worth the price of admission!!

Enjoy today's game on ESPN (with NO Joe Morgan!!), LET'S GO METS, and don't forget the All-Star Game on Tuesday!!

Happy Sunday!!