This might be one of the best and most interesting spring training camps I can ever remember. Everyone is so happy to be here. There are no real spring training battles to speak of. There are no underlying issues that are lurking about. There are no ominous storylines waiting in the shadows. Far from it, it’s been a sea of calm and tranquility at Mets Camp, and after the last few springs, that’s exactly the way we all want it.
When you compare this spring training to the previous ones, the difference is so plain to see – all those other years you could cut the pressure and tension with a knife. Things were so tenuous and uncertain, seemed like nothing would go right, everyday brought with it another controversy. The players themselves were so tight that Terry Collins had to implement Movie Nights and Bowling Nights to ease the pressure and lighten the atmosphere.
But here we are in 2016, two weeks into spring training and the biggest stories have centered around Yoenis Cespedes’ million-dollar car show, his $3,000 blue ribbon prized hog, and the two horses he rode into camp today. In the meantime the players are all gelling and creating their own chemistry – a chemistry that will serve them well during the grind of a long season and a grueling summer.
There were no late showings this spring, no visa problems, and quite frankly 90 percent of the team arrived more than a week early. A week early! Do you get the feeling that something special is stirring at Port St. Lucie? Trust me there is, and it’s all so good.
So today, the Mets played their first intrasquad game of the Spring and it was so good to see these guys out there and having fun the way we used to when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn. Remember choosing sides on that first spring day when there was no more snow, no more frigid temperatures? Remember rummaging through the closet or basement searching for your beaten in Rawlings’ glove? And then the first thing you did after you found it was smell it – yeah… smells like spring… smells like baseball… Let’s do this.
At Tradition Field this afternoon, the Blue squad beat the Orange squad, 4-3. That’s the beauty of an intrasquad game, everybody wins. Juan Lagares hit the first homer of the Spring and he’s been a great story so far in the early going. Lagares showed up ready to play.
Second base prospects Dilson Herrera and T.J. Rivera also homered in the game, and remember I told you to keep an eye on reliever Josh Smoker? The hard throwing lefty tossed two perfect innings, by far the best pitching performance of the day.
After the game, manager Terry Collins had a message for his team. “The fun time is over. It’s time to finally get ready for baseball.”
He’s right I guess. It’s been a fun and peaceful first two weeks, but this team does have a National League title to defend and it’s time to get focused and serious as we get set to face the Nats on Thursday. Time to get our game faces on.
