By Cynthia Koons
Cheryl Baren arrived at Shea Stadium Monday wearing a Mets jacket knitted by her mother, a Mets logo painted on her face, Mets underwear, Mets socks, Mets fingernails and Mets orange and blue M&Ms to hand out to her friends in the box seats where she sits every year.”There's no way I'd miss Opening Day,” said Baren, who is from Long Island.That was the sentiment among many of the 53,663 fans who came to the kick-off of the official baseball season at Shea Stadium in Flushing.”Opening Day, the Mets, you gotta be here every year,” said Joseph Marino, another Long Islander. It was his 10th opening day.For Peter Bezzina, few things compare to the energy at Shea Stadium during the home opener.”The excitement, the fans, it's beautiful,” he said. “The addition of Pedro and Beltran definitely sparked the team right away.”He was talking about the high profile, expensive trades that brought the Mets the Red Sox's Pedro Martinez and Houston Astros' Carlos Beltran.Billed as the “new Mets,” the team lost its first five games but came back to win its sixth on the road and its home opener Monday against the Astros, 8-4.”Every year it's the new Mets and every year it's the same old,” said Dan Riordan, a Long Islander who was attending his fifth Opening Day.”Met fans are true fans, they come out every year. Every year you will see 50,000 people here,” said Riordan's friend who would not give his name (or his excuse for missing work). “Opening Day is always sold out in the middle of the year even if they suck or are in last place, there's still 20,000 or 30,000 people here.”Father-and-son duo Dave and Ryan Eggers, also from Long Island, normally attend regular season games together. This was Dave Eggers' 12th Opening Day and his 15-year-old son's first.”I came with a bunch of friends and we had an extra ticket, we got him out of school and here we are,” Dave Eggers said.Ryan Eggers is admittedly a Yankee fan, but said he would root for his dad's team as long as they were in Shea.”He's a Met fan, so as long as I'm with him I'm a Met fan,” Ryan Eggers said.Truer Met fans could be found, like Long Islander Seth Barnett who was attending his 38th Opening Day Monday.He told his employer during his job interview that he would have to take Opening Day off every year.On Monday, he brought his 14-year-old son for his ninth consecutive year and his 11-year-old daughter for her first Opening Day.”I tell (school) that it's a personal family matter,” Barnett said. “But to us it's a national holiday.”Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
