Well, I’m back from my first day at Spring Training of 2012. Unfortunately, Dirty was supposed to join me and a new writer from NLEC but had car trouble did not make it.
Also, I’d like to apologize to anyone who was watching my @nleastchatter twitter feed, as my phone decided not to post anything for me.
Pictures will follow when I’ve had time to upload them from two different cameras, it was a busy weekend of drinking on St Patty’s day and lots of things to do Sunday.
At Spring Training, I must first give a shout out to Shannon Forde and the Mets staff. They all remembered me from last year and welcomed me and obviously both this and NLEC with open arms (except clubhouse access of course, but thats normal).
When we arrived, we walked past a large crowd with Dillon Gee giving numerous autographs to and on past the usual brunch groups they have in town.
It felt like a very quiet morning, according to the parking lot, David Wright wasn’t there and Johan was there ,but left early without a sighting of mine outside the clubhouse.
We took a walk onto the field and saw how incredibly small Daniel Herrera looked compared to Jon Rauch, its laughable. When we got on the field, the Mets were completing batting practice, with Ruben Tejada being the largest name in the final grouping, who did look larger and was hitting some nice balls.
Soon after, the Braves came out, the highlight of their group being that they brought Freeman and Heyward on the trip, along with Prado. I stayed and took some shots of the three of them hitting.
After lunch, we walked around the stadium during the game taking photos while keeping an eye on the game. It was certainly a fun day for fans, as the Mets wore their green jerseys and most fans were dressed up in their best stereotypical Irish shirt, and drinking green Bud beers. Most of them were cheering for the Mets and forgetting how bad that most expect them to be.
One surprise I found is when Jason Bay ran onto the field to warm up, there was a bigger than expected ovation for him, and by bigger than expected, I mean that about 20-25 fans cheered for him.
I was happy with Jon Niese’s performance as he got in trouble a few times, but always got the ground ball to get out of it and left giving the Mets a chance to win this game. Otherwise, I did not take away anything terribly earth shattering, but I am pleased to see Daniel Murphy looking comfortable at 2b.
I will add more later including pictures and am hoping to head down again the final weekend of spring training.
17 comments
Ceetar
3/19/2012-3:08pm at 3:08 pm (UTC -4)
good solid fun sounds like.
mrose
3/19/2012-3:15pm at 3:15 pm (UTC -4)
definitely was..one of the perks to living close to the park. DId you or will you make it down this year?
Ceetar
3/19/2012-3:20pm at 3:20 pm (UTC -4)
nope. Went to Vegas this year instead. Was great fun, though I miss Spring Training. next year again hopefully.
Stick
3/19/2012-3:15pm at 3:15 pm (UTC -4)
Wait, i completely forgot with all the money talk that the Mets were still playing baseball. Good news!
and that is about 20-25 more people than I would have expected cheering for bay.
actually, I know why. Florida is overrun with Canadians this time of year. That must be it.
MetsFan4Decades
3/19/2012-3:37pm at 3:37 pm (UTC -4)
Wow – mrose with the clout down there. Very nice…..
Looking forward to your pics.
MetsFan4Decades
3/19/2012-3:38pm at 3:38 pm (UTC -4)
Also….can you give a link in your next post to your twitter account?
I don’t have a twitter account but I’m sure I can look at your tweets anyway – which I’m thinking might include some pictures as well.
MetsFan4Decades
3/19/2012-3:39pm at 3:39 pm (UTC -4)
Well, not ‘your’ twitter account but that @nleastchatter twitter feed
darknova306
3/19/2012-3:48pm at 3:48 pm (UTC -4)
That sounds like a blast, other than the Bud beers
Mr North Jersey
3/19/2012-4:11pm at 4:11 pm (UTC -4)
OK so with tomorrow being the 1st day of Spring I guess we can expect a larger amount of David Wright trade rumors since it was reported that Alderson didn’t foresee trading Wright this Winter but never said anything about Spring.
Stick
3/19/2012-4:17pm at 4:17 pm (UTC -4)
troublemaker.
Mr North Jersey
3/19/2012-4:26pm at 4:26 pm (UTC -4)
But am I wrong?
mrose
3/19/2012-4:27pm at 4:27 pm (UTC -4)
ugh
Mr North Jersey
3/19/2012-4:30pm at 4:30 pm (UTC -4)
You know you need an avatar. On google you have a Shamrock but that anonymous character has to go if you plan to continue commenting here. If not I will be forced to mark you as spam.
Mr North Jersey
3/19/2012-4:13pm at 4:13 pm (UTC -4)
Just was over at MLB.com and saw that Texas is 4-11 and Atlanta is 5-12 you think their fans are concerned?
mrose
3/19/2012-4:28pm at 4:28 pm (UTC -4)
of course not!
Mr North Jersey
3/19/2012-4:34pm at 4:34 pm (UTC -4)
Mrose
3/19/2012-6:19pm at 6:19 pm (UTC -4)
Still troublemakers. I haven’t posted on that blog in forever, need to find time for everything. New job should allow more time for blogging