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Jade's Adventures in Spring Training: Part the Second

(Note from Ron: Other blogs... y'know, the ones that make money... send their writers here and there to cover major events. Here at SB, where we're so broke we can't even come up with a decent analogy, we just take advantage of our commenters' vacations. Enjoy!)

Game 1: Cleveland Indians at New York Mets
Tradition Field, Port St. Lucie, FL
March 5, 2007

A Little Ballpark History: Of the three parks we visit, this one has seen the most updating and improvement. Tradition Field was originally known as Thomas J. White Memorial Stadium in honor of the politician/real estate developer who worked to bring the Mets to Port St. Lucie. In 2004, however, the naming rights to the field were sold to Core Communities, LLC, who renamed it for a planned community to be called the "Town of Tradition". $11 million was sunk into the facility, not only making it more fan-friendly, but player- and management-friendly as well, with expanded clubhouses and offices.

Best Thing About It: The shade. Unlike many spring training facilities, at least 2/3 of Tradition Field seating gets shade, either for all or part of the game. For those of us who have to live in sunscreen when we're in Florida, this is a godsend.

The Weather: Sunny, breezy and almost unseasonably cool; 68 degrees in the sun, about 10 degrees cooler in the shade. Smart locals wore jackets, we tourists shivered every time the breeze came through. Beer sales were soon replaced by hot chocolate sales. The wind kept a lot of fly balls firmly in the outfield, otherwise it might have been a higher-scoring game.

The Attendance: 4,906, which is just over half-capacity; not bad for an early spring training game. This is the second time we've been to a Mets game when they've played the Indians, and both times we've seen a LOT of Indians fans at the game. The Indians' spring training home is in Winter Haven, which is on the other side of the state. Indians fans must be a very devoted lot to follow their team that far.

Star Power: Not much on the Indians' side (which is why I'm surprised to see so many of their fans here), but the Mets had practically their entire regular-season starting lineup going on:

Indians' starters: Trevor Crowe, CF; Josh Barfield, 2B; Jason Michaels, RF, Ryan Garko, 1B; Jhonny Peralta, SS; Shin-Soo Choo, LF; Andy Marte, 3B; Kelly Shoppach, C, Mike Rose, DH; Jake Westbrook, P.

Mets' starters: Jose Reyes, SS; David Wright, 3B, Carlos Beltran, CF; Carlos Delgado, 1B; Moises Alou, LF; Paul LoDuca, C; Shawn Green, RF; Julio Franco, DH; Jose Valentin, 2B; Oliver Perez, P.

Oldest DH in the world: Julio Franco is still playing baseball at the age of 592, God love him. It was one of his stranger performances. He struck out swinging in the 2nd inning, then struck out looking in the 4th, but the ball got by the catcher. Everyone is expecting Julio to take off for first, but he just stands there at home plate. Needless to say, he's thrown out at first. He looks at the umpire with an expression of either disbelief ("You think I'm gonna run all the way over there? I'm Julio Franco, dammit! I'm too old for that crap.") or confusion ("What third strike? When?") before heading back to the dugout. He made up for the oversight with a single in the 7th, though, so all was good.

Non-Roster Appearances I noticed: Ruben Sierra trying out as backup for Julio Franco's "old-guy" spot. He got the final at-bat of the ballgame, and it looked for the moment that he was going to get to be the hero when he sent the ball sailing out into center field towards the fence. Unfortunately, it didn't quite make it far enough and the center fielder caught it for the final out, but damn, he looked real good there for a few moments.

Best Hitting: Indians fans got a game worth the trip, especially from Jhonny Peralta, who went 2 for 3 with a double and a single and 2 RBI. Trevor Crowe, Jason Michaels, Ryan Garko, and Andy Marte also chipped in singles. The Mets got solid performances from Jose Reyes, who went 2 for 4 with two singles and two stolen bases, and Paul LoDuca, who came up with a double in the 4th.

Best Fielding: Carlos Beltran and Moises Alou got a good workout in for the Mets, as the Indians were popping out to center and left fairly often. Those of you who watch SportsCenter may also have seen the Top 10 play from the 9th inning of this game (Mets second fielder sub Ruben Gotay makes a diving stop on a Michael Aubry ground ball, flips the ball to Anderson Fernandez, who fires it to Mike Carp at first for the out).

Starting Pitching: Both starting pitchers did well enough; Westbrook had only one hit and struck out one in his two innings pitched, while Perez, although a bit shaky in spots, struck out three and had two hits and an earned run over three innings.

Other Pitching: The Mets were surprisingly stingy with their bullpen, using only three extra pitchers (Alay Soler, Scott Schoenweis, and Joe Smith). The Indians, on the other hand, were playing musical pitchers, bringing in six over seven innings. The strategy worked, though; they held the Mets to only one run and four hits.

Final Score: Indians 2, Mets 1

Overall Report: Not a great performance by the Mets, but it's too early to tell if this is going to be par for the course. The Indians looked better, but still not what I'd call anything dominating.

Mets: B
Indians: B+

Next Game: Cardinals at Dodgers, as soon as Ron uploads it. :)
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Comments

Wow, Ruben Sierra and Julio Franco in the same game!? Their combined official age is 89 years old, so more than likely they're combined in the mid-90's in reality.

Posted by Ron at 03/08/07 12:32:54

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